Navy Seal-soldaten som skjøt Osama bin Laden, beskriver oppdaget i detalj i en stor artikkel i marsnummeret av Esquire.

For den som har fulgt nyhetene og sett «Zero Dark Thirty», er det ikke mye nytt i forhåndslekkasjen som sirkulerer.

Da er det av større interesse å lese hvordan spesialsoldatene blir droppet av det militære så snart kontrakten er over. Engasjement som dette har konsekvenser for resten av livet. Hvis det stemmer at spesialsoldatene overlates til seg selv, er det oppsiktsvekkende og uholdbart.

Journalist Phil Bronstein, Executive Chair of the Center for Investigative Reporting,
spent a year with The Shooter, earning his trust and carefully constructing his story for the 15,000-word piece for Esquire.

As well as never-before-heard details of the raid, the piece offers a sobering portrait of life after the military and makes the case that the government largely abandons its most elite and highly-trained soldiers after their service is over.

He told Bronstein: ‘I left SEALs on Friday. My 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’re out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your sixteen years. Go f*** yourself.’

He reveals that, in the aftermath of the May 2011 raid, his marriage with his wife ended yet they have been forced to live together to save money.

Because the U.S. government have given him nothing – no pension, no health care, no protection for his wife, children or him – he has had to teach them what to do if an attack should be made on their home.