http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4475269&nav=1TjDInjured soldier forced to pay for body armor will get refund
CHARLESTON, W.Va. Officials say a former Fort Hood soldier injured in Iraq is getting a refund after being forced to pay for his missing body armor vest.
Medics destroyed the nearly 700-dollar Kevlar vest because it was soaked with the soldier's blood.
First Lieutenant "Eddie" Rebrook the fourth had to leave the Army with a shrapnel injury to his arm after being seriously hurt in early 2005.
But before his discharge last week, the 25-year-old says he had to scrounge up cash from his buddies to pay for the body armor and other gear he had lost.
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http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001993858UPDATE: Story on Wounded Soldier Who Had to Pay for Body Armor Gets Results
NEW YORK A story in the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette yesterday, later featured in an E&P article, stirred up a hornet's nest -- as well as thousands of dollars in donations.
West Virginia's two U.S. senators, Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd, asked top military leaders Tuesday to explain why 1st Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV apparently had to reimburse the U.S. Army $700 last week for body armor and other gear damaged after he was seriously wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq. The military officials said it sounded like an unusual case, but they would look into it.
More than 200 people donated at least $5,700 to Rebrook after reading about his body armor payment to the Army in an article by Eric Eyre. The vast majority of it came after a popular blog, AmericaBlog, called for and collected funds, but others also contributed via the newspaper and a local radio station.
Rebrook, 25, who attended West Point and was medically discharged from the Army last week, said he wouldn't keep the donations. He's paying back the people he borrowed from to take care of the $700 bill, and also passing along the money to charity and a Louisiana woman who lost her home in Hurricane Katrina -- the woman's son helped save his life in Iraq, he said.