The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden. - Esquire: UPDATE - it's all BS.

It turns out that "the shooter" was not the real shooter after all. This might not be breaking news to some of you but I think the info has lined up well enough to make things official.

http://gawker.com/5992516/that-esquire-story-about-the-seal-who-killed-osama-bin-laden-is-complete-bs-according-to-another-seal

Rumors had already been swirling that Esquire had been had. CNN's story comes a few days after the military blogger and former Navy SEAL Brandon Webb said Esquire had been duped by The Shooter in a post on his blog, The Special Operations Forces Situation Report (SOFREP). Citing anonymous SEAL operators, Webb wrote "Sorry to rain on your parade, Phil, but your guy is not the actual shooter."

The details and tactics described here make too much sense to believe the "shooter's" version.

http://sofrep.com/18453/esquire-is-screwed-duped-by-seal-ubl-shooter/

The shooter claims that the point man took a few shots as the man sticks his head out the door…. Ok we all agree on that. But here is where is story goes sideways AGAIN. The shooter claims that the point man, after taking his shots towards the adult male standing in the door, that he then turned his attention towards the women in the hallway. There were ZERO women in the hallway. Also, ZERO shooters are going to take shots at an unidentified adult male, and then simply peal off without following up to see if he hit that target, to go deal with unarmed women. After the point man engaged toward the unknown male (UBL), he DID follow his shots and entered the room. When he saw that UBL was on the floor and no longer a threat, he dropped his weapon, and then at that point dealt with the unarmed females. Even the shooter and No Easy Day say that the point man handled the women.

Sadly even the SEALs are not immune to the human capacity of an individual to be a lying sack of ****.

_______________________________________________________

Original interview with the man who killed bin Laden

But a series of confidential conversations, detailed descriptions of mission debriefs, and other evidence make it clear: The Shooter's is the most definitive account of those crucial few seconds, and his account, corroborated by multiple sources, establishes him as the last man to see Osama bin Laden alive. Not in dispute is the fact that others have claimed that they shot bin Laden when he was already dead, and a number of team members apparently did just that.

What is much harder to understand is that a man with hundreds of successful war missions, one of the most decorated combat veterans of our age, who capped his career by terminating bin Laden, has no landing pad in civilian life.

Read more: 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#ixzz2Kd4cz3m4

Not meaning to be unsympathetic to his story, but if he was done with missions, couldn't he transition into a training, or desk, role to fulfill the 20 years service so that he would be taken better care of?

Not meaning to be unsympathetic to his story, but if he was done with missions, couldn't he transition into a training, or desk, role to fulfill the 20 years service so that he would be taken better care of?

And if he had, he would have received the same pension as someone playing in the navy band. :-(

Yeah, it sounds like he just blew off the rules for retirement completely. It's odd.

And if he had, he would have received the same pension as someone playing in the navy band. :-(

True. But it at least gives a level of support for you to then apply your unique leadership skills in the business world.

I read the article first thing this morning. Great read and griping.

It was really amazing to read how members of ST6 basically accepted that there was an enormous chance they would die on the mission. The shooter was sure it would be booby trapped and filled with suicide bombers.

Funny to hear how excited they all got as well. Sort of - "Wow, this is really happening."

The area looked different than where we trained because we're in Pakistan now. There are the lights, the city. There's a golf course. And we're, This is some serious Navy SEAL **** we're going to do. This is so badass. My foot hit the ground and I was still running [the Bush quote] in my head. I don't care if I die right now. This is so awesome. There was concern, but no fear.

This was amazing:

By then we realized we weren't getting more guys. We had to move, because bin Laden is now going to be grabbing some weapon because he's getting shot at. I had my hand on the point man's shoulder and squeezed, a signal to go. The two of us went up. On the third floor, he tackled the two women in the hallway right outside the first door on the right, moving them past it just enough. He thought he was going to absorb the blast of suicide vests; he was going to kill himself so I could get the shot. It was the most heroic thing I've ever seen.

