You Got Bin Laden....Now What?

[SASless]

What is life like for the US Navy SEAL that shot Bin Laden?

Awards, Decorations, Adulation, Notoriety?

Perhaps you might be surprised at the reality?

Man Who Killed Osama Bin Laden - Treatment of Veteran Who Shot bin Laden - Esquire (http://www.esquire.com/features/man-who-shot-osama-bin-laden-0313)

[500N]

It's an interesting article.

I would have tried to stay in for 4 more years to get the pension,
even a desk or admin / stores job somewhere in the SEAL / Socom
family.

Although after 12 tours, hell you would be stuffed.

[tartare]

It's a long article - but worth the read and a real indictment of the lack of support available to ex Special Forces members.
At the very least the guy deserves some sort of meritorious pension for the rest of his natural days.

[SASless]

He will be able to apply for Compensation for injuries, wounds, and illnesses from the Veterans Administration. That will help some but still won't pay his bills.

The real problem he faces is psychological....after serving in SEAL Team 6, having gotten Bin Laden.....he will have to find a way to replace those kinds of challenges to put meaning back into his life.

Buzz Aldrin.....the Second Man on the Moon....had that life crisis so it is not unknown.

In time I am sure he will do well after he figures out what is really important to him....his family and friends. Something will turn up for him as the SEALs are a very close knit group.

[500N]

I agree, it is replacing the close "family" that is hard.

Like the guy Mark B who wrote the book said,
once you come home is it back to normal and
as one guy walked through the door, he was
handed the baby !!!


Tartare
Is it just Ex SF members or everyone who leaves after a few years ?

[Andu]

I wonder if the female CIA analyst portrayed in 'Zero Dark Thirty' has managed to move on (in her head)? And whether she's suffering 'tall poppy syndrome' from some of her supervisors if she's still with the Company? I'll bet she rubbed a few people the wrong way over 12 years as she chased OBL, and nothing upsets time servers more than an underling who succeeds despite their best efforts. The most telling scene in that movie was when she actually got to see the Big Cheese in Washington and she was shuffled off to the chair on the wall, well away from the top table.

[500N]

Andu

She got in a bit of strife re an email she sent around
after - I believe - being passed over for promotion.

If you do a google search it will come up.

[tartare]

I guess that given the extraordinary demands of the role, and frequency with which some of the SpecOps people are put directly in harms way - I would have thought that someone who'd achieved something so significant might have a valid case for receiving special treatment.
But then again probably opening up a hornets nest there... singling people out etc.
It just seems plain wrong that he's left in such a vulnerable state.

[Runaway Gun]

After reading the article in it's entirety, I don't think he expects any special treatment. It appears that he's pointing out that just like pretty much every other soldier/airman/seamen/marine, he put in the hard work, risked his life, deployed often, lost his marriage, and has been discarded. Definitely unprepared for civilian life.

If he does use his 'fame' to draw attention to the plight of him and others like him, then he'll be just as big a voice as Captain Sullenberger is in his field.

[DADDY-OH!]

"So you got Bin Laden. What next?"

How about Piers Morgan?

[SASless]

There was a fella name of Ollie North who was provided a 24/7 body guard detail after a Terrorist group threatened him and his family, and confirmed their ability by making it known they did in fact have ability to enter his home.

The Detail lasted a fair while but was finally withdrawn after no small expense by the Federal Government.

As you also might recall....the same government put him on trial for having installed a Security System in his home that had been paid for by others than himself.

Then we think back to the Captain of the USS Vincennes after that tragic shoot down of the Iranian Airliner. He too was a target of retribution. He got protection.

When our Government sends our Troops into Harm's Way such as they have with the SEALs, Delta Force, CIA Officers, and others....to attack Terrorists....do they not have some real obligation to keep the identities concealed, and to provide other assistance to prevent retribution by those same Terror groups?

It is not "special" treatment or "singling" out the few.....but just fulfilling an obligation to protect those who protect us in my view?

[walter kennedy]

Must be hard to live up to being the one who killed a ghost - I thought Ms Bhutto credible when she said OBL died a while earlier because of his kidney probs.

[charliegolf]

No training role for a man who has seen and done it all? No inter-service role, as an adviser or trainer? Surely reasonable options for a 4 year tour to see him to pension point? What about moving into FBI, NCIS, Police (I assume the fed ones would have consecutive pension rights?).

CG

[SASless]

With the current budget cuts....and the resulting RIF....the Military has assumed a very cold heart. Likewise one must remember when it comes to advancing one's career....that does not get done at the Coal Face....but rather it gets done back at the Five Sided Wind Tunnel and other lofty places of command well away from the sound of gunfire and personal risk.

