Bin Laden's Shooter Speaks.....

The guy would have pissed it away.

 

Why is there an emphasis on his post-retirement? IMHO that's so cynical.

This guy made a call to his dad before going to Afghanistan that shook his dad up so much he could not get out of his truck for an hour; he looked his wife and kids in the eye thinking there was an 80-90% chance he would never see them again. To me, that's what's eye-opening.

 

I do the same thing every time I walk out the door, too.

 

And, yes, they do have plenty of those jobs, turski. They have tons of support staff. From armorers to intel weenies to supply guys to admin guys. And, they're not deployed 300 days a year. They may be away from home 300 days each year, but that's not a deployment. They don't spend any more time in Afghanistan than anyone else. They just have lots of 30-90 day deployments.

 

The Air Foce likes to spout stats like "for every person in the air, there are 100 on the ground." Or at least they used to. In any case, while I doubt the ratio is that high for the SEAL, I suspect something along those lines is happening with the with them. It takes tons of admin and support to equip and train such highly specialized troops. They really don't have time to do it themselves.

 

Like Full Metal Jacket explained, they are deadly-trained human weapons.

 

How is that any different than anyone else who is deployed?

And how is that eye-opening to you? What did you think they did? High-five their kids and give their wives a good-natured wink? Jesus.

 

Why did the shooter leave after 16 years without a plan in place?

 

Great quote in a story full of them.

 

I commend everyone in harm's way; I give them the utmost respect.

Does everyone enter a situation where its 90% likely to die yet have the determination to face that danger? That's poignant.

You act like its no big deal; well I do not get exposed to that thinking every day. Sure I can assume that, but to read it from a first person perspective is different.

To focus on his retirement is beside the point to me.

 

I'll let 3 Bags correct as needed but when my dad was in the Air Force, then National Guard, I thought military retirement wasn't so much based on years served but points accrued. So dad had a certain number of points from being active duty, then he got points for the National Guard weekend drills. But I thought that combat deployment meant extra points, so that for his two years in the Korean Conflict counted for more like three, three and half years fore retirement purposes.

Is that only an Air Force thing, or am I misremembering?

 

My bad, not "deployed," just gone for 300 days. Yea, that's even better.
And no, you or any of us, does not do the same thing when we walk out the door. We don't leave our loved ones in heap for an hour as they watch us rumble out the door to go to work. He is much more likely to get killed than you or I. That whole warzone thing (RPGs at helos, IED's, houses full of IED's, enemy fire, etc.) kind of ups the percentages in his favor. You and I do not leave the comfort of our own homes and leave into what we may feel is certain death. He does. He may not feel there is a good chance of being killed, but he knows the he is much more likely to end up in a body than any of us.
We all certainly take a risk, but Jesus, just a little appreciation would be nice. I mean, this guy only killed the world's most notorious, vicious terrorist ever. So yeah, fuck him. :