Are you on some kind of medication? Have you missed a dose or else over dosed? Where in anything I have posted did I claim the soldier is at fault?
Re:The vest is trash, since it was hit with shrapnel a year prior when the soldier was in the explosion."
You commented that the story came from the soldier, so the story's suspect.=>"However the problem is it came from the soldier and not the military command involved."
A soldier is responsible for his equipment. If it is destroyed then it is incumbent on him or her to secure the documents necessary to ensure they are not responsible. ... If exceptions are made in a case like this then where do they stop? The military runs on discipline and regimentation and if this is allowed to be ignored in any instance then chaos will follow.
The fault is implied. The soldier was responsile for his equipment until he was blown up. At that point the ball was in the Army's hands. They dropped the ball, because when the Lt reached for the docs, they weren't there. The battalion commander had the authority to fix the problem on the spot. He refused to do so and instead insisted the soldier hang around to gather docs from various other soldiers testifying that the bomb incident was real. IMO, that's not discipline, that's institutionalized chaos.
"In this particular case the people who treated him are easily contacted and the necessary paperwork will be filed. The soldier will get his money back."
Easy is in the eye of the beholder.