On September 11, 2012 terrorists launched a surprise attack

against a diplomatic compound in Libya.

Former Army Ranger Kris Paronto, on the scene in Benghazi,

and during the battle for his life he knows what saved it.

My name's Kris Paronto.

Call sign was Tanto.

I was in the US Army.

I was with the 2nd battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.

NARRATOR: Kris was one of six American security operators who

fought terrorists that attacked the US State

Department, and a nearby CIA annex, in Benghazi, Libya.

He says he and his team followed ideals

that made them stronger, more disciplined, and more confident

on the field.

In his book, "The Ranger Way," he

shares how the principles that helped

him succeed on the battlefield will also

help you succeed in life.

Well Kris Paronto joins us now,

and we welcome you to "The 700 Club."

Thanks, ma'am.

I mentioned Benghazi and that such a tragic story.

I'm sure it's hard for you to have to keep going back

to that, and back to that.

At the same time, you say heroes only really die

when people stop remembering.

What do you want people to remember about those 13 hours?

You know, and when you say tragic,

I don't see Benghazi as being tragic.

It was portrayed that way, within the media,

especially during the election time.

Tragic loss, still, of life.

Tragic-- of course.

But so much, so much heroism, so much honor, so much courage.

And that's what people need to remember from Benghazi.

It was the sacrifice of my teammates

which allowed over 30 people to live.

That's remarkable.

So I don't see it as a tragedy.

I see it as just a way to learn about heroism.

And really see with the human spirit has, and that's courage.

It's a bunch of courage.

Heroism and courage, that's sort of what

the Ranger Creed is all about.

Yes.

What is the Ranger Creed, for people who don't know?

The Ranger Creed is something all Rangers say.

And it's a mantra that we have to live by, a standard above

and beyond.

100% and then some is part of it.

Always be able to give your life for others.

You are one tough dude.

No.

I mean, I am reading this book, and I'm going woo.

There's a fine line between being tough and being stupid.

I crossed that line quite a bit.

I do.

Let's just say in compromised situations,

I want to be on your team.

Thanks, ma'am.

Thank you.

You say that one of the things we need to do to become leaders

is to develop a game plan.

Sure.

Talk about the significance of that, and how

did you learn to do that?

Really, it's another word for having goals.

We have a goal in life.

But realize that goal is never a straight path.

It's always maneuvering.

It's always--

Got to stay flexible.

And that's what I was able to pull in,

even that night, within Benghazi, Libya.

People that read it will see flashbacks, where

I give something, a lesson, and say well,

this is where it was applied.

Because it's a story that people know.

When we left, the plan was to go straight

there, get the ambassador, come straight back.

Well, because of the delay, because of the stand down,

we weren't able to do that.

So our plan deviated.

But having that final goal state was still-- it allowed you

some direction to get there.

And you're just going to have to adjust.

We call it adjust fire.

Just adjust your way to it.

But just continue to move forward towards that goal.

As long as you keep moving forward,

you're going to succeed.

And those surprise turns happen in life.

All the time.

All the time.

I mean, I was so impressed with how

you took the things that you learned

as the Ranger, and the experiences

that you personally had.

And then brought it to a place where it really

could affect all of our lives, or we could learn some things

from this.

Like you talk about never quitting.

Yes, ma'am.

I mean, when I read some of the physical things

you guys go through, I just thought, wow.

I mean, how does the--

what do you do when the mind and the body say,

I can't do this anymore.

I put an example in there.

I remember the first time that happened

was my first time through basic training.

People that read the book will find out

that I went through basic training twice.

And Ranger indoc twice, and airborne school twice.

Because of a mistake I made within the military

the first time.

But I remember the first time that I felt awful.

And I was [INAUDIBLE] too.

I call it going to your happy place.

I thought of someplace, and I thought of a field

out in the middle of nowhere.

And I live in Nebraska, out in the middle of Nebraska,

and the grass growing.

And I just went.

And you go to your solemn place, where the pain just kind of

goes away.

