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SEAL Who Allegedly Shot and Killed Bin Laden Reveals Stunning New Details About the Raid — And You Won’t Believe How He Says the Gov’t Has Treated Him Since

Feb. 11, 2013 2:28pm

Editor’s note: See the important update at the bottom of this story about the claim that the SEAL did not have health care.

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Navy SEAL Who Killed Osama Bin Laden Unemployed, Abandoned by the Government After Retiring

(Photo: AP)

Phil Bronstein spent more than a year researching a piece published Monday in Esquire on the life of the Navy SEAL who allegedly killed Osama bin Laden.  He formed a friendship with the man, whom he refers to only as “the Shooter” throughout the piece for safety reasons, learning new details about the famous raid and — more shockingly — the Shooter’s life post-retirement.

The Shooter isn’t exactly able to write on his résumé that he’s the man who killed Osama Bin Laden– details about the mission are strictly classified and he adheres to a “quiet professional” code.  The Shooter says he has no interest in making himself a public figure like the author of No Easy Day, who was also on the raid and was one of the men to shoot Bin Laden after the terrorist had been killed by the Shooter.  So where is he now?

Apparently, in the same boat as many of America’s other veterans.

Navy SEAL Who Killed Osama Bin Laden Unemployed, Abandoned by the Government After Retiring

(Photo: White House)

This is a man who recalls the Osama bin Laden raid not from images on a television, but from a first-person perspective.  He related grisly new details in his first-ever interview, even sharing what he was thinking at the time:

[Bin Laden] looked confused. And way taller than I was expecting. He had a cap on and didn’t appear to be hit…

For me, it was a snapshot of a target ID, definitely him. Even in our kill houses where we train, there are targets with his face on them. This was repetition and muscle memory. That’s him, boom, done.

[...]

In that second, I shot him, two times in the forehead. Bap! Bap! The second time as he’s going down. He crumpled onto the floor in front of his bed and I hit him again, Bap! same place. That time I used my EOTech red-dot holo sight. He was dead. Not moving. His tongue was out. I watched him take his last breaths, just a reflex breath.

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.

[...]

His forehead was gruesome. It was split open in the shape of a V. I could see his brains spilling out over his face. The American public doesn’t want to know what that looks like. [Emphasis added]

Navy SEAL Who Killed Osama Bin Laden Unemployed, Abandoned by the Government After Retiring

A Pakistani woman and a girl walk through a path in a field next to the demolished house where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was caught and killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Sunday, April 29, 2012. (Photo: AP)

So where is he now?  The Esquire article explains:

“No one who fights for this country overseas should ever have to fight for a job,” Barack Obama said last Veterans’ Day, “or a roof over their head, or the care that they have earned when they come home.”

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.

Since Abbottabad, he 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.

Then there is the “bolt” bag of clothes, food, and other provisions for the family meant to last them two weeks in hiding.

“Personally,” his wife told me recently, “I feel more threatened by a potential retaliatory terror attack on our community than I did eight years ago,” when her husband joined ST6.

When the White House identified SEAL Team 6 as those responsible, camera crews swarmed into their Virginia Beach neighborhood, taking shots of the SEALs’ homes.  [Emphasis added]

Navy SEAL Who Killed Osama Bin Laden Unemployed, Abandoned by the Government After Retiring

School students supporting Pakistani political and Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami (JI), march during an anti-US protest rally in Karachi on December 19, 2011. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

The Shooter and his wife are actually separated, but still live in the same house to save money.  The $60,000 a year he made with extra bonuses for different activities has dried up, and they haven’t yet found a way to replace it.

“We’re actually looking into changing my name,” she explained. “Changing the kids’ names, taking my husband’s name off the house, paying off our cars. Essentially deleting him from our lives, but for safety reasons. We still love each other.”

According to Bronstein, the only assistance The Shooter was offered was a witness-protection like program where the national hero would be “driving a beer truck in Milwaukee.”  The family would have to sever all connections to their former life.

A former SEAL and mentor to the Shooter noted: “These guys have millions of dollars’ worth of knowledge and training in their heads…All sorts of executive function skills. That shouldn’t go to waste.”

Retired Marine major general Mike Myatt added: “It’s criminal to me that these guys walk out the door naked…They’re the greatest of their generation; they know how to get things done. If I were a Fortune 500 company, I’d try to get my hands on any one of them.”

Navy SEAL Who Killed Osama Bin Laden Unemployed, Abandoned by the Government After Retiring

This image released by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency shows a scale model of the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was killed. (Photo: AP)

Bronstein says one conversation in particular exemplifies the abandonment:

“I left SEALs on Friday,” [the Shooter] said the next time I saw him. It was a little more than thirty-six months before the official retirement requirement of twenty years of service. “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. You’re out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go [f--k] yourself.”

The Esquire article concludes with the Shooter’s perception of the movie Zero Dark Thirty, the author adding that a line from the film has been haunting him.

The tactics “sucked,” the Shooter said, and “the mission in the damn movie took way too long,” but other than that he said he was largely pleased.

