I was referring to the two types of rapid reaction forces General Ham had at hand.
One was not mission qualified and the other was committed to two embassies that had already been overrun and were a far higher priority than the Mission Station in Benghazi.
It has been misreported that General Ham was turned down or countermanded, that never happened. He is the CinC in that theater and was stretched to thin. It was agreed that CIA personnel in Benghazi could accomplish all that could be done and extract any assets that could be recovered which they did except for Stevens.
Again, this was not a 7 hour firefight, it was 3 firefights within that 7 hour period. Our tactical decisions and responses were different each time that hostiles attacked, and different, irregular units were chosen for each relief.
To clarify, the FAST unit in Spain did deploy to our embassy in Benghazi the next day as its only mission is to reinforce embassy Marine Guards that guard the classified docs at embassies and the personnel there.
The Army Air Commando team out of Germany was held in reserve at Sigonella as they did not have air assets for this kind of mission.
Again, to have relieved Benghazi with regulars, they have to have a mission that qualifies and they have to have air assets and training qualified for the particular tactics needed at Benghazi. That is why the relief was left to our irregular forces and their friendlies.
Are you speculating here, or are you leaking classified information?
Someone with this type of information would have to either be on one of the staffs involved or is speculating.