Thursday, February 09, 2006

Body Armor, $710

Geez. Busy tonight. This one had the Adorable Husband just spitting mad:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Feb. 8) - A former U.S. soldier injured in Iraq says he was forced to pay $700 for a blood-soaked body armor vest that was destroyed after medics removed it to treat shrapnel wounds to his arm.

First Lt. Rebrook, seen here during a 2004 gun battle in Najaf, had to pay $700 for his Kevlar vest destroyed by medics when he was injured.

First Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV, 25, had to leave the Army because of his injuries. But before he could be discharged last week, he had to scrounge up cash from his buddies to pay for the body armor or face not being discharged for months. Rebrook was billed because a supply officer failed to document that the vest had been destroyed more than a year ago as a biohazard.
Apparently, this is not unheard of. A statement from his commander would have cleared up the issue, but his commander declined to sign one. I'm thinking that here is one officer who won't be on the promotion list, eh?

More info here -- note that the headline says "Soldier says..." Yeah, let's automatically assume that a wounded soldier is lying so he can profit from the loss of his body armor. Note that he is being offered a refund. Not an apology, mind you, but a refund.

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