Is it verified? I haven't seen him ID'd yet.omg its confirmed hes the real deal
Is it verified? I haven't seen him ID'd yet.omg its confirmed hes the real deal
If this dude has medical issues that were identified prior to separation, then why was he permitted to voluntary release (or whatever you call it). Did no one in the admin/release section not say "Hey fuckstick, if you get your Doctor to initiate it; you get benefits otherwise have a nice fucked up life". Just sayin...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
http://www.stripes.com/blogs/the-ru...illed-bin-laden-is-denied-healthcare-1.207506
Esquire article wrongly claims SEAL who killed Bin Laden is denied healthcare
By MEGAN MCCLOSKEY
Published: February 11, 2013
Esquire magazine claims “The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden ... Is Screwed.”
The story details the life of the Navy SEAL after the successful raid to take out the No. 1 terrorist, and it asserts that once the SEAL got out of the military he was left to fend for himself.
“...here is what he gets from his employer and a grateful nation:
Nothing. No pension, no health care, and no protection for himself or his family.”
Except the claim about health care is wrong. And no servicemember who does less than 20 years gets a pension, unless he has to medically retire.
Like every combat veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the former SEAL, who is identified in the story only as “the Shooter”, is automatically eligible for five years of free healthcare through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
But the story doesn’t mention that.
The writer, Phil Bronstein, who heads up the Center for Investigative Reporting, stands by the story. He said the assertion that the government gave the SEAL “nothing” in terms of health care is both fair and accurate, because the SEAL didn’t know the VA benefits existed.
“No one ever told him that this is available,” Bronstein said.
He said there wasn’t space in the article to explain that the former SEAL’s lack of healthcare was driven by an ignorance of the benefits to which he is entitled.
“That’s a different story,” Bronstein said in a phone interview with Stars and Stripes about what he omitted from the article.
The Center for Investigating Reporting posted a story on its website today that goes into greater detail about the SEAL's interactions with the VA, including that he has a disability claim that is stuck in the backlog.
Esquire magazine has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The story’s claims are getting a lot of buzz - The Washington Post picked up the detail about the SEAL's healthcare situation - disconcerting veteran advocates like Brandon Friedman, who served as an Army infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and used to be a VA public affairs officer.
“Misinformation like this doesn’t help veterans,” he said. “When one veteran hears in a high-profile story that another veteran was denied care, it makes him or her less likely to enroll in the VA system.”
Bullshit. Your telling me a guy who was smart enough and tough enough to make it into DEVGRU, and be among the men selected for the UBL hit is not smart enough to figure out what his benefits are? Oh, so he didn't have to go to levy briefings or separation briefings? Or maybe he didn't go because he was just too cool for school? Ignorance is not a justification here. This guy is looking for a pity party. The fact that this guy is trying to play dumb is ridiculous, and his b.s. and this b.s. article all just feed into stereotypes that I have worked my ass off for the last 3 years trying convince people aren't true. Seriously, this guy is acting like a little kid and it's embarrassing to the NSW community in general and the DEVGRU community specifically.
Yeah, well, I’ve been told that you folks getting out of the service have five years of Tricare, whatever is left of it after this administration gets done with it. And that doesn’t include the Veterans Affairs stuff. All of those things would get him a service-connected rating, treatment and help for his family. And as TSO said; “…and he can grab a 200k job in about 4 seconds with DynCorps”.
So, I’m thinking that this Phil Bronstein, who happens to be the executive chairman of the Center for Investigative Reporting and wrote the article got rolled by someone, it looks like there were quite a few involved in the asshattery. If he wasn’t tricked by a phony, then the article he wrote sucked. Either way, I wouldn’t let him be the executive director of anything named for investigative journalism.