"We can’t get to him!" Wickland coughed, blood on his lips. "The smoke… the fire…"
They knew Benghazi was a powder keg. Every night, they heard the rattle of AK-47s and the thump of RPGs in the distance. But on the evening of September 11, 2012—the eleventh anniversary of 9/11—the air felt different. Heavier.
And that is the secret of the 13 Hours: that in the darkest night, in a forgotten city, a handful of men with no official backup, no air support, and no hope of survival decided that the only thing that mattered was the man to their left and the man to their right. They did not win the war. But they won the hour. HD13 Hours- The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
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.
At 12:05 AM, September 12, the second wave began. "We can’t get to him
But the mortar team had already adjusted their aim. A 120mm round—the kind used by conventional armies, not militias—slammed into the roof directly behind Rone.
At dusk, the GRS team wound down their day. Some worked out in the makeshift gym. Others cleaned their rifles—HK416s, suppressed MP5s, and M4s loaded with 77-grain Open Tip Match rounds. Rone Woods was on the phone with his wife, promising to be home soon for his daughter’s birthday. "I love you," he said. "I’ll call you tomorrow." But on the evening of September 11, 2012—the
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.