The Navy SEAL who says he killed Osama Bin Laden has also indicated that he is separated from his wife and suffering from debilitating injuries, according to an exclusive story for Esquire.
The Navy SEAL Team 6 member who says he shot and killed al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden recently opened up about the hardships after the mission, in an exclusive interview with journalist Phil Bronstein.
In promoting his new article, Bronstein said the Navy SEAL indicated that after leaving the service in September 2012, he lost benefits ranging from his current health care plan to a future pension. The Navy SEAL also said that he is stuck in a months-long wait for his disability claim to be considered. The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), for which Bronstein serves as executive chairman, notes that this SEAL's case falls in line with 820,000 instances in which veterans are mired in a backlog for disability help.
"It was nearly impossible to believe when he first told me he got such a dearth of support from the U.S. government," Bronstein said in the CIR report. "Where's the thank you?"
On Monday's NBC's "Today Show," Bronstein discussed the crux of his article: the post-military struggles faced by veterans. Even if the SEAL had served a full two decades, Bronstein told "Today" that he would have received just $2,197 per month. A Navy chorus member with that time of service is eligible for the same package.
"It's a nine-month average wait for regular vets to get their disability claim adjudicated," Bronstein said. "In this guy's case, his health care that he got, called Tricare from the military, ended the night he left. He gets no pension, none, zero.
"I'm not religious," the Navy SEAL said in the interview. "But I always felt I was put on the earth to do something specific. After that mission, I knew what it was."
The Oscar-nominated film "Zero Dark Thirty" is a chronicle of the decade-long hunt for bin Laden after the September 11 attacks, and his death at the hands of Navy SEAL Team 6 in May 2011.
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