[You’re paying the pensions of anyone who is collecting social security. But, to collect a military pension, one has to have served for a minimum of 20 years. I served 4 years (1970 - 1974), so no military pension for me! :)]
“Thank you for your service. Matt Bracken has the air of a lifer on a pension who thinks he’s better than the hoi polloi who subsidize his literary career, such as it is.”
His bio says he completed the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training, but it says nothing beyond that.
To become a Navy SEAL not only must the candidate complete BUD/S, but also SEAL Qualification Training (SQT) and have been designated as a U.S. Navy SEAL.
So, perhaps he didn’t go farther than BUD/S. Some guys complete BUD/S but for one reason or another go no further in the SEAL program; that could be because of injury, disability, change of heart, or failure to complete the next stage (SQT). But anyone who completed BUD/S deserves a hell of a lot of credit.
It took my cousin’s nephew two attempts to get his Trident (completion of the full SEAL program).