re: Meet the guy who killed Osama Bin Laden: Rob O’Neill

quote:

---

His identity is supposed to be classified.

---

Supposed to be?
One would think he was "supposed to be" financially taken care of by the government.

For example, 5 years service in Congress gains a pension. Now I know Congressional service is dangerous. Hell, members suffer horribly bruised egos all the time. I'm sure it is quite traumatic. But for the government to say to O'Neill, "Your service is literally worth nothing. It is worth no long term fiscal reward. It is worth no recompense at all, and you are not to profit from it after you depart the military," is incredible.

His identity is supposed to be classified?
Got it. Fair enough.
So when he seeks a job in the private sector, what's he supposed to say on his resumé? Who provides his recommendations? Look, I have zero problem with the guy's association with the Bin Laden mission being classified for his own safety. But I have a huge problem if he is not taken care of as compensation. Sounds like the Navy got tired of him, didn't find a spot for him, then just cut him loose after 16yrs in service.

If true, it's inexcusable behavior.

quote:

---

...I am still skeptical he is the guy.

---

The "community" is saying it was not him. The kill shot came from the first individual in the stack from one floor down. It was a snapshot when UBL exposed his head through the doorway. This guy (apparently) was second in the stack and the first one to enter the room and (allegedly) he shot UBL a second time.

Bottom line, he was on the raid which means he is an incredibly brave and skilled warrior. And UBL is dead, which is all that matters to me.

quote:

---

yeah that is completely unimpressive.

---

Shot OBL while his ride home was still smoking over by the fence. I like it.

quote:

---

So when he seeks a job in the private sector, what's he supposed to say on his resumé? Who provides his recommendations?

---

This is a non issue. He would have plenty of opportunities in the outside world. The sky is the limit for a lot of former SOF guys in a LOT of different sectors. Its not like he has no military record just because he worked for ST6. He can tell anyone he wants what unit he worked for, and he can disclose his unclassified training. As far as recommendations, that is taken care of as well. sof guys are not left out to dry assuming they leave in good standing.

quote:

---

But for the government to say to O'Neill, "Your service is literally worth nothing. It is worth no long term fiscal reward. It is worth no recompense at all, and you are not to profit from it after you depart the military," is incredible.

---

If he does an honorable 20 then he gets compensation. Its the same for everyone else barring medical retirement. He deserves no pity. Sounds like a typical SEAL prima donna to me...

Some units have their people sign agreements about not disclosing the deets. They likely have that agreement and he likely broke it. If anything he just closed the door on a lot of private sector jobs in doing so. That was his choice and he made it knowing that he was leaving that unit not in good standing.

The navy has made their own bed with their never ending desire to advertise their successes and glorify their failures. If anything they should blame themselves here.

quote:

---

If he does an honorable 20 then he gets compensation. Its the same for everyone else barring medical retirement

---

Why should a SEAL, that lays it on the line much more than some desk jockey in Norfolk, not be treated better? Elite in virtually any other profession equates to dollars. Why not in the military?

There are some nations, like Australia, that have recognized this and made proper changes.

quote:

---

Why should a SEAL, that lays it on the line much more than some desk jockey in Norfolk, not be treated better? Elite in virtually any other profession equates to dollars. Why not in the military?

---

Well, there is this thing called hazardous duty pay...

quote:

---

I agree with him. He's not supposed to be a celebrity. The Navy also agrees

---

There was a story on this. One of the Navy Seals in the raid wrote a book and was donating the proceeds to Navy Seal charities. Well, big daddy government steps in and says you can't do that. Meanwhile Hollywood is leaked info from the white house about the raid, and Leon Panetta writes about it extensively.

The problem the government has with it, is that they aren't making money off of it. They don't want the guys actually out there risking their lives turning a profit, thats the jobs of the bureaucrats. I say, let them make as much money as they can off of this. They earned it.

Great article in the Washington Post today.

