At 9:40 PM local time, the first explosion didn’t sound like a mortar. It sounded like the world tearing in half.
From the SMC, a frantic radio call crackled through the Annex’s comms: “We’re taking fire! The compound is breached! They’re burning the building!” HD13 Hours- The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
In the weeks and months that followed, the story of Benghazi was twisted into political theater. Hearings, investigations, and accusations flew across cable news. But no committee ever called the GRS to testify about their courage. They were secret soldiers—off the books, invisible to the Pentagon, ineligible for the Purple Hearts they had earned in blood. At 9:40 PM local time, the first explosion
Among them was Jack Silva, a former SEAL sniper with tired eyes and a quiet laugh. Tyrone "Rone" Woods, a towering former SEAL with a warrior’s heart and a father’s tenderness. Mark "Oz" Geist, a rugged Marine veteran who moved with the slow, deliberate caution of a man who had seen too much. And John "Tig" Tiegen, a no-nonsense contractor who trusted only his brothers. The compound is breached
The drive to the SMC was a gauntlet of hell. Streets that were quiet an hour ago were now alive with armed men in pickup trucks, waving black flags. The GRS drove with no lights, using night vision goggles to navigate the debris-strewn roads. Rone, in the lead vehicle, spotted a technical (a truck with a mounted machine gun) blocking the main road. "Hold on," he growled, and swerved through an alley, shattering a fruit cart.
The GRS had failed to save them. The weight of that failure would crush any other men. But the night was not over.
Years later, a journalist asked Oz Geist if he regretted going back into the burning compound. He looked at the scars on his arm and leg, then at a photograph of Rone Woods holding his daughter.