Soldiers Of Benghazi Talk About New Film And Story That Politicians Didn't Tell [AUDIO]
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) -- What is largely known a topic of heated political discussion, the story of the 2012 Battle of Benghazi is now being told by the soldiers who fought on the ground that night.
Based on the book 13 Hours, a film depicting the events directed by Michael Bay is set to hit theaters on January 15. Three of the soldiers involved with the project spoke about how the battle turned from a firefight in Libya to a politicized topic among American leaders.
Co-author and member of the Annex Security Team that fought the Battle of Benghazi Mark Geist said that the main motivation for the soldiers to tell their side of the story is because of how many details were being left out by many mainstream voices.
"That's really what drove us to tell the story, because our lives have always been in the shadows -- we're not seeking out publicity," Geist said. "The politicians took this story, they spun it into 50 different directions for their own purpose."
The movie tells the story of when a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya was stormed by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2012. U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed in the attack, marking the first time since 1979 that a U.S. Ambassador was killed in the line of duty.
Militants then attacked a CIA annex in the area, killing two more Americans.
What came into contention is what the motivation for the attack could have been. Initial intelligence suggested that the violence was sparked by the showing of an anti-Islamic film, but other reports implied that the attack was premeditated.
"The stories they were telling about how that happened just weren't true, it wasn't what happened that night on the ground," Geist said. "We just felt compelled to put it in writing -- what really happened from our perspective."
Most of the controversy came when Republicans said then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration did not have the proper intelligence to prevent such an attack.
Kris Paronto was one of the security contractors involved in the fight that night and said that soldiers have to be ready for violence to spark at any given moment.
"For me, I was having a blast, I was having fun, I enjoy it," said Paronto, a former Army Ranger.
"We had all been deployed for 10 years prior to that, so this wasn't the first time something like this had happened as far as just being shot at. I enjoy it -- your senses all kick in. I like adrenaline, I feed off of it a little bit. So when it happens, it just gets you going, you're in your element."
"It is difficult when you see your buddies die, but you fight through it," Paronto said. "It's adversity, you can't dwell on it because then you're going to die. I wouldn't say you have to be fearless, more like robotic. It says a lot about the training that you get from the Marine Corps. The training is rigorous, and that's why it's rigorous."
Geist, Paronto and fellow soldier John Tiegen said that their vision really comes to life in the film -- titled 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi -- because they were allowed to work closely with Bay and Paramount Pictures on the project.
"Hopefully, the biggest thing that people go and get out of the movie is honor the four guys who sacrificed their life serving their country and take the politics out of it and really know what happened that night on the ground," Tiegen said.
"We all wanted to see the same thing," Geist said. "We all wanted to get the truth out there and have it be as apolitical as any story could be. We were involved in every aspect of it, to a certain degree or another."
You can listen to the entire Gold Tone Podcast with Seth Gold and Dan Leach HERE.
