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<\/a>Credit: The Shooter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Phil Bronstein, executive chairman of the Center for Investigative Reporting<\/a>, wrote an amazing article in conjunction with Esquire<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 The piece is a profile on the man who killed the most wanted terrorist of our time \u2014 Osama bin Laden \u2013 <\/em>but is also a chilling portrait of what happens to these super-elite soldiers once they\u2019ve accomplished their mission. Bronstein writes about his first interaction with man to whom he refers as \u201cthe shooter:\u201d<\/p>\n This was my first face-to-face meeting with the Shooter, following several phone conversations and much checking on my journalism background, especially in war zones. In a corner, pouring drinks, he and I established some rules. He would consider talking to me only after his last, upcoming four-month deployment to Afghanistan had ended and he had exited the Navy. And he would not go public; he would not be named. That would be counter to the team\u2019s code, and it would also put a huge \u201ckill me\u201d target on his back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The resulting article is a fascinating insight into this most historic raid, from which they thought they\u2019d never return:<\/p>\n We all wrote letters. I had my sh-tty little room and I\u2019m sitting on my Pelican case with all my gear, a manila envelope on my bed, and I\u2019m writing letters to my kids. They were to be delivered in case of my death, something for them to read when they\u2019re thirty-five. I have no idea what I said except I\u2019m explaining everything, that it was a noble mission and I hope we got him. I\u2019m saying I wish I could be there for them.<\/em><\/p>\n And the tears are hitting the page, because we all knew that none of us were coming back alive. It was either death or a Pakistani prison, where we\u2019d be raped for the rest of our lives.<\/em><\/p>\n He gave the letters to an intel guy not on the mission, with instructions. He would shred them if he made it back.<\/p>\n You write it, it\u2019s horrible, you hand it off, and it\u2019s like, Okay, that part\u2019s over. And I\u2019m back, ready to roll.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The article provides fascinating nuggets about the raid: for example, \u201cthe shooter\u201d reveals what quote from President Bush was going through his head en route to the compound, what music he listened to, what he thought when he saw bin Laden (about his height and his hair), his opinion on the movie Zero Dark Thirty, and his immediate thoughts after he shot him (He thought, \u201c<\/em>Is this the best thing I\u2019ve ever done, or the worst thing I\u2019ve ever done? This is real and that\u2019s him. Holy sh-t.\u201d<\/em>)Amazingly, \u201cthe shooter,\u201d didn\u2019t die as he expected and returned back to his civilian life without anyone ever knowing of this huge career accomplishment.\u00a0 Though Hollywood made a film out of the raid and books were written, the man who pulled the trigger came home, retired from service, he lost his military insurance.<\/p>\n \u201cMy health care for me and my family stopped at midnight Friday night. I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They said no. You\u2019re out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go f-ck yourself.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (For more on his transition, read this Washington Post article called, \u201cNavy SEAL Lost Health Insurance After Killing Osama bin Laden<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n In fact, Phil Bronstein discovered many of these lethal, highly trained American heroes are in a similar circumstance:<\/p>\n That night, one of the Shooter\u2019s comrades, lantern-jawed, articulate, with a serious academic pedigree, told me: \u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of combat, been in some pretty grisly circumstances. But the thing that scares me the most after fifteen years in the SEALs?<\/p>\n \u201cCivilian life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Another Navy SEAL friend said:<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife doesn\u2019t want me to stay in one more minute than I have to,\u201d he says. But he\u2019s several years away from official retirement. \u201cI agree that civilian life is scary. And I\u2019ve got a family to take care of. Most of us have nothing to offer the public. We can track down and kill the enemy really well, but that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I get killed on this next deployment, I know my family will be taken care of.\u201d (The Navy does offer decent life-insurance policies at low rates.) \u201cCollege will be paid for, they\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if I come back alive and retire, I won\u2019t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out for the rest of my life. Sad to say, it\u2019s better if I get killed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Bronstein\u2019s compelling piece gives insight into the events of that historic raid and into the type of men who pulled off the unthinkable.\u00a0 It\u2019s the kind of article that makes you thankful America is still producing men like this, yet infuriated we don\u2019t honor their sacrifices once they\u2019ve survived. Paul D. Miller \u2014 who worked in the White House as Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2007 to 2009 \u2014 wrote about his mixed feelings upon seeing Zero Dark Thirty here<\/a>, and concluded his article with a lovely quote from Abraham Lincoln\u2019s second inaugural address.\u00a0 Lincoln called upon our still-divided nation \u201cto bind up the nation\u2019s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.\u201d<\/p>\n We would be wise to heed Lincoln\u2019s timeless words.<\/p>\n Read\u00a0Bronstein\u2019s article here<\/a>, and see him discuss how he got this interview below:<\/p>\n