But the real-life risks and ramifications were summed up by the actor playing the CIA station chief, who warned: “Once you’re on their list, you never get off.”

Click here to read the entire Esquire article.

–

UPDATE: The blog Stars and Stripes is reporting that the Navy SEAL that reportedly killed Osama bin Laden actually does have 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.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Comments (369)

1 2 3 4 … 8
  • leeloo4
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:49pm

    Will Glenn Beck be setting up a fund drive to assist this SEAL too? He needs it.
    He is on our prayer list, but know he needs physical assistance NOW!

    Report this comment

    leeloo4  
  • BlackCrow
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:48pm

    This guy needs to get to the DAV or the Legion ASAP and apply for a disability then get one of the law firms to take an appeal if he needs to. It’s his benefit and the Navy isn’t going to tell him about it.

    Report this comment

    BlackCrow  
  • iluv2bfree
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:48pm

    Wow some of you people don’t have very deep thought processes. You know nothing about this guy and why he left when he did instead of getting retirement, or what else he has been through since 9/11. With all he has done for the country anyone who judges him negatively in any way based on this little bit of info, is a shallow minded turd.

    Report this comment

    iluv2bfree  
  • HollyW
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:47pm

    According to a report in the Daily Rash, the Navy Seal also said the evidence his team collected during the raid shows that Osama bin Laden was planning to open a Dairy Queen franchise in Kandahar before he was killed. http://www.thedailyrash.com/osama-bin-ladens-dream-of-owning-dairy-queen-franchise-thwarted

    Report this comment

    HollyW  
  • MrKnowItAll
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:46pm

    If you truly Believe Osama is Dead. Then our Government again is Kissing the Enemies Rear by not Proving it.

    Report this comment

    MrKnowItAll  
  • Snipet
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:46pm

    If this Seal choose to leave before his retirement then he needs to accept the consequences of that. If the seal choose to leave due to being a target and needed to take care of his family the goverment owes him something can we be sure that he was not offered something no so far all we now is a reporter has done a story on someone and can not divulge anything for safety reasons as well as he should. I suspect that this individual will and should somehow be compensated. But we will never know

    Report this comment

    Snipet  
    • WildschweinJager
      Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:56pm

      Again this is the reality….The Pentagon keeps wondering and playing mind games with the press and the service members about how they can’t understand why 22 Veterans commit suicide everyday. VA’s stats, not mine…..Sleep tight America…….Thank Mr Panetta for his service.

      Report this comment

      WildschweinJager  
  • napoleon_solo
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:33pm

    “I could see his brains spilling out over his face. The American public doesn’t want to know what that looks like. [Emphasis added]”

    Yes, I do. I do not take the government’s word for anything.

    Report this comment

    napoleon_solo  
  • KalanVA
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:31pm

    As a taxpayer, it would be in our interest to protect those who protect us. Maybe we can kick a couple of undeserving welfare recipients off the government dole and help those who actually defend our country.

    Report this comment

    KalanVA  
  • kalayaan
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:28pm

    I hope that whoever makes money out of the Bin Laden movie should give him and the other SEALS a share…without him and the other SEALS there is no Bin Laden movie….

    Report this comment

    kalayaan  
  • Randyrocker
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:28pm

    The US government offered $50,000,000.00 that’s Fifty Million US Dollars for information that would help in the definite capture of Osama Bin Laden. The Dentist that gave that information and helped the US government to where Osama Bin Laden was supposed to receive the reward, but instead has been stuck inside of a Pakistani Prison, to the joy of the American government, who can let him rot in jail and avoid having to pay out any of the reward money, saving the US government $50,000,000.00.
    Yet for the Navy Seal Team 6 shooter who actually killed Osama Bin Laden, the US government gives him nothing, and won’t even cover any of his current needs and costs. This is a total disgrace!
    The US government, may think that it’s saved itself $50 Million dollars, and can skip out on paying off what is rightly due the Dentist in the Pakistani Jail, but they can never be allowed to get away with treating this Seal Team 6 member the way that they’ve done. If the press won’t talk about it, the people posting on the internet must.

    Report this comment

    Randyrocker  
  • P4cooler
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:27pm

    The problem is… Osama bin Ladin died in 2002 of dialysis. Remember Obama’s response “In keeping with Muslim tradition, we buried him at sea”. Muslims live in the desert u jack-wagon!

    Report this comment

    P4cooler  
  • docvet
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:25pm

    First, let me say I have the highest respect for this man’s service, training and courage and I am deeply grateful for his commitment and sacrifice. BUT, as a 26 year Navy veteran, he is getting the same benefits every other serviceman gets based on his time in military service. All of his service related medical problems are covered by the Veterans Administration medical facilities. There is a good chance, if his medical problems are severe enough, he will get a disability pension from the VA. Maybe his discharging command was remiss in explaining his benefits (or lack thereof) for taking a discharge (not retirement) at 16 years of service. There is a saying in the service that we do whatever is needed because “it all counts on 20″, refering to the minimum 20 years of active duty service to retire. He should have been told about short term major medical policies available for purchase to carry him over until he can make other arrangements (e.g., a job with medical benefits). Further, no one is standing at the gate begging any serviceman to come work for a company. I am also disturbed by this man’s disclosure of his SEAL duties since most special forces are expected to avoid discussing their operations unless it is authorized or openly public in nature. Again, I wish to thank him for exemplary service, but I am disappointed with what appears to be his lack of personal planning and what sounds like whining.

