13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi
In this Maglite podcast, Kris Tanto Paronto discusses the Film "13 Hours" and shares his firsthand account of what the movie got right.
Kris Paronto “Tanto” is a former Army Ranger and private security contractor. His experience within the military and government contracting work spans 18 years. Kris is also an accomplished public speaker, author of The Ranger Way and The Patriot’s Creed, owner of Battleline Tactical, and host and partner of E3 Firearms Association.
Transcript:
Maglite:
Welcome to the Maglite podcast. We actually have a great guest for doing tactical stuff. And of course I'm wearing my Maglite tactical patch. I like see right there. You like that,
Kris:
Kris? Uh, it looks pretty cool, dude. Looks cool. I like it.
Maglite:
So, uh, joining us here, Chris Paronto, Ranger veteran, Benghazi combatant, movie consultant, author, trainer, motivational speaker, founding member E3 Firearms Association. Man. Have you had a full life?
Kris:
That is and I'm, I'm only like 22 years old too, don't I? Look at it. It's okay. This is just stress guys. It is just lots of stress right
Maglite:
Here. Look at this. Look. Look, look at the gray there on me. I've been gray since I was 35 years
Kris:
Old. Let's is best blonde hair. Dude. We can fix that in the editing process. Christian, I know Christian can fix that in the editing process, man. He's good
Maglite:
Go. Yeah. All right. So those things. Ranger veteran Ben Oik and Batton. Movie consult, author, trainer, motivational speaker, founding member of E3 Firearms Association. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> husband.
Kris:
Aha. Most important. Husband and father.
Maglite:
Definitely husband and father. So what's your favorite role?
Kris:
Husband and father. Right. You know, I, I, it is now to say that it was when I was deploying I, um, no, I think my favorite role was, was being, being that person deploying, I think in life. It just all changes. Your, your priorities change. I, um, you know, people now you're a terrible father for saying that. Well, you know, I then, I guess I am for saying that, but I, I'm just, you gotta be honest and, and I don't think guys go overseas strictly for the money. I I don't think that's what part of it's the ego. It is part of it's seeing if you can prove yourself. And a lot of it's the brotherhood that you have with the guys right and left cuz you don't get that anywhere else. And a lot of, and then another part of it's just how lucky I was to see a lot of the world and see a lot of the world that you just can't get a tourist, a tourists visa for
Maglite:
<laugh>. Yeah. Sorry. Not go to Somalia anytime
Kris:
Soon. Yeah. I mean you go. But to see some of those things, and I, I think I've said it on other podcasts, the savage beauty of seeing bombed out buildings, of seeing 50 cow pop marks and concrete structures of, of just seeing those things. It, it, it is, it is very violent, but there is some beauty to it. It's, it's, and it's some surrealism. Um, but then it's also weird cuz you get used to it and you're like, well it is just how it, you know, I remember getting off of, uh, getting off a plane and, and uh, going to Moul, getting off a helicopter in Moo, getting in downtown Moo and then going to Soleman and driving to Kirk Cook. And once you get off, got a Kurdistan, you get into North Kirk Cook, you're back into the really, back in the hot zone again. It was like, man, I'm back home. You know, all the down telephone wires, all the drugs runner, all the dogs run around everywhere, all the, you know, just bullet holes and buildings and, and you know, watching for IEDs, vehicle born, front close devices, it's like, wow, I'm home. And even going to Yemen and getting off a plane in Yemen and getting to Sunan, getting out in some of the bad parts of Yemen, like, all right, well I feel back home. Yeah.
Maglite:
And I, I don't, I don't feel safe in downtown Seattle, LA or Portland. So
Kris:
It, it's getting very dangerous down there too. I gotta say it. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna make, I
Maglite:
Don't go to big cities much and if I do, it's, I'm out of the hotel and into the cab or the Uber and I'm going
Kris:
Wherever I'm going,
Maglite:
You know, I don't, I don't walk anywhere in places like that. Uh, speaking of surreal, I I, I had seen the movie 13 hours when it came out. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> in the theaters and I didn't know anything about you. I, I think I'd seen you contemporaneously maybe on Fox News or something.
Kris:
Yeah. We're, I was doing the news rounds in those days, CNN, it in Fox, never MSNBC, but CNN, it in Fox every
Maglite:
Once and then, uh, I saw the movie and honestly from the very beginning my, my favorite character in the movie was yours because you were funny.
Kris:
Well that's, and you know, that's the truth. Now, now that you've gotten to know me a little bit, I am funny. I try to be
Maglite:
Funny. So there's a moment in 13 hours when a couple of guys come out of the bushes when you're in the compound and they've got their hands blown off or something.
Kris:
Yeah, no, no one
Maglite:
Did your character says to him, So you blew yourself up trying to brag us. Really? Did
Kris:
That
Maglite:
Actually, actually happen?
Kris:
Yeah, actually the movie made it more intense. Uh, then it, I mean more I was, showed me as being more angry when it actually happened. I took a knee, I'm on the backside of this building here. The explosion goes off here, the first one goes up. I didn't catch any shrapnel cuz explosion went this way and I got the, But you get over pressure the movies, when it says, you see the, the win there is that, that happens in the bigger explosion. You can actually see that over pressure with a grenade. You can't, but you can feel it. So,
Maglite:
So, so you actually, this moment actually happened and it was even more surreal. I did. But it appears in the movie we're gonna ask you about your experience with Mag products and, and the mag tattoo that we just sent you and other things. But we try to keep these short and compact. So we're gonna stop this right here. We'll reset, we'll come back for another Maglite podcast with Chris Paronto.