That holds true in every military.

[Lonewolf_50]

Not sure why he chose to leave rather than take it to 20, but he might just be burned out on the deployment cycle.

It happens.

I suspect that the DEA would like to have that gent on their team.

Walter, you need to change what you're smoking. :ugh:

[SASless]

Remember the Age limit for Fed Law Enforcement....that could be a problem for him with the DEA. Used to be 35....so you could get your 20 years in for the age 55 retirement deadline. (Unless all that has changed)

[The Old Fat One]

Regrettably military types are their own worst enemies when it comes to follow on career stuff. All the "for queen and country" hype (or in this guys case, for president and country) is great but it don't pay the bills when its all over.

I used to preach to my guys and gals on a regular basis...don't forget you have careers and lives to manage just like everybody else. Own your own lives...nobody else will.

It is insane to leave a pensionable job when you have 16 out of 20 years needed to IP, and somebody should have been in this guys face telling him that. If he lost the buzz (and many do...saw it after the Falklands and GW1/2) get a cushy instructor/deskjob and take up extreme mountaineering or something. Use those fill in years to get a law degree, MBA, etc. Get some real value on your CV.

And ignore the MF who get on your case for chiselling. You done yer bit, time to look after number 1.

And WTF is this particular guy doing going anywhere near the media...FT for a game of soldiers.

[SASless]

There is more to the benefits side....the Veterans Administration will provide the Veteran up to five years Medical Care and place him in Priority Class 6....which is way down the totem pole....although it really does not matter much as he will get the care. His family will not.

He can apply for Disability Compensation....for any injury, wound, illness, or mental health issue that occurred while he was on active duty.

He could join a Reserve Unit (assuming he can find a vacancy in his area, in his job speciality) if he wants to finish up the four years he will need for the retirement.

The Disability process can take anywhere from 8-24 months ON AVERAGE...and is fraught with peril as if the VA often does....screws up....and one Appeals the decision...that means an undetermined wait for the case to be heard.

If he were to win a 100% disability rating....it would pay him about 3000 USD per month free of tax....grant him lifetime Medical Care by the VA (which itself is a mixed blessing) and qualify him for other benefits depending upon his State of Residence.

Primary care visits at my VA Clinic....minimum of 90 days waiting time. For Urgent Care (mashed fingers, flu, and other non-emergency care) I have to drive to the nearest VA Hospital...there are four in my State. Emergency care....you go to the nearest Trauma Center and the VA picks up the bill for only that treatment needed to stablize you....and then you get transferred to the nearest suitable VA Hospital. The small print says....if the VA determines the Care provided was actually needed and then only for the absolute minimum required to merely "stabilize" the patient.

That means....you are in a Class One Trauma Center....but you will be transferred to a lower tier facility for treatment.

A friend had a Heart Attack....the VA instructed him to go directly to the local Hospital....he did. He treated, transported to the nearest VA hospital who checked him, medicated him, sent him home with a referral to the Heart Surgeon at another VA facility saying no Surgery needed. Three days later...when seen by the Heart Surgeon...in the Operating Room he went.

While recuperating he got the notice from the VA....informing him they would not pay for his Emergency Room care as it was deemed not to be an Emergency and that he should have gone to the VA Hospital. It took a US Senator to get that one sorted out.

Overall our system treats our Veterans pretty good....as well as an inept, top heavy, incompetent bureaucracy with uncertain funding can/will do.

[innuendo]

I wonder how much was spent protecting and babysitting Salman Rushdie after he brought the disapproval of the Mullahs upon himself, without any of us asking him to do so.
The comparison stinks." :yuk:

[Load Toad]

Have you read it...?
Do you believe in the freedom of speech...?

[The Old Fat One]

I wonder how much was spent protecting and babysitting Salman Rushdie after he brought the disapproval of the Mullahs upon himself, without any of us asking him to do so

OMG, this is wrong on so many levels. You do understand that our (and uncle sams) armed forces exist to protect freedom, don't you.:ugh:

[dead_pan]

Seeing as the man's now a celebrity he should cash in like anyone else in this fortunate position - X-factor judge, Leno, cookbook, aftershave lotion etc etc

Seriously though, why on earth has he gone public on this? He's going to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life.

[stilton]

Not sure how you conclude that, he may have given an interview but he hasn't revealed his identity and I doubt he will.

[dead_pan]

Oops - my bad. There goes my celebrity endorsements idea too...

[SASless]

Now there is some discussion the entire article may have been fiction.

I guess the writer may not have the most stellar of credentials if some sources are correct.