Friends want the truth told about former SEAL’s final mission in Libya

We thought we knew the whole story: Violent protests over an anti-Muslim Youtube video overwhelmed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11th, killing the U.S. Ambassador, a State Department employee, and two former Navy SEALS, including 42-year-old Glen Doherty.

But we’re learning now that the initial reports about what happened in Libya on September 11th were only the tip of the iceberg.

Tom Leonard is a childhood friend of Glen Doherty, one of the former Navy SEALs whose remains were delivered two weeks ago to Andrews Air Force Base. Tom reached out to the Ron & Don Show because he says this story is much different than what’s been reported, and he wants the truth told about how his friend died in Benghazi, and the remarkable life that led him to that day.

“There was a real dissonance between the things I heard and the way the story was being told by the administration and the media. I thought people should hear more about who Glen was, what he did, and how he had attuned his life to be there to save those people.”

Tom grew up with Glen in Winchester, Massachusetts. He says his friend worked at the High School radio station and played New Wave music. “Certainly when he told me he had joined the SEALs I was pretty amazed, but not entirely surprised because he was such a go-getter…He worked hard at school, he worked hard at wrestling and his other sports, and he worked hard at being peoples’ friend.”

Dan Cerillo served with Glen briefly in the SEALs and the two worked together at a company called SEALFit in San Diego.

“I really hated him because he was too good looking, I used to tell him that-I wanna punch him in the eye because he was too good looking,” Dan joked. “He was just a good dude. Hard core as they come, he was great at everything he did, treated everyone with respect. (Glen) lived his life to the highest standards possible.”

Glen Doherty worked as a ski instructor and whitewater rafting guide in Utah in his 20s, and told his friends that if he didn’t settle on a career by the time he was 30, he would join the SEALs.

His 8 years of service put him in the line of fire during some of the most high-profile operations of the War on Terror. He was one of the SEAL team who responded to the USS Cole bombing in 2000, helped rescued Private Jessica Lynch in 2003, was among the first marines to capture Saddam Hussein’s palaces early in the Iraq war, and he was one of the sharp shooters in 2009 who took out Somali pirates who had captured an American sea captain.

“99 percent of this world will never do one iota of what he’s accomplished. They’ve never run triathlons, they’ve never run Iron Mans, they’ve never climbed mountains, they’ve never written books. That’s not even the SEAL part. The guy lived a tremendous life minus that,” said Dan, “He surfed big waves, he skied down massive mountains…He was a man’s man. He didn’t sit behind a desk and just look at things he wanted to do, he looked at pictures and said I’m going to do that. And that’s the way he lived his life, and the SEAL thing was bonus.”

Glen became a private security contractor after leaving the SEALs in 2005, working in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. He was an author, a pilot, a CrossFit trainer, and an advocate for religious tolerance in the military.

Hundreds of friends around the country counted Glen as family. Tom said Glen’s advice helped during a down point in his life, when they ran into each other at their high school reunion:

“He impressed upon me to go explore this thing that I do called CrossFit. It pretty much changed my life,” remembered Tom, who says his friend also encouraged him to become a certified CrossFit coach. “He was a really good listener. When you were with Glen, he was really paying attention to you and listening to what you were saying.”

Meanwhile, Glen continued to risk his life on top-secret missions for the United States. A diplomatic source told CNN that Doherty was in Libya to search for shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles–A mission given high priority after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi.

“A long time ago, Derrick Davis, another SEAL, told me it takes 5 years to make a good SEAL,” explained Dan. “Well guys leave the community…and there’s other jobs available. It takes a lot of experience, you’re around a very special group of people. So yes, he was a security contractor from the definition of the word, but he was on the tip of the spear, and he was protecting this country from people who would do it harm.”

Greg Doherty gave the eulogy at his older brother’s funeral on September 19, 2012. He revealed a very different account of Glen’s final mission than what was first reported.

He said Glen was not assigned as security for Ambassador Chris Stevens, but when the consulate was overrun in Benghazi, Glen and his friend and fellow SEAL Ty Woods were called in to help around 30 State Department employees.

“They fought their way in, they got them loaded into cars, they got them out to a safe house about 20 minutes away.”

The second safe house came under heavy attack around 2 AM, hit by at least two mortar rounds. Glen Doherty and Ty Woods died defending their position in an intense fire fight.

“Glen went with his teammates from a position of safety into a position of extreme peril, and saved the lives of 30 people. And died doing it,” said Tom.

The FBI is still completing a criminal inquiry of the September 11th incident, but more information from White House and State Department sources points to a coordinated terror attack by an al Qaeda-affiliated group, rather than a spontaneous protest-turned-violent as was initially reported.

“He was overseas doing a mission for America. I want people to know and I think Glen would want people to know that this country is not safe,” said Dan. “It takes people like (Glen) to keep it safe, and all of us should be aware there are people around this world who hate us and wish to do us harm.”

At his funeral, Glen’s sister Kate talked about “Glenisms,” mottos like: “A party shouldn’t stop the same day it begins” or, “Drive it like you stole it,” remembered Dan. “If you’re going to do something, do it all the way. Yeah you’re going to have some bumps in the road, but let’s just go. Let’s just go. Because to sit and watch is boring. Let’s get up on our feet, get off our ass and let’s move.”

And at the eulogy, Greg shared a 4-step guide for living a “Glen Doherty-worthy Life”:

1. Improve yourself. Build skills. Look at the source of your pain or your weakness…and address it. Uproot your addictions, your sadness, your fear.

2. Help others. This privilege that we have been blessed to receive. The privilege of character taught to us. The privilege of resources granted to us. Share it and no one can begrudge your gratitude for it. Find the people who… need to be invited in…or need to be cooled off and with those skills you built, handle it.

3. Find what you love to do…and do it.

4. And find who you love…and show them that you love them…by the feeling that they’ll share with you…of security in your friendship and perfect happiness in your presence.

Tom believes his friend Glen had a purpose that day in Benghazi: “I think Glen had been constructing his life, refining himself continually, so he could be there. I don’t think he was supposed to die, but he was supposed to be there.”

“I don’t think if he looked back on it would he do it differently, would he turn away,” said Dan. “He would do the same thing every day of the week and on Sunday.”

Tom attended Glen’s funeral in September. “We left there wanting to go out and make the world better, because we wanted to emulate our friend. That’s part of my motivation for approaching the show, so that the message could go beyond just the people who were at the service and who knew Glen personally.”

Glen’s family and friends have also started a foundation in his honor, to help bring education and recreation into the lives of those who have suffered tragedy. Visit glendohertyfoundation.org for more information.