March 28, 2024, 11:31:41 AM

Author Topic: 5 revelations about the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden The Shooter has no  (Read 1117 times)

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truetrini

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5 revelations about the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden
The Shooter has no health insurance, no job, and no support from the government
By Ryu Spaeth | 1:23pm EST   
 
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Navy SEALS, as portrayed in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, enter Osama Bin Laden's compound.
Navy SEALS, as portrayed in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, enter Osama Bin Laden's compound.
Jonathan Olley/2012 Zero Dark Thirty, LLC.

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his week, Esquire published the first-ever interview with the Navy SEAL who fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden. The story, by Phil Bronstein, offers a compelling glimpse into the life of the Shooter (Esquire protected his real identity), who retired from the Navy in September 2012 and is now struggling to support himself and his family. "What is much harder to understand is that a man with hundreds of successful war missions, one of the most decorated combat veterans of our age, who capped his career by terminating bin Laden, has no landing pad in civilian life," writes Bronstein. Read the entire article here. Some highlights:

1. The Shooter has no health insurance
After suffering for years from the strains of war, including having suicidal thoughts, the Shooter retired early, which left him without health insurance. "I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield," he told Esquire. "They said no. You're out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go f**k yourself." The Shooter pays $486 a month for private insurance, much of which is used to cover lingering health issues from his time in battle, including chiropractic care.

2. He has no job
By retiring early, the Shooter gave up his pension. (The pension alone would have been $2,197 a month, which Bronstein notes is "the same as a member of the Navy choir.") The Shooter has applied to become a consultant on video games, but apparently there's a glut of such experts. The Navy offered him a job in a witness-protection-like program, but it didn't suit him. "They told me they could get me a job driving a beer truck in Milwaukee," he told Esquire. "We'd lose everything." Like many veterans, the Shooter could always join a private security firm, but he says he's tired of using his gun to make a living.

3. He fears reprisals
According to Bronstein:"[H]e has trained his children to hide in their bathtub at the first sign of a problem as the safest, most fortified place in their house. His wife is familiar enough with the shotgun on their armoire to use it. She knows to sit on the bed, the weapon's butt braced against the wall, and precisely what angle to shoot out through the bedroom door, if necessary. A knife is also on the dresser should she need a backup."

4. He's ambivalent about killing bin Laden
"And I remember as I watched him breathe out the last part of air, I thought: Is this the best thing I've ever done, or the worst thing I've ever done? This is real and that's him. Holy shit," he told Esquire.

5. He may have voted for Obama
The SEALs originally planned to surrender if bin Laden's compound was surrounded by Pakistani troops. "We would surrender," the Shooter said. "The original plan was to have Vice-President Biden fly to Islamabad and negotiate our release with Pakistan's president.

"This is hearsay, but I understand Obama said, Hell no. My guys are not surrendering. What do we need to rain hell on the Pakistani military? That was the one time in my life I was thinking, I am f**king voting for this guy. I had a picture of him lying in bed at night, thinking, You're not f**king with my guys. Like, he's thinking about us."


Offline D.H.W

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Sad. I like the respect he has for Obama
"Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid."
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Offline Bakes

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I'm really not that moved. What about the others like him, both the others on the team and those who are just "regular" Special Ops?  Them fellas know what they signed up for.  It might not be optimal but he could still go to any VA hospital and get free treatment for like.  Yuh think ah beer truck driver in Milwaukee have that option?

truetrini

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Yuh really feel any veteran can just walk into a VA Hospital or clinic and get treated for free?  Nah not true!

You have to enroll, get approved for a service connected disability, be receiving compensation for that disability..and that can take a full year or more if yuh get turned down and have to appeal their decision.

If you not between 50% and 100% disabled as determined by a VA examiner (about a year to get hat done)  you have co-pays for treatment and meds. 

Now there are some financial thresholds but the entire system is shitty.

His story is a typical veteran's story...special ops of cooks.  After 16 years he should be receiving some pension or gratuity..unfortunately in the US none is coming, unless he claims disability from the VA and if approved he can get anywhere from:

http://www.military.com/benefits/veterans-health-care/va-disability-compensation-rates.html

The max he is getting for 100% is 3088.00 per month for spouse and one child plus 78 for each other child under 18.

Anyway getting treatment is not automatic.

When you join the US military you were promised free medical for you and your family WHEN ON ACTIVE duty, or if RETIRED, and while this does not apply to this man, as he failed to retire, millions of vets have to pay for treatment now might not be full payment but the rules and game changes from year to year.

It is f**ked up that this man has to fight to find a job, when for the BEST part of his life..his youth ( and not just him eh..is many millions) was spent in dangerous missions fighting for this country.




Offline Bakes

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I never said it was automatic... I said he could get it.

It might not be optimal but he could still go to any VA hospital and get free treatment for like. 

Eiligiblity screening criteria... http://www.va.gov/healthBenefits/resources/eligibility_check.asp

Offline soccerman

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Most people are asking why he left after 16 years when he knew the policy of having to serve 20 to receive pension benefits. I wonder if he's traumatized by actually being the one to shoot and kill Bin Laden and is worried for they safety of his family?

Offline just cool

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Doh worry, since this video is out for all to see, he'll be alright. in the end someone will hire him and throw big money his way.
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