Glen Doherty's sister describes 'an American hero' as Sean Smith's friends recall final message saying he was under attack
Glen Doherty, former Navy Seal
Glen Doherty was a former US navy special forces soldier and co-author of a book two years ago titled Navy Seal Sniper: An Intimate Look at the Sniper of the 21st Century.
Doherty's sister, Kate Quigley, on Thursday called him "an American hero" and described his involvement in the mission to rescue a soldier, private Jessica Lynch, captured by Iraq at the beginning of the 2003 US invasion.
Doherty, 42, was working for a private security company hired by the US state department to guard the American ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, who was also killed in the attack on the Benghazi consulate.
His author biography described him as a "combat-decorated Seal who served the US navy for nine years" and who "trained operators all over the world". He attended the Seal special forces medical school and also trained as a sniper. He served in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. After he left the navy in 2005 he moved into private security he spent time in Israel, Pakistan and Kenya, among other countries. He also previously served a three month stint in Libya.
Quigley said Libya "wasn't his favourite place".
Doherty told ABC News last month that he was working with the state department in Libya to track down missiles that can shoot down planes which were looted from military bases during the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. US officials were concerned thousands of the missing shoulder-fired missiles could fall into the hands of extremist groups.
"Doherty said that he travelled throughout Libya chasing reports of the weapons and once they were found, his team would destroy them on the spot by bashing them with hammers or repeatedly running them over with their vehicles," ABC wrote.
Doherty also sat on the board of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an organisation combating religious influence in the military.
Quigley said she doubted her brother was the victim of a random protest over an anti-Muslim film.
"You have to understand, Glen was highly trained. He was the best of the best. He wouldn't have gone down for some protest over a movie," she said. "This was serious, well-planned, well-executed. He was very good at what he did." Quigley said: "He always knew the dangers, but he never talked about it. ... He's been going overseas since 9/11, and he's always made it back."
Sean Smith, 'Vile Rat' in online gaming community
Sean Smith was a US air force veteran who worked at American embassies in South Africa, Iraq and Belgium before his posting to Libya.
The 34-year-old father of two was a ground maintenance specialist in the air force for seven years and left as a staff sergeant in 2002. He joined the state department 10 years ago.
Smith's posting as an information management officer was meant to be a brief assignment. A regular player of online games known by the name "Vile Rat", the last the outside world heard of Smith was when he sent an alarmed message to a fellow gamer as the US consulate in Benghazi came under attack.
A message earlier in the evening made a reference to "assuming we don't die tonight" and noted that one of "our" police had been taking pictures of the compound. When the attack began, he sent an instant message to a fellow gamer, Alex Gianturco, saying "fuck" and then "gunfire" before he was disconnected.
"We knew that Vile Rat was in Benghazi; he told us. He commented on how they use guns to celebrate weddings and how there was a constant susurrus of weaponry in the background. He was in situ to provide IT services for the consulate, which meant he was on the net all the time, hanging out with us on Jabber as usual and talking about internet spaceship games. … I'm clearly in shock as I write this as everything is buzzing around my head funnily, and I feel kind of dead inside."