Navy SEAL has more than one story to tell

Last week, the nation first heard Robert O’Neill’s personal account of the SEAL Team Six raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. But in June in Philadelphia, a lucky crowd of 1,600 at the Wells Fargo Center was spellbound by O’Neill’s discussion of his life and the historic mission.

O’Neill spoke five months ago after being engaged by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the giant professional-services firm. Ed Lovelidge, managing partner of PwC’s Philadelphia office, told me O’Neill was a “truly outstanding motivational speaker” who discussed what it was like to be part of the famed raid on May 2, 2011. He said PwC hired O’Neill through Leading Authorities, a Washington speakers bureau.

O’Neill’s biography is posted on the speakers bureau website, where it refers to his “highly decorated” military career, noting that “he held combat leadership roles in more than 400 combat missions in four different theaters of war. A highly trained Navy SEAL, he led the military’s most elite and was involved in our nation’s most important campaigns. With most of his career shrouded in a classified cloak, O’Neill was the man on the ground we have never heard of but know exists.”

The website makes no mention of O’Neill’s role in killing bin Laden, and, according to Lovelidge, though O’Neill did discuss the raid on bin Laden’s lair, he never said he fired the fatal shots – something he is now saying. Nevertheless, he captivated the crowd of business people.

“The guy is a great storyteller and motivational speaker,” Lovelidge said. “The theme of his speech to our people was that the past is over, and the only thing you can control is the future. Also, no matter the challenge, quitting is never an option. He also said the awards he has received are behind him now, and only what he does today and tomorrow is relevant. Our people loved him and the relevant messages he shared.”

Lovelidge said that though he understands the current interest in the death of bin Laden, other aspects of O’Neill’s speech were equally of interest to the audience, including details of his SEAL training.

“He shared a story with PwC that one of his classmates drowned trying to pass a test that required him to tie several knots 40 feet underwater in the dark without taking a breath,” Lovelidge said. “After he was revived, his first words were, ‘Did I pass the test and tie the final knot?’ The instructors told him the test had nothing to do with tying knots, but they wanted to see how far he’d push himself, and drowning qualified to pass the exam. It’s a message we try to apply to serving our clients.”

That’s also a story O’Neill shared with Phil Bronstein, the first to publicize O’Neill’s account, in the March 2013 issue of Esquire magazine. In a lengthy article, Bronstein did not reveal O’Neill’s identity, referring to him only as “The Shooter.”

“The man who shot and killed Osama bin Laden sat in a wicker chair in my backyard, wondering how he was going to feed his wife and kids and pay for their medical care,” Bronstein wrote.

Bronstein reported that O’Neill left the Navy after 16 years, a little more than 36 months short of the 20 years of service needed to officially retire. In return for his service, he received: “Nothing. No pension, no health care for his wife and kids, no protection for himself and his family.”

The government would have provided him 180 days of transitional health-care benefits had he remained on active duty in a support role. Instead, Bronstein wrote, O’Neill bought private insurance for $486 a month and paid $120 weekly for chiropractic treatments out of his own pocket. And like anyone leaving early, he received no pension and found himself initially without income. Had he stayed in the Navy for his full 20 years, his pension would have been half his base pay, or $2,197 a month.

Public speaking seems to have solved O’Neill’s financial woes. Now he reportedly commands more than $20,000 a speech and has been in great demand for a speaker, even one who is a decorated SEAL. Still, Lovelidge insists that O’Neill was not marketed as bin Laden’s killer.

“In the promotional material,” Lovelidge said, “he was sold as a member of SEAL Team Six, but obviously not as the shooter.”

Lovelidge is quick to point out that though he does not know the motivation for O’Neill’s now identifying himself as such, he and his staff regard him as a hero.

O’Neill is now the second SEAL involved in the bin Laden raid to go public. Last week, I spoke with Mark Owen, a pseudonym for the SEAL who wrote the No. 1 bestseller “No Easy Day.” Though the accounts of Owen and O’Neill differ, what’s clear is that they represent two of the first three SEALS to enter bin Laden’s bedroom that night, the third being a publicly unknown point man. You would think the fact that they share a unique bond would unite them for life, yet I was sorry to hear that Owen and O’Neill have not remained close.

“I have not spoken to Rob in years,” Owen told me.

“It’s not that we’re not friendly,” he added. “It’s that I’ve moved on and done my thing, and he has moved on and done his.”

The rest of us can be grateful for the joint “thing” they did before parting.