Review of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) by Randy J — 30 Jan 2016

The director distinguished himself by not presuming to spoon feed a conclusion as to the political questions surrounding this story, to the audience. He presented a factual account of what happened (and what did not happen, i.e. any attempt whatsoever by the most powerful nation on earth to protect or assist in the defense of it's public servants under attack on foreign soil).

From a dramatic point of view, I thought the first part of the movie setup a very uplifting and believable transition on the part of the 'effete Ivy-league over-achievers' who constituted the diplomatic mission, and their 'green-collar' protectors.

Until things started to get hot, their disdain for "their mercenary body-guards" was thinly veiled. In the final hours of the fire-fight, their visceral appreciation of the heroism required of those six men, in order to save all their lives, was clearly in evidence.

Unfortunately, once returned to the safe environs of Washington D.C., few, if any of them have been willing to risk their exorbitant compensation and entitlements as government bureaucrats, by coming forward and testifying as to what really happened on that day.

If Bo Bergdahl deserves a court-marshal for what he did in Afghanistan, what should be the penalty for a Command-in-Chief who goes AWOL while American citizens, sent by him to one of the most dangerous places on Earth, are under enemy fire? On the battle field, it would be a hanging offense. If the CIC is hiding out in his residential quarters at the White House, I guess we're expected to call it something else.

Even though I've studied the accounts of these events carefully, I'm very glad I saw the film. I know war is hell, and I'm grateful for every anonymous US Military volunteer who comes home alive and unscathed at the end of his or her tour. But this movie reminds us how lucky we are to have a military tradition which aspires to preserve humanity, and honors self-sacrifice above all else. Of these brothers and sisters of ours who protect all we have and all we are, we can and must be rightly proud.