Minutes after Tate Jolly arrived at the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, a mortar hit the compound where an ambassador and another American had been killed and dozens more were trapped.
The Marine gunnery sergeant was one of only two U.S. troops with a small task force that rushed to respond to what quickly became clear was a coordinated attack on the U.S. State Department facility.
It was a remarkable mission. The closest military backup was hours away, which later led to fierce debate about how U.S. troops should be postured to protect Americans and diplomatic posts overseas.
I still want to know why out of all our troops in Europe--during wartime--that we couldn't scrape together a platoon of troops, military police, or base security personnel and a plane to send them to Libya.
That was effed up, and we still don't know why our troops in Europe didn't march to the sound of the guns that September 11, 2012.
Security personnel in that task force did march to the sound of the guns despite the odds. The problem is that none of the American military in Europe did that. Why not?
UPDATE: Seriously, this much would have been enough.
