Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, who just
arrived at the compound from his office in Tripoli, including the DSS
(Diplomatic Security Service) team members, were not ready as the attack was
run very fast. The attackers were unstoppable even by the 17 February Martyrs
Brigade, a Libya armed militia which tasked to guard the gate and protect the
compound.
Some people were slain by the armed attackers who then set the
building on fire where several persons including the ambassador were trapped
inside the ‘safe haven’ room.
About 1.5 mile from the burning US compound, there was a CIA
secret venue called as “The Annex” where a team of Global Response Staffs (GRS)
was stationed. The GRS is a team under CIA which consist of some private military
contractors. They could be from any military units but had a lot of experiences
as combatant ever assigned in various dangerous places such as Iraq,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.
This book, written by Mitchell Zuckoff – a professor of
journalism at the Boston University – tells a story during 13 hours critical
situation (from the night of September 11, 2012 into
the morning of the next day) when the six men of GRS team fought the battle
that repulsed the attackers and saved roughly two dozen American staffs and
officers.
Professor Zuckoff wrote the story chronologically
based on exclusive firsthand accounts that described the bloody assault, tragic
losses, and heroic deeds by Mark “Oz” Geist, Kris “Tanto” Paronto, John “Tig”
Tiegen, Jack Silva, Dave “D.B.” Benton, and Tyrone “Rone” Woods (Jack Silva and
Dave Benton are pseudonyms to satisfy their privacy).
Oz was former US Marine, Tanto was former Army
Ranger, Tig was former US Marine, Jack was former Navy SEAL, D.B. was a former
US Marine and SWAT and Rone was former Navy SEAL. Sadly, not all of those GRS
team survived at the horrific night.
The book has been filmed with the same title in 2016, directed by Michael Bay and written by Chuck
Hogan. The film, where the shooting was taken place in Morocco and Malta, now
can be watched in Netflix.
Not only about the courage, the 13 Hours story
also tells the humanity touches, loyalty and dedication, and also solidarity.
Despite the toughness and bravery, they also expressed their soft feelings how
they love their family, how the economic needs has made them no options but to
take the dangerous job as the security contractors and to leave their loved
ones at home. How bitter story and dilemma of life.
The six men will be remembered as brave Americans
who put themselves in harm’s way, who believed in their work and their country,
and who died serving others. This also proved that the professionalism would
always come first despite they were no longer official military but the
"outsourcing team".
I have watched the film twice in Netflix.
***
Serpong, 26
Mar 2022
Titus J.
