Bin Laden shooter's story highlights ex-SEALs' dilemma

WASHINGTON - For over three years, since the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill managed to keep a lid on the last major secret from that historic mission: His own name.

Journalists and producers had chronicled nearly every second of the May 2, 2011, raid in news articles, documentaries and a major Hollywood film. More details were disclosed in books by the men who oversaw the operation from the Pentagon and the CIA.

Yet, it was O'Neill who drew fire last week for adding a single new detail to the story of bin Laden's slaying: His identity as the shooter. Now, after days of frequently harsh criticism, some of his former comrades are pushing back, saying the ex-SEAL is being held to a higher standard that the Pentagon and White House officials he worked for.

"We see senior officials speaking publicly and writing books, some of them while still on the job," said a retired Special Operations veteran, insisting on anonymity because his former unit discourages speaking to the press. "But if an operator tries to speak out, it's like someone opened the gates of hell."

O'Neill angered many of his former SEAL team members by revealing his role in the bin Laden raid, breaking with a tradition of strict secrecy that has long defined the group. But even some who disagreed with O'Neill's decision say they are dismayed by the intensity of the criticism against the Montana native, and also by what some veterans describe as the unfair burdens placed on the country's elite fighters after leaving military service.

At a time when SEAL missions have become standard Hollywood fare, many newly retired operators face unique challenges adjusting to life in a civilian world where job opportunities are decidedly less glamorous, veterans say.

"There are real difficulties," said Scott Taylor, a former SEAL from Virginia Beach who was elected to the Virginia House of delegates last year and regularly counsels Special Operations veterans about how the struggles of post-military life. "The fact that it's all over Hollywood now does nothing good, and it may even hurt."

O'Neill's disclosure rekindled a controversy that began nearly two years ago when another member of his unit, Matt Bissonnette, went public with a detailed account of the bin Laden mission in the book, "No Easy Day." Bissonnette, who was a few steps behind O'Neill as the SEAL team blasted its way through the al-QaIda founder's house, was sharply criticized at the time by a number of retired SEALs, and Defense Department officials have launched an investigation into whether his book violated secrecy rules.

O'Neill has explained his decision to come forward as an attempt to gain control over a story that appeared likely to break regardless of his actions. His identity was known to a number of members of Congress, and O'Neill had been approached multiple times by journalists looking to confirm that he was the shooter.

O'Neill was preparing to detail his involvement in the mission in interviews with The Washington Post and Fox News when his name was pre-emptively revealed by a Web site run by former SEALs. Fox aired extensive interviews with O'Neill last week in a pair of hour-long specials. Yet, after the first segment aired, a retired SEAL appeared on the same network to argue that O'Neill should be "prosecuted and dishonorably discharged."

"I see someone that is seeking to prosper off his knowledge and involvement in a classified operation, and for that, he should be punished," former SEAL Jonathan Gilliam told The Kelly File program. "I see a self-indulging operator that has no regard for the safety of his family or fellow Teammates."

O'Neill, has even faced criticism in his hometown of Butte, Mont., where, along with effusive praise from former neighbors, he has drawn occasional rebukes. "Stuff like that needs to be kept to the grave," Barry DeChaine, commander of a local Disabled American Veterans chapter, was quoted as telling the Montana Standard, the town's daily newspaper.

O'Neill did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

The harshness of some of the criticism has triggered a backlash from other veterans as well as some members of Congress. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, a California Republican and Marine reservist who has known O'Neill for more than a year, said the former SEAL should not be penalized for talking about events that White House and Pentagon officials have already described in exhaustive detail.

"Rob is really just continuing the storyline that we all know," said Hunter, who served combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Unless O'Neill reveals classified details of the mission_which, so far, he hasn't, Hunter said, then "this whole thing should be about the recognizing what these guys did.

"If the administration and the Defense Department really didn't want people talking, they should have kept quiet, simple as that," he said.

The SEALs, along with Special Operations counterparts from other services, are often referred to as "the quiet professionals" because of their tradition of operating in secrecy. But since the raid on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan, SEALs have gained a kind of celebrity unrivaled in the group's 52-year history.

In addition to the bin Laden raid, most famously depicted in the movie "Zero Dark Thirty," SEAL missions have been extensively reenacted in the films "Captain Phillips," which recounts the rescue of a merchant ship's crew from Somali pirates, and "Lone Survivor," which chronicles a disastrous SEAL reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan in 2005.

Former operators were hired as professional consultants for each of those films, and others have been sought after by journalists, publishers and film producers interested in dramatizing their personal stories, several retired SEALs said in interviews. But those participate in such projects often do so at the risk of being ostracized, or worse, veterans said.

"One thing about this community is, these guys are very good at eating their own," said a second former SEAL, who described being approached by multiple authors and literary agents interested in telling his story. "It's a wolf pack, and you don't want to be a lone wolf."

The allure of Hollywood employment contrasts sharply with the difficult slog many veterans face after leaving the adrenaline-soaked world of Special Operations, according to veterans and mental health experts who specialize in treating them.

Some veterans struggle financially, faced with steep pay cuts and limited job prospects after leaving active-duty service. Many bear psychological and sometimes physical wounds that require years of treatment and therapy, experts say.

"There is a hole there," said Taylor, the Virginia state representative who served as a SEAL for eight years. "You've been doing this for 20 years, and now you have to replace your income and do something that is going to be fulfilling to you. That's hard."

As a group, Special Operations veterans are prone to a kind of "moral injury" in which actions in the heat of battle can weigh on their consciousness for years or even decades, said Jonathan Shay, a clinical psychiatrist and author who studies combat-related stress. The effects are amplified by a loneliness that comes from leaving the extraordinarily close-knit world of a SEAL team.

"SEAL teams are very cohesive: They are highly trained and then cross-trained in each other's specialties," he said. "Leaving that intensely connected small group is a big deal for many of these men."

Even those who appear outwardly to adjust to civilian life often battle hidden problems, experts say. Divorce is common among retired operators, and a sizeable percentage of veterans end up seeking escape, sometimes through alcohol abuse or drugs.

Still others are simply bored.

"When I got out, I spent years going back and forth to Yemen, just as a way to keep a foot in the door," Taylor said. Even years later, after launching a successful political career, Taylor acknowledged the allure of rejoining his old team. "If I could go to Syria tomorrow, I'd go," he said, "not for a long time, but just to get a little dose."