Ka cika wannan jumla: Doherty shi ne na biyu cikin yara uku da aka haifa wa Bernard da Barbara Doherty. Ya horar da shi a matsayin matukin jirgi a Jami'ar Embry<unk>Riddle Aeronautical kafin ya koma Snowbird, Utah na tsawon hunturu sannan ya shiga Sojojin Ruwa na Amurka a 1995. Doherty ya yi aiki a matsayin Navy SEAL mai harbi da kuma Corpsman, ya amsa ga
harin bam na USS "Cole" kuma yana da yawon shakatawa na aiki a Iraki da Afghanistan. Ya bar rundunar sojan ruwa a shekara ta 2005 a matsayin babban jami'i na farko kuma ya shiga CIA. Bayan ya bar rundunar sojan ruwa, ya yi aiki da wani kamfanin tsaro mai zaman kansa a Afghanistan, Iraki, Isra'ila, Kenya da Libya. Ya taka muhimmiyar rawa wajen ceton PFC Jessica Lynch daga dakarun Iraki a 2003 da kuma ceton Kyaftin Richard Phillips daga 'yan fashin teku na Somalia a 2009. A cikin watan da ya gabata kafin harin, Doherty a matsayin dan kwangila tare da Ma'aikatar Harkokin Wajen, ya gaya wa ABC News a cikin wata hira cewa shi da kansa ya tafi filin a Libya don bin diddigin MANPADS, makamai masu linzami masu linzami, da kuma hallaka su.