    Report this comment

    docvet  
  • Blazer58
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:24pm

    I would be more then happy to donate money to help him make a new life. Our politicians do not have a problem spending 338.3 billion dollars on illegal immigrants in America. But when it comes to man/woman who serve our country, they just do not care. The America I was told exist does not.
    The politicians continue to use each other to hide the truth. They do not care about anyone who cannot give them money or power.
    “The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
    ― Albert Einstein
    We need to something about it.

    Report this comment

    Blazer58  
  • Mr.Fitnah
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:23pm

    Yeah shooter , when you quit your job they stop paying you.
    20 and out 50% 30 and out 100%.

    Report this comment

    Mr.Fitnah  
  • rfycom
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:18pm

    Not at all trying to take away what this man did for his country, but come the **** on. Never assume someone of the government owes you anything. We don’t want another progressive do we?

    Report this comment

    rfycom  
    • WildschweinJager
      Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:29pm

      Yeah, what about ….Planned Parenthood……..Welfare……………..Food Stamps………………Obamacare………….the list goes on and on…………

      Report this comment

      WildschweinJager  
  • WildschweinJager
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:18pm

    This Seal was treated poorly for his service. The Pentagon keeps wondering and playing mind games with the press and the service members about how they can’t understand why 22 Veterans commit suicide everyday. VA’s stats, not mine…..Sleep tight America…….Thank Mr Panetta for his service.

    Report this comment

    WildschweinJager  
  • Bryan
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:10pm

    This not only angered me for the disregard our current administration has for the safety of these brave individuals it also deeply saddened me for how politicians have methodically and historically mistreated our Nations Top Defenders post-service. There are way too many Veterans out there who are suffering needlessly. They should be FIRST on the list for every privilege this Nation has to offer!

    Report this comment

    Bryan  
  • m14guy
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:10pm

    Maybe some day I’ll meet you in line at the VA. I hope I get to say thank you. I’ll tell you something I learned in 1971 when I got out. Except for immediate family and our fellow vets no cares or wants to know. When we went to war the country was at the mall. The hard truth starts to sink in as you are no longer in the “system” that trained, nourished and sheltered you & your family. Your now on the “outside”. You will have disappointments and set backs but you will prevail. The person you are will not allow anything else.

    Report this comment

    m14guy  
  • huey6367
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:09pm

    I have not noticed this before, but in that second photo down (the Situation Room I think it is called) notice how Obama appears smaller than everyone else in the room (head is noticeably smaller than others). I do believe this is another photoshop job.

    Report this comment

    huey6367  
  • Charbet
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:08pm

    There must be somebody who reads this story who is in a position to offer this Seal and others employment!

    Report this comment

    Charbet  
  • Jhn'1
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:08pm

    Civilian employers have to allow access to the health plan (at the former employee’s exclusive cost) through COBRA legislation.

    Report this comment

    Jhn'1  
  • OUTLAW_WEALTH
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:06pm

    Black ops, CIA, dirty games, public disinformation, who can you trust? Your own government?

    Report this comment

    OUTLAW_WEALTH  
  • SLOWBIDEN
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:02pm

    He said the American public doesn’t want to know what he looked like after he shot. BS I was recalled back in 2003 because of that POS I want to see the pictures

    Report this comment

    SLOWBIDEN  
  • Ghandi was a Republican
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:02pm

    Not to worry.. Obama milked the helll out of it. He cringed in the corner of the situation room after 3 days of “thinking about it”, while seeking scapegoats for any failure. He put his political Azz on the line for you. “Serve the State Comrades”

    Report this comment

    Ghandi was a Republican  
  • Clownzilla
    Posted on February 11, 2013 at 3:01pm

    The main reason why I decided to not join the Army after I graduated was I felt that I would be taking a bullet for people who didn’t appreciate me. It is VERY hard to defend people that insult you after you risk your life every day to keep them safe. I honestly don’t see how the military keeps soldiers the way they do. Especially for these Special Ops teams. Listen, these people flew into Pakistan as “invaders”, roped down into the middle of enemy territory, raided a fortified compound that was going to be full of all sorts of unknown factors, killed the world’s #1 enemy, and the got out with every soldier alive. That was absolutely AMAZING and these guys are military legends yet there are people sitting on their couch right now complaining that this guy “should of been in for 4 more years” to get his benefits. Seriously!? Why would I defend people like that?! Why should I care that invaders come into this country and kill a bunch of civilians when those civilians could care less about be putting my #$% on the line to protect them every day? I understand that not all people are unappreciative of the military but unfortunately, too many are.

    Report this comment

    Clownzilla  
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