Glad to see President Obama was bad ass during the planning:

The group discussed what would happen if they were surrounded by Pakistani troops. We would surrender. 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 ****ing voting for this guy. I had a picture of him lying in bed at night, thinking, You're not ****ing with my guys. Like, he's thinking about us.

I just saw Zero Dark Thirty on Saturday and loved it, so I was excited to read this right away.

I do commend him for not writing a tell-all-book and keeping himself anonymous. I also agree that it is strange that he ended his career instead of transferring and putting in a few more years to hit 20.

Yeah, it sounds like he just blew off the rules for retirement completely. It's odd.

Why would it be odd? Not everyone wants to be a lifer. His marriage was over, he hardly ever saw his kids, he's done more than most people do in a lifetime, he's given everything for his country, he wanted out. Why should he spend more time in the military for peanuts?

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 ****ing voting for this guy. I had a picture of him lying in bed at night, thinking, You're not ****ing with my guys. Like, he's thinking about us.

No chance this is true, it smells like propaganda. However, if it is true, Obama is truly unfit for the office. Going to war against a nuclear power instead of negotiating a release would have been crazy.

Why should he spend more time in the military for peanuts?

wondering how he was going to feed his wife and kids or pay for their medical care

Read more: 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#ixzz2KdVqhqxC

our undying gratitude don't pay the bills, but I think he will get by somehow

"Abu Dujan Holmes"

No chance this is true, it smells like propaganda. However, if it is true, Obama is truly unfit for the office. Going to war against a nuclear power instead of negotiating a release would have been crazy.

I tried taking you seriously but between the silly nature of your complaint and the link in your sig to a conspiracy theory website, I just can't.

Read that story this morning and it was just extremely sad.

While I don't know his reasoning for not transferring to a desk job for 36 more months to receive his pension (which is absurdly low, IMO) and benefits for his family, I can't really fault him. In an interview, I heard him say how when he killed bin laden he thought it was either the greatest thing in the world, or the worst. He then went on to talk about the fact that since this is such a high profile case and that the media outted the ST6 community (showing pictures of their neighborhood and homes, dumbasses), he has felt his family to be in much greater danger than ever before. He didn't think the Navy did enough to protect the ST6 team members' families. His tone, in regards to how the government has treated them following the raid, was not happy. That could potentially have something to do with it. Or maybe he's so mentally ****ed up from all the missions he's been on, he's just reached the point that he couldn't even mentally handle a desk job; he wanted to cut all ties and be done.

Whatever the reason, I can certainly empathize with him. While he technically did not fulfill his obligation that he signed on the dotted line for, I don't think he should be cut off of health coverage, pension, etc. I am an outsider, but I really do wonder if the military has installed a system that can handle the unique needs of these special ops guys who see more in the line of duty than any of us can imagine. The article mentions how much warfare has changed even in just the last decade (and in turn, the operational demands of special forces). So, I just wonder if our military support mechanism has kept pace with the tactical warfare changes. I don't know...but I sure as hell wouldn't blame him for writing a book and using those profits to support him and his family. It appears that he is too much of a standup guy to do that though.

Regardless, overall I think this story highlights the inadequacy of our government's ability to properly support these guys as they return from years of missions. Very sad.

I tried taking you seriously but between the silly nature of your complaint and the link in your sig to a conspiracy theory website, I just can't.

I don't endorse the site, but I do endorse the documentary. If you know another site that provides the documentary for free, I'll change it.

The film itself is a conspiracy theory. It ignores the reality that every major nation has a "military industrial complex" and that the lack of one would mean the fall of the US. It's an oversimplification based on a pre formulated opinion that the "military industrial complex" is BAD while ignoring the need for a strong military in a world full of REALLY bad people and nations.

Why would it be odd? Not everyone wants to be a lifer. His marriage was over, he hardly ever saw his kids, he's done more than most people do in a lifetime, he's given everything for his country, he wanted out. Why should he spend more time in the military for peanuts?

