MYFOXNY.COM -
Two former Navy SEALs now working as private security contractors were among four Americans killed in an apparent terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya on September 11, 2012.
One was Glen Anthony Doherty, 42, of Winchester, Mass., who died while protecting U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, who also perished in the attack.
"He died serving with men he respected, protecting the freedoms we enjoy as Americans and doing something he loved," said Brandon Webb, a former Navy SEAL. "He was a best friend and one of the finest human beings I've ever known."
Already a trained pilot, Doherty joined the Navy SEALs, an elite team of special warfare operators, in 1995, according to his family. He became a paramedic and sniper. His team responded to the terror attack on the USS Cole.
Originally intending to leave the military in 2001, he stayed after the 9/11 attacks and served two tours in Iraq, according to his brother, Greg Doherty.
"About fighting in Iraq, he simply believed that the possibility of liberating the country from a tyrant and making democracy possible for the Iraqi people was worth him risking his own life for," said Greg Doherty.
Glen Doherty was the second of three children. His father, Ben Doherty, is a former boxer who served as Massachusetts boxing commissioner, according to Greg Doherty.
In 2005, Glen Doherty left the military and went to work as a private security contractor, working jobs and missions in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere, his brother said.
"He was full of hilarious and adventuresome stories, of which you generally had to shave off about a quarter of the details to get at the pure facts, if those were your concern," his brother said. "His way of making everyone around him feel special and loved came from the fact that he genuinely looked up to all his friends, always seeing their greatness in a way they sometimes wished they could see themselves, and from the fact that he felt for them the purest and most loyal of love."
Doherty and his ex-SEAL friend Brandon Webb co-wrote a book called "21st Century Sniper: A Complete Practical Guide."
Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran who worked as an information management specialist for the State Department, and Tyrone S. Woods, a former Navy SEAL, also died in the assault on the consulate property in Benghazi, the AP reported.
U.S. officials are investigating if the attack was actually carried out terrorists executing a well-coordinated terrorist plot rather than a mob angry over an anti-Muslim video posted on YouTube.
Glen Doherty, a security officer and former Navy SEAL, died in an attack in Libya. (Photo courtesy Doherty family)
Glen Doherty, a security officer and former Navy SEAL, died in an attack in Libya. (Photo courtesy Doherty family)
