Update: The SEAL who killed bin Laden

• Gardens35

  Article here....http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/us/esquire-navy-seal/index.html?hpt=us_c2
  
  
  A variety of comments follow the article.
• Pick6

  

  why didnt he just stay in the military? Surely they could have found a position for him.
  
  Seems he knew he was throwing the benefits away. Hard to have pity for him.
• Midstate01

  

  He could have still worked with the seals but not done missions. Or done another job in the Navy. Leaving at the 16 year mark is stupid.
• Raw Dawgin' it

  

  ccrunner609;1387111 wrote:Who cares what you did.......you quit your job within 4 years of full pension and benefits for life. He is dumb. Likely a easier target as a civilian then a serviceman.

  lol lets see how long you would last. All that training as a gym teacher should allow you to skip seal training.
• Dr Winston O'Boogie

  

  It is too harsh to judge the guy for leaving after 16 years based upon a short article. Who knows what his state of mind was/is. Killing bin Laden sounds great and heroic, but I imagine it also was a very scary endeavor knowing that it may make him a target forever. Whatever the reason he left he service when he did, he took part in an incredibly couragious action on all our behalfs. I hope the upcoming article in Esquire sheds some light on things. Who knows, maybe it will reconnect him to the Navy or to some other organization that can help him.
  
  I respect that this guy hasn't gone for the quick buck by writing yet another Seal biography highlighting his own heroics. That sounds like true service brotherhood and as such, I wish him well.
• FatHobbit

  

  Could he re-up for a different job to finish out his 20 or is it to late now?
• Scarlet_Buckeye

  

  Gotta imagine this guy could make MILLIONS... if he wanted to.
• thavoice

  To be a SEAL you pretty much have to re enlist at least once is what I was told by a Team guy. With all the training they require and put you through they want to get something out of their investment. After around 8 years they have a decisio to make as another re enlistment and they are past half way of their retirement. I dont know why he left at 16 other then the pressure and stress. He would have been better served to stick around. There was no reason why he couldnt ge re assigned or get a training gig or something like that.
  Read one spot where he said a shrink blew him off when he talked of symptons. I find that hard to believe. Team guy I know mentions how much they baby them after deployments/ops with constant contact with Dr.s and shrinks etc and if you give any inkling of ain issue they hound you about it.
  
  
  I know that many Team guys dont like those who speak out like this, or even give interviews in the media even if it just analysis. That isnt what they are supposed to do. They are supposed to do their jobs, do them well, and go home and not talk about it.
  
  But it is pretty cool shit.
  
  I found this interesting.....
  
  
  The Esquire piece also quoted the Navy SEAL as saying that the team initially had been given instructions to surrender if they found themselves surrounded by the Pakistani military during the raid on Abbottabad complex where bin Laden had been living.

  1. “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***ing voting for this guy. I had a picture of him lying in bed at night, thinking, ‘You're not f***ing with my guys.’ Like, he's thinking about us.”
• Manhattan Buckeye

  Pick6;1387100 wrote:why didnt he just stay in the military? Surely they could have found a position for him.
  
  Seems he knew he was throwing the benefits away. Hard to have pity for him.

  That's the million dollar question. If he enlisted at 19, he is in his late 30's at the time of his departure. One would think there would be a position in training or some other administrative role for him to get his pension (compared to the pensions for other government employees).
  
  It was a highly entertaining read, but although questions were answered about the raid, more were raised. From the author's words, he seemed like a pretty intelligent, if not uneducated person. At any rate I hope he gets the financial support he needs.
• Gblock

  i think he is trying to file a disability claim under some type of ptsd...for spending so many years killing people
• TedSheckler

  

  He is covered.
  
  http://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/apply/returning_servicemembers.asp
  
  Esquire is aware of this. They ran with this story. It has everything that reinforces their mistaken beliefs. Heck, the whole "disenfranchised veteran, cut loose by an uncaring government" meme is like porn to them.
• Tiernan

  Scarlet_Buckeye;1387451 wrote:Gotta imagine this guy could make MILLIONS... if he wanted to.

  This guy has already cut a very lucrative private security gig with fabulous perks and benefits. I can't reveal how I know this.
• said_aouita

  

  ccrunner609;1387111 wrote:Who cares what you did.......you quit your job within 4 years of full pension and benefits for life. He is dumb. Likely a easier target as a civilian then a serviceman.

  Being a Seal Team 6 member is slightly more stressful than teaching some 7th grader the proper technique of kick ball.