Glen Doherty, a CIA protective contract officer, lost his life in service to his country while trying to protect a CIA facility in Benghazi, Libya, early on the morning of September 2012. He was killed alongside his fellow officer and friend, Tyrone Woods.
Childhood:
Glen, a highly decorated SEAL warrior and a medical corpsman, came to the CIA and Navy to fulfill his sense of adventure and his need for service. He was a nine-year veteran with combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Glen lived life on the edge, excelling in mountain biking, surfing, and skiing, while always being there to help a buddy through difficult times, just like someone who was willing to deploy on colleagues of houses or go through a divorce. His friends will always remember him as a selfless individual. Additionally, he maintained his private pilot’s license.
Glen was considered by many people to be a good friend who later found out that he was their best friend. Glen was always improving himself by taking home improvement jobs and studying medical and aviation techniques.
His Last Assignment:
Glen took on the role of a protective officer at the CIA in 2005, caring for others and embracing the adventure it offered. He was deployed with the CIA a total of fourteen times.
The CIA decided to deploy to the Benghazi base and reinforce the position in order to help evacuate mission staff and support the team that discovered the group when they attacked the State Department’s mission facility in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, including the staff, mobilized a team from the CIA to try to rescue Glen, who was part of the team.
When Glen’s team arrived in Benghazi, CIA officers in defensive positions had already taken up arms, including hand-thrown bombs, rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, and small firearms, to launch an attack.
These were the kind of people who ran towards danger. Without hesitation, Glen went to help. Tyrone Woods, a former SEAL and CIA officer, was manning a defensive position on the roof. He learned that his fellow CIA officer and friend was being repeatedly subjected to mortar fire at the CIA Base on the morning of September 12th.
While defending the compound from the rooftop, Glen perished alongside his companion when a mortar round landed in close proximity to them.
Paying Tribute to His Heritage
Glen Doherty, 42 years old, is survived by his parents, as well as many friends, sister, and brother. His funeral was held in Winchester, Massachusetts, and the church was filled with mourners.
At a massive block party, Glen, a surfer from Encinitas, California, celebrated his life with hundreds of friends. While paddling out at Swami’s beach, he took some ashes of his friends and sprinkled them on the waves, as he had wished.
“What is the current name of Glen’s Run?” The rest of his ashes are being scattered on a particularly difficult trail, while another set of friends pay tribute at the Snowbird resort in Utah, where Glen enjoyed skiing for numerous years.
In the wake of Glen Doherty’s death, the Glen Doherty Memorial Foundation, affectionately known as GDMF, was launched by his friends and family. They know that it is an amazing legacy and an incredible man and friend who was lost too soon. To date, they have given over 28 scholarships to amazing candidates. The foundation gives scholarships to members of the special operations community as a means of transitioning from military to civilian life.
