Injured W.Va soldier charged $700 for destroyed body armor

[rg302200]

Charleston. W. Va. (AP)-A former U.S. soldier injured in Iraq says that he was forced to pay $700 for a blood-soaked Kevlar vest that was destroyed after medics removed it to treat shrapnel wounds to his right arm.

First Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV, 25, of Charleston 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. All because a supply officer failed to document that the vest had been destroyed more than a year ago as a bio-hazard.

"I last saw the body armor when it was pulled off my bleeding body while I was being evacuated in a helicopter," Rebrook told The Charleston Gazette for Tuesday's editions. "They took it off me and burned it."


I don't have a link for the story because I couldn't get it to work. This story also appeared in the Herald Dispatch, and my local newspaper The Daily Jeffersonian.

[mtnester]

1. Senator Byrd took the floor yesterday and took the military to the

woodshed about this. He was appalled.

[bullwinkle428]

2. Randi R. talking about his right now... (n/t)