You accept the pain.

You feel it, you accept that physical-- physical pain

is easy to deal with.

It's up here that you've got to handle it.

But that physical pain, and you go to that happy place.

And you feel it.

And you're able to embrace it, and deal with it.

It's really not that hard.

But you were prepared, too.

I mean you were somebody who, you

didn't wait until the moment needed you to be tough.

I mean you got tough ahead of time.

That was-- and I was very lucky.

I have great parents, a great mother and father

that dad taught me about toughness.

And a great grandfather and grandmother.

And people that don't know this.

My grandfather was a farmer.

He was an illegal immigrant that got his citizenship, worked,

and then he got his own farm.

He taught us about hard work.

And I saw him working on the farm every day.

So I had a good upbringing to pull that from.

Which is in the book as well.

You had you had a really good attitude about--

My mom would say something different.

She might not tell you I had a good attitude.

All of us moms would say something different.

However.

Exactly.

I want to talk a little bit about leadership,

because if there was a sad failure to Banghazi,

you'd have to say that it was the lack of leadership,

of someone really calling what needed to be called.

I just couldn't imagine your frustration

with all your training, and being told repeatedly

you had to stand down.

You know, You know, and then when

we kept requesting support.

And we realized it wasn't coming.

But how we dealt with that, myself and Boon,

David Benton who was up on the roof with me.

He was a Marine sniper recon guy.

He'd worked with me for 10 years.

We turned it into a joke.

We really did.

Hey, is anybody coming?

No.

And finally, got to the point where he came up to me

and I said, hey, is [INAUDIBLE] coming?

And he goes, well it was, but it's not now.

And he came to me again.

I said, well is Domino's Pizza coming now?

You turn it into--

Well you'd go crazy if you didn't

put some perspective to it.

And you've got to put it into humor.

And that's a lot in the book, too.

Sometime turning into humor is OK.

Then you talk in the book, a lot

about making the right choice.

And you know when there's a lack of leadership,

sometimes the right choice can cost you.

But you do it anyway.

And if it did.

It cost us our jobs.

We did the right thing.

But as long as you're doing the right thing,

God will take care of you.

I've said that and that's--

always go with God's law over man's law,

if you have to make that decision.

Tell me about your faith.

Because there's the place in that battle where

you knew the only way to get to the strategic position

that you needed to be in was to step right out

into the middle of fire.

You dropped to a knee.

I mean, you should not be here right now.

But you have faith.

And you also learn from your brothers in the past.

When it happened, I thought of the Rangers

that jumped into Panama.

They jumped into an open airfield.

We learn our Ranger history when we go to Ranger battalion.

And there was no cover for them.

And the only way they got off that airfield

was shooting their way off.

And I thought, God let me learn those things.

So when that night came, and that position came.

Well those guys did it, I'm a Ranger,

I need to do the same thing.

I learned from the past experience,

from the past toughness of the 75th Ranger Regiment.

You know, as I read your book at the end of it I thought,

wow, how does somebody who has lived this kind of adventure,

who's had this kind of adrenaline rush

come back to life?

What do you do now?

It's not easy.

But you know, I speak.

I actually probably travel more than I should.

I still am speaking constantly.

You know, I do represent some brands,

as far as I still work within the firearms community,

the tactical community.

I'm still an instructor at 88 Tactical in Omaha

and in the Midwest.

But I do miss it.

And we'll see, maybe next year when all this calms down,

maybe I'll go back.

But it all depends, because we did lose our clearances when we

told the truth, from the CIA.

They did fire us.

And that's difficult to stomach.

I want to say it's a great book.

It's a fascinating story.

And I just want to say it's worth the read,

because it's called "The Ranger Way,"

but you'll find out that the Ranger way can pay off

for all of us.

It really can.

Well said.

Yeah, you could find it in stores nationwide.

It's called "The Ranger Way."

And Kris, we thank you for being with us.

Thank you again, God bless.

What life you have lead.

Thank you again, ma'am.