Posted on 11/08/2014 10:12:25 AM PST by kindred
The Navy SEAL who shot dead al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is now reportedly living in poverty after leaving the military four years short of being eligible to receive his pension, he claims.
Robert O’Neill, 38, from Montana, went public with his identity after meeting family members of 9/11 terror attack victims, he told the Washington Post. And now the heroic commando is saying he was left high and dry by the government he dedicated his life to serving.
“The families told me it helped bring them some closure,” said O’Neill, of killing the al-Qaeda founder.
O’Neill will also be the subject of a two-part interview airing next week on Fox News, the network announced.
His identity was revealed in advance of the scheduled interviews by a Navy SEAL-run website as a form of protest over him planning to go public. It was also independently confirmed to the Post by two other Navy SEALs.
The former SEAL also told the Post he was concerned his identity would be made public by one of several members of government privy to the information.
O’Neill previously told reporters of his role in the assault, but only on condition his identity not be revealed. He was a member of the elite SEAL Team 6, often called on to perform the most dangerous of missions.
“There was bin Laden, standing there,” the commando previously told Esquire. “He had his hands on a woman’s shoulders pushing her ahead.
“In that second, I shot him, two times in the forehead,” he recalled in the 2013 to the magazine. “Bap! Bap! The second time, as he is going down. He crumbled to the floor in front of his bed and I hit him again.”
The terror mastermind died instantly after the first shot split his skull, O’Neill told the magazine.
O’Neill’s career has inspired three movies: “Captain Phillips,” about the rescue of a ship captain from Somali pirates; “Lone Survivor,” which dramatized the hunt for Taliban leader Ahmad Shah; and “Zero Dark Thirty,” about the bin Laden mission.
O’Neill now tours the country as a motivational speaker but claims he is barely making ends meet.
A man who earned more than 50 medals serving over 400 combat missions during his 16 years as a Navy SEAL does not even have health insurance, his father told the Daily Mail.
He also has no military pension.
I just mean the reduction every couple years of military pay/benefits. Everything from relocation expenses to cost of living increases to increased Tricare co-pays that they have ‘altered’ to fund the socialism thusfar. Then there’s the crap Barry pulled a couple years back about trying to make wounded vets use private insurance to cover war injuries that fortunately went nowhere. It’s like the Sword of Damocles hanging over them every time that congress comes up with spending plan that puts their bennies on the table. I should have been clearer.
Oh, also there’s also the GI bill/education rules and how it can be used. There have been several significant restrictions placed in the last few years on top of anything else. Just more whittling away.
Thanks. Good article.
He makes it sound like he left essentially because of the long absences from his family were wearing on him.
That would not be surprising.
I just finished it myself. I had heard that Esquire had a good version.
Maybe this will bring about some change for SEALS who retire,
Do the checks not keep coming for life? Even when you are way too far gone to be of any use on active duty? How is that not a pension?
Who serves 16 and doesn’t finish the 20?
“Oh, also there’s also the GI bill/education rules and how it can be used.”
I’m not sure about restrictions, but the payment amount certainly has increased.
My kid can almost live on it (tuition, housing, food, etc.) whereas mine would cover tuition and not much more.
If he retired as a Chief (E7) at 20 yrs and received around 30% disability... his monthly retirement pay would be around $1,400.00 per month plus full medical insurance.
He can get his military credit back by working in county (or city) service. School bus drivers in county service get great retirements in this manner. VA "benefits" were removed from many servicemen in 2009.
I agree that there is a lot he could and should probably do. And School bus driving is a needed and honorable profession.
People serving their country, especially at the risk to self and family that Spec ops guys do, deserve more in return from their country than having to continue fighting the government of that country for things in effect when they signed up.
I'm guessing that what he's doing now is aimed at making money. Perhaps paid interviews, more movie deals, etc. I hope it works out for him.
I got told that if I did not apply to retire a year before my scheduled separation date, I would be discharged without any benefits. No pay, no medical, no nothing. Considering that my supervisors and commanders had been calling me “essential personnel” and refusing me leave on and off for over a decade, it was quite a shock. Mind you, I stayed in for 24 years, not 20. If I hadn’t submitted the paperwork, I’d have been escorted out the gate on my separation date and told not to return.
IOW, NO.
OS
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