Link

quote:

---

The Navy SEAL who fired the shot that killed Osama bin Laden is a highly decorated veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who agonized for months over whether to publicly reveal his role in one of the most storied commando operations in U.S. history.

Robert O’Neill, 38, a Montana native, was near the head of the column of U.S. soldiers that burst into bin Laden’s Pakistan hideout on May 2, 2011.

In a recent interview, O’Neill confirmed to The Washington Post that he fired the fatal shot that struck bin Laden in the forehead. He also acknowledged that shots were fired by at least two other SEAL team members, including Mark Bissonnette, who famously described the raid in the book, “No Easy Day.”

O’Neill was preparing to make his story public next week with interviews on Fox News and in The Washington Post, but his identity was disclosed preemptively by the Web site SOFREP, operated by former SEAL members, in a protest over O’Neill’s decision to reveal his role in the mission.

Over the course of several meetings with The Post, O’Neill said he decided to go public after becoming convinced that his identity was about to be leaked by others. What once was a closely guarded secret had spread widely through military circles, he said, and was known by members of Congress and at least two news organizations. is impending decision had also fostered anger among colleagues.

In an Oct. 31 letter to the Naval Special Warfare ranks, B.L. Losey, the commanding officer, and M.L. Magaraci, the force master chief, emphasized that a “critical” tenet of their profession is to “not advertise the nature of my work nor seek recognition for my action.”

“We do not abide willful or selfish disregard for our core values in return for public notoriety or financial gain,” the letter said.

O’Neill said he confirmed his decision to go public after a private encounter with relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York’s World Trade Center. During an emotional meeting with victims’ family members before the recent opening of the National September 11 Memorial Museum, the former SEAL decided spontaneously to talk about how bin Laden met his end.

“The families told me it helped bring them some closure,” said O’Neill, whose identity as the shooter was independently corroborated for The Post by two SEAL team members.

O’Neill had previously recounted his experiences to journalist Phil Bronstein for a February 2013 Esquire magazine article that, by agreement, referred to him only as “the shooter.” In the piece, he described advancing through bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound with five other SEALs, eventually reaching the third floor, where bin Laden lived with his wives.

As other team members peeled off to search different rooms, O’Neill found himself in the No. 2 position, behind the point man, for the final assault on bin Laden’s bedroom. When bin Laden briefly appeared at the door, the SEAL at the front of the line fired a shot that apparently missed.

“I rolled past him into the room, just inside the doorway,” O’Neill recalled. “There was bin Laden, standing there. He had his hands on a woman’s shoulders pushing her ahead.”

Though the room was dark, O’Neill could clearly see bin Laden’s features through his night-vision scope.

“In that second, I shot him, two times in the forehead,” O’Neill was quoted in the Esquire article as saying. “Bap! Bap! The second time, as he is going down. He crumbled to the floor in front of his bed and I hit him again.”

O’Neill told The Post that it was clear bin Laden had died instantly, as his skull had been split by the first bullet.

At the time of the raid, O’Neil had served nearly 15 years as a SEAL, eventually earning a spot in the elite unit known as SEAL Team 6. He served in other celebrated missions, including the 2009 rescue of merchant marine Capt. Richard Phillips from pirates off the coast of Somalia, as depicted in the 2013 movie “Captain Phillips.”

While other missions were likely more dangerous, the bin Laden raid was the first in which he believed he would likely be killed, O’Neill told The Post. The SEALs assumed that bin Laden’s compound would be both heavily guarded and booby-trapped to ward off attacks.

“I didn’t think I would survive,” he said.

---

quote:

---

The problem the government has with it, is that they aren't making money off of it. They don't want the guys actually out there risking their lives turning a profit, thats the jobs of the bureaucrats. I say, let them make as much money as they can off of this. They earned it.

---

Sure. National security and codes of conduct be damned. Because, bureaucrats.

His own fellow SEAL members have spoken out, as has the Navy. They don't stand to make any money from this, and the idea that money would otherwise be claimed by other parties but for the actions of O'Neill is absurd.