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SEAL who shot bin Laden speaks out


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SEAL who shot bin Laden speaks out

blogger-stableford-40_041211.jpgBy Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 16 hrs ago

white-house-situation-room-flickr.jpgThe Situation Room of the White House on May 1, 2011. (Pete Souza/White House)

The U.S. Navy SEAL who shot and killed Osama bin Laden is speaking out for the first time since the May 1, 2011, raid on the al-Qaida leader's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

In an interview with Esquire, the former SEAL—identified as "The Shooter" due to what the magazine described as "safety" reasons—said he's been largely abandoned by the U.S. government since leaving the military last fall.

He told Esquire he decided to speak out to both correct the record of the bin Laden mission and to put a spotlight on how some of the U.S. military's highly trained and accomplished soldiers are treated by the government once they return to civilian life.

Despite killing the world's most-wanted terrorist, he said, he was not given a pension, health care or protection for himself or his family.

"[sEAL command] told me they could get me a job driving a beer truck in Milwaukee," he told Esquire.

Plus, he said, "my health care for me and my family stopped. I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They said no. You're out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your 16 years. Go f--- yourself."

The problem seems to be that "The Shooter" left the military well before the 20-year requirement for retirement benefits.

esquire-bin-laden.jpg(Esquire)

According to the magazine, the government provides 180 days of transitional health care benefits, but the Shooter was ineligible because he did not agree to remain on active duty in a support role or become a "reservist." Instead, the magazine noted, he will "have to wait at least eight months to have his disability claims adjudicated."

The SEAL also gave his account of the historic raid, including the moment he pulled the trigger and shot bin Laden.

“In that second, I shot him, two times in the forehead," he told Esquire. "Bap! Bap! The second time as he’s going down. He crumpled onto the floor in front of his bed. He was dead. I watched him take his last breaths. 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?

"I'm not religious," he added. "But I always felt I was put on the earth to do something specific. After that mission, I knew what it was."

He also recalled watching CNN's coverage of the first anniversary of bin Laden's death.

"They were saying, 'So now we're taking viewer e-mails. Do you remember where you were when you found out Osama bin Laden was dead?' And I was thinking: Of course I remember. I was in his bedroom looking down at his body."

In September 2012, fellow former SEAL Team 6 member Matt Bissonnette published a controversial book, "No Easy Day," under a pen name about the raid, drawing the ire of both his fellow SEALs and the Pentagon.

A spokeswoman for Esquire told Yahoo News that the magazine did not pay the SEAL for the interview.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/seal-shot-osama-bin-laden-speaks-143245195.html

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This is nothing new.

It took a month for my discharge back in the 70's.

That was 3 weeks of security debriefing, including interviews by an assortment of shrinks to be sure I wasn't going to sell military secrets to the Russians, then a couple days of being told don't snap on civilians.

Then nothing.

The culture shock itself unnerving to say the least.

Every single veteran out there will tell you the same thing.

It takes months at best to re-acclimate, some of my friends never really did.

Now there are excellent support groups, and this guy can hook up with brothers that will help the transition.

Don't know why he opted out with only 3 to go, but when you have had enough, that's it.

I can't imagine how it is for guys today, at any moment they can be made a scapegoat for just defending themselves.

I want to send a big shout out to all vets and currently serving, please know you have the minds, hearts, and prayers of the American people you served.

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***///***///***///

this is clearly the administration who does not believe in....

NO MAN LEFT BEHIND.

ref: Benghazi as well...... dry.gif

only nice to Our Troops when it benefits their evil agenda. angry.gif

There are no sides, only rules and regulations. All military personnel know, or should know these rules and regs. The administration would have nothing to do with this. If this former seal feels he has the right to circumvent the rules because of his heroic actions, he may not be the hero we think he is. He has all the same military benefits as any other service person that calls it a day before reaching 20 years.

GO RV, then BV

Edited by Shabibilicious
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What's

the REAL Story with the SEAL Who Shot Bin Laden?

By Bobby Eberle February 12, 2013 12:16 pm

Is it hype all in the name of trying to sell more magazines? Is it deliberate twisting of the facts to mislead the public? Or is it a simple misunderstanding? These are the questions that are popping up ever since Esquire Magazine published a story about the Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden... claiming that the government has left him with "nothing."

First there is the Esquire interview. In it, writer Phil Bronstein talks with one of the members of SEAL Team 6, known as "the Shooter." This former Navy SEAL is the man who actually shot and killed bin Laden.

For the first time, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden tells his story — speaking not just about the raid and the three shots that changed history, but about the personal aftermath for himself and his family. And the startling failure of the United States government to help its most experienced and skilled warriors carry on with their lives.

Later in the article, Bronstein writes:

But the Shooter will discover soon enough that when he leaves after sixteen years in the Navy, his body filled with scar tissue, arthritis, tendonitis, eye damage, and blown disks, here is what he gets from his employer and a grateful nation:

Nothing. No pension, no health care, and no protection for himself or his family.

Fox News has picked up the story and reports, "The hero frogman is bitter as he waits for disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to an exclusive story for Esquire by the Center for Investigative Reporting. After quitting just three years short of retirement, he has no health care or pension, he said."

“I left SEALs on Friday,” the unnamed SEAL told author Phil Bronstein last September. “My health care for me and my family stopped at midnight Friday night.

“I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They said no,” the SEAL told Bronstein, executive chairman of the Center for Investigative Reporting. “You’re out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go f--- yourself.”

Here's Fox's video report:

The web site Stars and Stripes, has taken issue with the Esquire interview, especially the portion which implies that the government left "the Shooter" without any health care.

Except the claim about health care is wrong. And no servicemember who does less than 20 years gets a pension, unless he has to medically retire.

Like every combat veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the former SEAL, who is identified in the story only as “the Shooter”, is automatically eligible for five years of free healthcare through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

But the story doesn’t mention that.

The writer, Phil Bronstein, who heads up the Center for Investigative Reporting, stands by the story. He said the assertion that the government gave the SEAL “nothing” in terms of health care is both fair and accurate, because the SEAL didn’t know the VA benefits existed.

“No one ever told him that this is available,” Bronstein said.

He said there wasn’t space in the article to explain that the former SEAL’s lack of healthcare was driven by an ignorance of the benefits to which he is entitled.

So what's the real story? Has "the Shooter" really been left high and dry by the government, or is Bronstein being over-the-top with his descriptions?

http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/2013/02/12/whats-the-real-story-with-the-seal-who-shot-bin-laden/?subscriber=1

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