About three years after Osama Bin Laden was killed, a magazine article was published about the Navy Seal who pulled the trigger. He had joined the Navy at age 19, when a girl broke his heart, and the Navy recruiter encouraged him to be a sniper. He was 35 years old and, after serving over 16 years in the Navy, he was quitting. He said that he no longer wanted to carry a gun and use it–he was tired of doing that. It wasn’t an adrenalin rush for him anymore. He wanted to do something else, and he didn’t want a desk job, which was his only alternative if he stayed in the Navy.
This man was having a pity party. He said, “The man who shot Osama bin Laden (himself) receives no income from the state, no health insurance and no protection, and leaves with little more to show for his service than arthritis, tendinitis, eye damage and blown discs, a struggling marriage, a long wait to have his disability claims assessed, and a lifetime of looking over his shoulder.” He further claimed that he had received “nothing” from his grateful employer (the U. S. military). He said that he had no pension, no worker’s compensation, no benefits, and no protection for himself and his family.
So, let’s get this straight. He had CHOSEN to quit the military with 16 years of service. This guy saw himself as a hero, for doing his job and shooting Bin Laden, and he thinks that his country owes him. He could have stayed in the Navy for three-and-a-half more years and retired with a great pension / benefits package, but he chose not to do so.
He had kept a job for 16 years–that’s $4459/mo. for an E9 or $5355/m.o for an O3, plus free medical–and he was mad at the government because he would have had to work until he was almost 40 before being able to retire on the taxpayers’ dime for the next 50 years (with a pension of $1516 – $7435 / mo. for enlisted personnel, or $2811 – $19567 / mo. for officers). In reality, he received regular paychecks (from us taxpayers) for 16 years. He gets essentially free medical through the VA for life, and he’ll probably receives disability for the rest of his life.
He said that he was mad because he had not received a book deal (yet) and no money (severance pay), and that he didn’t get enough transition help, from military to civilian life. However, he had all kinds of benefits that he wasn’t taking advantage of; e.g., he did get five years of free insurance, but he didn’t know about it because he said that he received “no interviewing advice.”
So, let’s see: He received lifetime free benefits with his military status. He gets lower interest rates on things like mortgages (VA Loans) and cars than civilians do. He gets help with education and training through the GI Bill–essentially free education, and then help finding a job through the Deployment Center. He has access to the Military Tax Center, Financial/Legal Protection (SCRA), help with his education, Civilian Job Search, Deployment Center, Family Support, Forms, Health Care, Installations, Insurance, Military Law, Relocation, Space A Travel, Transition Help, essentially free medical, Drill Pay, Temporary Reserve TRICARE, Employment Protection (USERRA), Employer Support (ESGR), Concurrent Receipt, CRSC, Civilian Job Search, Relocation, Space A Travel, Employment Protection (USERRA), Survivor Benefits, Disability, and help with appeals, Buddy Finder, and Careers.
He gets help from the Veteran’s Benefits Act of 2003, and from thousands of Veterans groups. And he gets Death & Burial benefits.
He said that this was “unlike a private enterprise where he would get credit for years served.” He obviously hasn’t worked for any private lately because most or all of them have no retirement plans at all anymore–not to mention all of the above military-related benefits that are not available to company employees. If he had just had sense enough to stick it out three more years, he would never have had to work again–at the courtesy of us taxpayers.