In a nearly packed room the trailer for the movie 13 Hours came to a close, and as a man many had read about but never met made his way to the front, the crowd was on its feet giving him a standing ovation. On Tuesday, Kris Tanto Paronto, survivor of the Sept.
11, 2012 attack in Benghazi and a former Army Ranger, spoke to a crowd in Lewisville about his experience in the war-torn city situated on the coast of Libya. He paced the make shift stage as he warned the audience that he planned to be very candid with them.
I m not politically correct, so I will say things that might offend you, Paronto said. During combat or a crisis situation when you re with your teammates, you re not politically correct because that s how you have fun. Before launching into his account of the Benghazi attack, Paronto said political correctness doesn t work down range.
He said if there is political correctness, people die.
I m going to give you a taste of the non-political correctness that goes on during combat, but I m also going to give you a taste of what God is like in combat, Paronto said. What I want to show you is on that night God was with us. There are no atheists in fox holes. That night, Paronto was part of CIA annex security team that included former Navy SEALs and Marines.
It didn t matter that we were from different branches. It didn t matter that we had never worked together, Paronto said. That night it didn t matter, and that says a lot for the military training.
While the team was there to protect the other Americans in Benghazi from terrorists, Paronto said the people of Benghazi were very good people. He said his position as a Global Response Staff (GRS) was the best job in the world.
We get the opportunity to mingle with the locals. You get to know the people, get to know when there will be a protest or mass casualty, Paronto said. You can feel it because you re always driving around the city. As told in the book 13 Hours, Paronto and two other members of the GRS team were supposed to go home three weeks before Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens arrived in Benghazi, which coincided with the attack.
Paronto said the replacement team was delayed, so they agreed to stay.
I don t think that s a coincidence. The team I had was one of the best teams I ve ever been on if not the best, Paronto said. It was one of those teams where I could look at one guy, he could look at me and we didn t have to say a word. We knew what each other was going to do. It was like a Jedi circle. While it cost his team member, Tyrone Rone Woods, his life, Paronto said he thought God wanted them there.
That s what we do, Paronto said. We go down range to sacrifice ourselves.
If that s what it takes we sacrifice ourselves so others can come home. Paronto described the agonizing wait he and his team endured while awaiting the go ahead from their leader to travel from the annex to the consulate to help those already under attack. He said he remembers sitting in the SUVs outside the annex and hearing over the radio that the consulate had been over run. He said once the wait hit the 10-minute mark, Alec Henderson, diplomatic security agent, said, GRS where are you? GRS you swore you d help us, where are you?
That really hurt because we swore we d help them, but we got told to stand down, Paronto said.
Paronto said the consulate had been attacked twice before, so he knew his team worked well under pressure in crisis situations. He said even though they knew they were outnumbered and could probably die, that s not what was going through their heads as they waited to rush in to help the Americans at the consulate.
We knew we were bucking orders, so we wouldn t have insurance or death benefits for our significant others, but that is a split second, then you think no. Americans help Americans overseas, Paronto said. Paronto said he knew he and his team were going to help.
At the 25-minute mark we heard Alec come across the radio and said GRS, If you don t get in here we re all going to expletive die. That was very accurate in the movie, Paronto said.
One of the harder moments of that night for Paronto was when the team had to leave Stevens body behind in the consulate because it was on fire.
That is hard for me to deal with every day, Paronto said. We failed. We left a buddy behind.
Returning from the fight
When he first came back from Benghazi, Paronto said he thought someone would come forth and told the truth. He said he and his team couldn t talk about what happened.
I watched the story continually be lied about, and our team being dishonored, Paronto said. I hated this country. I went back to Yemen to be with the guys who had my back. Paronto returned to the U.S.
for a memorial ceremony for two of his teammates. The remaining members were asked to sign a non-disclosure statement.
We thought, They re going to try and cover it up. We voted as a team to do the book eight months after the attack, Paronto said. Paronto said 13 months after the attack, he was on a book signing tour. He said he hated what he was doing and decided after his last signing event in Plano that he was going to kill himself. However, a chance meeting at DFW Airport changed things for him.
There was a lady who came up to me and asked if I was Tanto. She said, I believe you, and in those three words, I thought maybe not everyone in this country is bad, Paronto said.
She said, Keep up what you re doing. This is what you re supposed to be doing, and I didn t want to kill myself anymore. Paronto said that was a turning point for him. He learned how to speak in front of a crowd and took it upon himself to bring the message about what really happened in Benghazi.
This is a lot to process, said Mark Amick, vice chairman of finance for the Denton County Republican Party. It s an inspiration to hear about the integrity and courage it takes to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Paronto said he didn t want the people listening to him that evening to thank him. He said he was just doing his job. He said people who are willing to listen to his story are saving his life every day. He said they make him want to continue to tell his story to more and more people.
We took the hard right over the easy wrong, Paronto said. For you young people, always take the hard right over the easy wrong.
Even though the hard right maybe difficult, it s better in the long run for everyone.