Fund Helps Navy SEAL Who Shot Osama Bin Laden And Doesn't Have Insurance For Family

Though Esquire was forced to backtrack on its original claim that the military completely abandoned the shooter who killed Osama bin Laden, the war hero does need a considerable amount of help and a fund has been set up to offer it up.

In his explosive feature about how the Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden has fared since leaving the military, writer Phil Bronstein initially stated that the shooter was left without benefits after he decided to retire before completing 20 years of service. Stars and Stripes, in a reaction piece, however, pointed out that the former serviceman is eligible for five years of free healthcare through the VA. These details were included in the print version of the Esquire story but were left out of the online piece.

But these benefits do not cover the shooter’s wife and children, which is why a Seattle radio talk show program decided to set up a fund for him.

“The VA does offer five years of benefits for specific service-related claims -- but it’s not comprehensive and it offers nothing for the Shooter’s family,” Esquire noted in its response to the Stars and Stripes story.

The IndieGoGo fund, which aims to raise $60,000 through the Tacoma Pierce County Crime Stoppers Program, hopes to –- at the very least –- collect one-year’s salary the shooter would’ve taken home when he served.

"I still have the same bills I had in the Navy, but no money at all coming in, from anywhere,” the shooter told Bronstein. "I just want to be able to pay all those bills, take care of my kids, and work from there. I'd like to take the things I learned and help other people in any way I can."