It was part of our unit's SOP in Iraq to write off equipment that was "combat-loss, unrecoverable". Unfortunately, I signed a bunch of these. Usually something blown off a vehicle or burned/destroyed by enemy fire. If this kid went through a BAS, they cut everything off him and bagged it. We were required to send body armor and Kevlar helmets with the casualty for examination. Vests were never burned at our (BN TF) level.
Quick report of survey, and it's done...there is more to this story...
Regards,
Thanks for your service, Thunder 6.
In the past, the Army allowed to soldiers to write memos, explaining the loss and destruction of gear, Rebrook said.
But a new policy required a “report of survey” from the field that documented the loss.
Rebrook said he tried to get a battalion commander to sign a waiver on the battle armor, but the officer declined. Rebrook was told he’d have to supply statements from witnesses to verify the body armor was taken from him and burned.
In other words, they told the kid that he needed to request a report of survey. The kid chose not to. He also chose not to get statements from *anyone* in his unit who could verify that the armor was taken and burned. Sounds like the Army gave the kid a decent shot at *not* paying, but for whatever reason, he chose not to do that.