Born on October 3rd, 1982, in Angwin, California, Darrik graduated from St. Helena High School in 2001 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy just months later, setting his course toward the SEAL Teams while still barely out of his teens.

Darrik earned his Trident and rose through the ranks to Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer First Class, serving with SEAL Team Three before earning assignment to the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, the Navy's most elite special mission unit. He was posthumously advanced to Chief Petty Officer in recognition of his service and sacrifice.

Darrik made his home in Virginia with his fiancee, Kara, and their young son, Landon, building a family even as the demands of the Teams kept him constantly deployed. In a statement after his death, his family remembered him as "our son, brother, uncle, friend and hero" who "died doing what he loved" alongside "some of the bravest men this world has ever known."

On August 6, 2011, Petty Officer Benson was aboard the CH-47 Chinook helicopter callsign Extortion 17, part of a Naval Special Warfare quick reaction force responding to support U.S. Army Rangers engaged with insurgent forces in Wardak Province. When the helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, all 38 aboard were killed, the greatest single-incident loss of life in Naval Special Warfare history.

Chief Petty Officer Darrik C. Benson gave his life at just 28 years old, leaving behind a fiancee, a young son, and a family who called him a hero. He died doing what he loved, alongside the brothers he trusted with everything.