Injured Soldier Gets Refund!

[Guest Berta]

Wounded Soldier to Get Refund

Army Had Demanded Payment for Bloodied Body Armor

By ALLISON BARKER, AP

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Feb. 8) - A former soldier injured in Iraq is getting a refund after being forced to pay for his missing body armor vest, which medics destroyed because it was soaked with his blood, officials said Wednesday.

Jim MacMillan, AP

First Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV said he was billed for his missing vest because of a clerical error. "I still love the Army, loved being a soldier and loved my unit," he said.

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First Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV, 25, had to leave the Army with a shrapnel injury to his arm. But before he could be discharged last week, he says he had to scrounge up cash from his buddies to pay $632 for the body armor and other gear he had lost.

Rebrook, who graduated from West Point with honors, said he was billed because a supply officer failed to document that the vest was destroyed as a biohazard. He said a battalion commander refused to sign a waiver for the vest, saying Rebrook would have to supply witness statements to verify the vest was taken from him and burned.

"When that vest was removed from my bleeding body in Iraq, it was no longer my responsibility," Rebrook said Wednesday.

Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, said there have been at least 21 similar cases.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., questioned Gen. Peter Schoomaker, chief of staff of the Army, on Tuesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee budget hearing, and on Wednesday an Army official said Rebrook would get refunds for the $510 vest and its contents, worth about $50.

Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, spokesman for the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, said there have been at least 21 similar cases. "In all of those cases, not one soldier was held accountable for items lost in combat," he said.

Told of the refund, Rebrook said: "How kind of them."

He blamed the dispute on bureaucracy.

"It's the nature of the beast. ... I still love the Army, loved being a soldier and loved my unit. I'm not going to look back on my service with anything but pride," he said.

[Guest Jim S.]

I know I am a skeptic, but it would be interesting to know if the Army Lt. was in some way still attached to the Army. An officer can be Court Marshalled for disparaging commits against the Army as a whole and/or of the Commander In Chief, i.e. The President of our United States.

They could also cause him more anguish in many a number of ways. Liest of all having to pay for his supposedly lost Army Surplus equiptment. Which probably didn't have the proper flack pertection to begin with.

I think that the Army and or Government should pay him for the imbarresment he must have had to suffer by asking his fellow Army buddies to help pay this rediculess debt.

I guess now before a medic can treat you and get you ready for evack He needs to first make an accounting for all your gear, or even worse, you will have to account for each bullet you fire, by locating each spent slug and/or cartridge casing.

Maybe I sould have labled me a sinic instead. LoL ;)

I just can't believe the stupidity that beurocrats can go to, to save the government a penny.

Jim S. B)

[robert51]

I know I am a skeptic, but it would be interesting to know if the Army Lt. was in some way still attached to the Army. An officer can be Court Marshalled for disparaging commits against the Army as a whole and/or of the Commander In Chief, i.e. The President of our United States.

They could also cause him more anguish in many a number of ways. Liest of all having to pay for his supposedly lost Army Surplus equiptment. Which probably didn't have the proper flack pertection to begin with.

I think that the Army and or Government should pay him for the imbarresment he must have had to suffer by asking his fellow Army buddies to help pay this rediculess debt.

I guess now before a medic can treat you and get you ready for evack He needs to first make an accounting for all your gear, or even worse, you will have to account for each bullet you fire, by locating each spent slug and/or cartridge casing.

Maybe I sould have labled me a sinic instead. LoL ;)

I just can't believe the stupidity that beurocrats can go to, to save the government a penny.

Jim S. B)

This shit happens during Viet Nam time i was on a flare bird over Dau Tieng as they were being overrun and after a nearly crashing into another bird the flares started rolling on the bird as a gunner i droped my M-60 and dove on top of the pile of flares to stop the weight shift.. the weapon fell from 3000 plus feet and months later i did not receive my pay so i complained and was told the Army had charged me for the lost weapon even though i received a medal for risking my ass to save the bird.. my father went to complain to a senator Cranston and soon after a General came to Dau Tieng and said sorry and i was given my pay, another time i was on the flight line and a new guy had a fork lift with a Chopper engin in the sling and jumped off the fork lift to go to lunch and accidently hit the leaver droping the engin on the bird .. he was sent a letter saying he was at fault and could be charged for the damage.. i said to him ha ha ha what will they do send you to nam..