My BS detector is pounding so loud it is drowning out the voices in my head. As I see it there are only two valid theories on this story:<\/p>\n
1) The dude is not who he is purporting to be, a la a ton of folks before him. In which case Esquire sucks for falling for it.
\n2) The reporter doesn’t speak military, and so it was like conducting an interview in a foreign language, and this guy botched teh shit out of it.<\/p>\n
I think it is #2. Let me give you an example.<\/p>\n
Shooter: “….and because of leaving at 16 years instead of 20 years, I don’t get my retirement health insurance through TRICARE, any retirement, nothing. They effed me.”<\/p>\n
Now, the reporter hears this and doesn’t know what TRICARE is, so he googles it, finds out it is a healthcare provider, and alters the article to say that the guy doesn’t have health insurance.<\/p>\n
Now, what the shooter says is accurate, but when this reporter “translated” it he made it into a soup sandwich because he didn’t know that Shooter was entitled to VA.<\/p>\n
Now, could it be that this guys claim through the VA isn’t done yet? Hell yeah. Probably isn’t. Especially if he didn’t plan ahead. But all he needs to do to get VA care is walk in and sign up. It’s what I did.<\/p>\n
Also, every guy I met in the military hated “SEAL Team Six” in terms of the name. They would put it in air quotes and such. Because everyone I met always used “DEVGRU” which is the official name. I suppose the report could once again have gone the easy route and used ST6 when the Shooter kept referring to “DEVGRU” rather than explain it, but that only adds into my theory #2.<\/p>\n
Besides, are you really trying to tell me that the dude that killed Bin Ladin can’t find a job? That is BS. Anyone that made it through BUDS and spent 8 years in the teams will have enough contacts to find a job. I refuse to believe otherwise.<\/p>\n
Overall, I remain skeptical of Esquire’s story.<\/p>\n
BTW- I suppose the third option is that everything here is right, but then it doesn’t make sense at all, because if this guy is honorably discharged, he should be able to get into the VA for 5 years. Either way, wouldn’t an actual reporter contact someone to ask why this guy doesn’t get any healthcare? And wouldn’t that person be able to tell Esquire he’s entitled to VA?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"