Kris Paronto, a former Army Ranger, told an audience of about 850 at in the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Athletic Center that in no way should his remarks about what he observed at Benghazi be interpreted as politically motivated.
“I’m here for only one reason tonight, and that’s to tell you what I saw as one of the guys on the ground when the terrorists attacked during the Battle of Benghazi,” he said.
Paronto praised ERAU graduate Glen A. Doherty, one of four Americans killed during the 13-hour firefight on Sept. 11, 2012. Others killed were U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Sevens, Information Officer Sean Smith and former Navy Seal Tyrone Woods.
Paronto said Doherty exemplifies “…something I really believe in as an American, a patriot and a Christian. It’s contained in John 15:13 in the Bible: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for friends.’”
Paronto, an Alamosa, Colorado native, attended Dixie State University in St. George, Utah, and earned an associate’s degree. He later earned a bachelor’s degree from Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado and then a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
He served in the U.S. Army for four years and then four more with the Army National Guard. He became a commissioned officer in 2003, but began contracting for Blackwater Security Consulting later that year. The nickname given him by his military colleagues was “Tanto.”
Paronto, now retired from military and security consulting duty, remains physically fit. Dressed in a tight black t-shirt and jeans, he paced the ERAU stage with the vigor of a martial arts instructor.
It was as a security consultant that he and his teammates responded to the jihadist attack for more than 13 hours.
Intense, fast-paced, colorfully descriptive but never crude or vulgar, Paronto spent 75 minutes describing the attack on the U.S. Special Mission Compound and the nearby CIA station called the Annex in Benghazi, Libya.
He told how he and five other security contractors became aware of the Islamic militants attacking the U.S. Consulate compound.
If What I Say Offends Someone, Just Live With It
“I’m not going to worry about being ‘politically correct.’ We were on the ground. We were non-political and it is not a political story. It is a story of honor and courage. Those bullets and rockets the terrorists were firing don’t care if you’re a Republican or Democrat. They kill you no matter what. All I want to do is to tell you that if I say something that offends you, just live with it,” he said as the crowd burst into applause.
Paronto described the orders that supposedly came from a CIA official telling them to “stand down” and quit fighting. He said the source for that message is just speculation, and he had no interest in wondering where it came from. He was emphatic that they were told to stand down.
“All we know is what we experienced, and we disobeyed the order and reached the compound and rescued several government and civilian employees,” he said. He also said that when the “stand down” orders were issued, they were told if they disobeyed, they would be fired.
“We got fired,” he said simply.
Benghazi Firefight Subject for Book, Movie
In 2014, Paronto and his colleagues worked with Mitchell Zuckoff, a New York Times bestselling author. The result was a book, “13 Hours – The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi.”
Paronto says the book is intended to set the record straight about the terrorist attack and the results thereof. Paronto has said of the book, “Be comforted there are still guys in the world that will stand up and tell the truth even if it costs them their life or their way of life.”
The book led to the production of a film. Called “13 Hours – The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” the two and one-half hour film is a dramatic reenactment of the hours-long firefight. It is directed by producer, director and actor Michael Day. Paronto says the film accurately describes what he and his teammates faced.
Rated R because of its violence and graphic depiction of injuries, the film was released in Dallas on Jan. 12 by Paramount. It also is available on DVD.
Memorial Scholarship Honors ERAU Grad Killed in Benghazi Attack
Glen Doherty, an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduate and one of four Americans killed in the Benghazi terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2012, is memorialized by a scholarship in his name at ERAU.
Students Emilio Navarrete from San Jose, California and Steven Sensmeier of Prescott announced the Doherty scholarship and said they are hoping to raise $25,000 in order to endow the scholarship permanently.
Doherty trained as a pilot at the Prescott campus before he joined the U.S. Navy. He later earned his bachelor’s degree in aeronautics from ERAU Worldwide. In 1995, the Massachusetts native joined the Navy SEALS (Sea, Air and Land team) and was assigned as a paramedic and a sniper to the Middle East.
Doherty earlier had been on a team responding to the suicide attack on the USS Cole when it was being refueled in Aden, Yemen.
He later became a security contractor at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, where he was killed by mortar fire. He was 42.
Doherty was the co-author of “The 21st Century Sniper,” a book published posthumously.
Former Army Ranger Kris Paronto, who spoke about the Benghazi attack at ERAU in April , praised Doherty as an “unselfish hero who gave his life protecting others.”
On April 10, 2014, ERAU dedicated facilities that house the recently established College of Security and Intelligence Studies as the Glen A. Doherty Center. The College is the only one of its kind in the United States.
College Dean Dr. Philip Jones has said of Doherty, “Glen was a true American hero. We know he helped rescue 30 Americans before he was killed.”
Jones also said that the university was proud to name the facility after Doherty to honor his sacrifice and to meet the need for highly skilled professionals in cybersecurity, counterterrorism, risk management, forensics and global security and intelligence.
Paronto urged the ERAU audience to recognize Doherty and to support the scholarship.
By Ray Newton, QCBN
Photo by Ray Newton
For more information about the Glen A. Doherty Memorial Scholarship, contact ERAU Office of Development Assistant Director A.J. Smith, at smith39@erau.edu or 928-777-4216.
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