When you join, you know 20 years to retirement. Desk jockey, grunt, demo, pilot. All play by the same rules. He processed out short of 20 years, knowing he would not qualify for any retirement benefits. I did 8 years and 6 deployments(2 overseas). I have bulging lumbar discs. I don't qualify for retirement benefits. He is no different than me. Or any other joe that deployed overseas in defense of our country and ETS'ed before 20 years.

Great read. It was the first time in a long time that I took the time to read an entire article in a magazine.

For all those that question why he got out, you must not have served, War is an ugly thing and it takes its toll on both you and your family. Having done 6 tours in Iraq and 3 in Afghanistan (both active duty and DOD civilian as an advisor), I fully understand why he got out at 16 years. It takes a special kind of person to do what that guy has done. My hat is off to him. He and his brothers will be in my prayers.

When you join, you know 20 years to retirement. Desk jockey, grunt, demo, pilot. All play by the same rules. He processed out short of 20 years, knowing he would not qualify for any retirement benefits. I did 8 years and 6 deployments(2 overseas). I have bulging lumbar discs. I don't qualify for retirement benefits. He is no different than me. Or any other joe that deployed overseas in defense of our country and ETS'ed before 20 years.

Look, all I'm saying is that after all he's done, If he wanted out right away, I understand. My issue is more with the fact that with all he has done and all he has sacrificed, his pension would be no better than a paper jockey who's biggest challenge was which brand of TP to order. And I generally believe that for all we do, we can do a lot more to help train our warriors to become productive, successful, civilians.

Look, all I'm saying is that after all he's done, If he wanted out right away, I understand. My issue is more with the fact that with all he has done and all he has sacrificed, his pension would be no better than a paper jockey who's biggest challenge was which brand of TP to order. And I generally believe that for all we do, we can do a lot more to help train our warriors to become productive, successful, civilians.

*Edit to add*

Maybe someone has that job their first tour or first couple of years... but 16 years of doing that? In this war-time environment? Ridiculous.

I'd really like for you to show me someone in our armed forces who is a paper/deck jockey whose "biggest challenge" is to "figure out a brand of TP to order". I think you have a ridiculous idea of what people in our armed services do on a daily basis. Comon man!

*Edit to add*

Maybe someone has that job their first tour or first couple of years... but 16 years of doing that? In this war-time environment? Ridiculous.

So no one in the military has a job that is far more boring and more safe than being a Navy SEAL? Is that what you are trying to tell me? Because colorful wording aside, that was my point. And the more combat oriented your job, not only do you face greater danger, but the less you learn in the way of civilian marketable skills. So the people doing the most dangerous jobs are the least prepared in both marketable civilian job skills with no better pension than a supply clerk.

And BTW, none of this is intended to demean any job in the military. Every job is important in it's own way. And I say this as someone born in a military hospital who has spent the vast majority of his life surrounded by the military.

they can however get big bucks as mercs....or contractors for State/CIA ect

maybe get a VA loan and start a gun shop....business be booming

they can however get big bucks as mercs....or contractors for State/CIA ect

maybe get a VA loan and start a gun shop....business be booming

But if you read the article you will find that "the shooter" has no interest in carrying a gun. He wants out. Not just from the military, but from fighting and killing.

Look, all I'm saying is that after all he's done, If he wanted out right away, I understand. My issue is more with the fact that with all he has done and all he has sacrificed, his pension would be no better than a paper jockey who's biggest challenge was which brand of TP to order. And I generally believe that for all we do, we can do a lot more to help train our warriors to become productive, successful, civilians.

But if you read the article you will find that "the shooter" has no interest in carrying a gun. He wants out. Not just from the military, but from fighting and killing.

which is why I used they, choices have consequences for all of us (even if you shot somebody important)

Just watched a good interview with the author of this article.

One important point I think needs to be highlighted is"The Shooter" is not solely whining about this situation to get sympathy for himself. He is trying to bring to light the inadequacies in the military in regards to helping (particularly special ops) soldiers transition back into civilian life.