Posted on 02/07/2006 11:39:42 PM PST by jamese777
Soldier pays for armor Army demanded $700 from city man who was wounded By Eric Eyre Staff writer
The last time 1st Lt. William “Eddie” Rebrook IV saw his body armor, he was lying on a stretcher in Iraq, his arm shattered and covered in blood.
A field medic tied a tourniquet around Rebrook’s right arm to stanch the bleeding from shrapnel wounds. Soldiers yanked off his blood-soaked body armor. He never saw it again.
But last week, Rebrook was forced to pay $700 for that body armor, blown up by a roadside bomb more than a year ago.
He was leaving the Army for good because of his injuries. He turned in his gear at his base in Fort Hood, Texas. He was informed there was no record that the body armor had been stripped from him in battle.
He was told to pay nearly $700 or face not being discharged for weeks, perhaps months.
Rebrook, 25, scrounged up the cash from his Army buddies and returned home to Charleston last Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at wvgazette.com ...
He is not isolated from his unit and could have emailed the problem to his prior company commander or company clerk and it would have been taken care of ASAP. I send and receive email from my son (who is a 1st Lt. in Iraq) every day and receive a call at least once a week. He tried to short cut procedure rather than do his own homework.
We'll there's procedures, instructions and forms...but everything is waiverable. How the hell is a guy abruptly medevaced off the battlefield and seperated from his unit supposed to track down a DD-200 which may never have been completed in a war zone? Over a year has passed since he was with his unit..PCS transfers, Change of Command, return to the US..I don't see why the bean counters couldn't write this off locally. I guess they will find a way when the angry JCS one-way phonecall comes.
My son is a 1st Lt. in Iraq. Housing allowance is determined by zip code and for Atlanta is $1200 a month, and for some northern cities it is high as $1600 a month. In addition he receives his base pay and combat pay. I'm not sure how its handled now but when I was in you also receive a allowance for dependents. He has a wife and child. My neighbor's son received ~$90,000 as a Captain and volunteered for a third tour as a Major and receives ~102,000 for time in Iraq. Goggle up officer pay and allowances and you will see that they are well paid.
"...it takes forever to fix a pay problem"
Ha, sort of. If you were overpaid, the Army can fix that awfully fast. Expect to eat nothing but chow hall food for a bit.
If you were underpaid for a period, and the Army therefore owes you $$, you can expect 10% of the balance paid over the next 2 pay periods, followed by quarterly installments for the next 3-7 years until the amount is paid (however small that amount is), or some other similarly ridiculous arrangement.
No kidding. Who'd think the finance puke was pulling out his/her own checkbook when they owe you money!
Col. Meyers: What's your assessment of this situation, Gunny?
Highway: It's a cluster %$#@, sir. Marines shouldn't be sitting on their sorry asses filling out requisitions for equipment they should already have.
Col. Meyers: An astute observation.
It wasn't his responsibility to fill out the paperwork in Iraq. That was someone elses' job. It should have been there when he reached for it. It wasn't.
" A Battalion Commander is not going to sign a waver for anyone without know the facts unless he is bucking for a court marshal.
This isn't about weapons systems. this is about a friggin' vest an associated equipment he was wearing when he got blown up. If the moron lt col couldn't figure that out, he should take a easier position that doesn't require so much mental agility.
" The Lt was trying to short cut procedure based on rank."
All injured soldiers deserve to be treated with common decency and respect. Rank ain't a consideration here. If the commander doesn't have the decency to see that all his men are equally relieved of such chicken shit pettiness, then he doesn't deserve to hold the rank.
Thanks for the info about the officer's pay.
He's already been given over $5k in donations. He gave those to another soldier's family that lost their home in New Orleans. He'll take no donations, other than to redirect them as he has.
That sounds like alot of red tape for a damaged canteen. /sarcasm
LOL.
On the day before PCS, you'll see dozens of soldiers buying new stuff to turn in to the CTA facility. Easier to spend $7.50 for the canteen to avoid another day in whatever dump you're stuck in ;)
"He wasn't "forced to pay." He could have signed the proper form, but he chose to pay so he could outprocess early. It was his decision."
Are you out of your mind? A soldier who served and bled for you to be free to write this is being extorted by our own government and you're ok with it? Shame on you.
News flash, the guy didn't go off post during a stateside FTX and left his body armor on the floor of a bar. He lost it after he was wounded in combat serving our country and protecting our kids.
And all he has to do is sign the proper form attesting to that and it is over and done with. He chose not to. He decided the $700 was worth less than the extra time it would take to process the form.
"all he has to do is sign the proper form attesting to that and it is over and done with."
You are so wrong...and so is the Army. If we chase our vets away with this kind of attitude, we will lose their experience and it will destroy the moral of the troops.
If you did 20 years in 2 wars you should know better.
But no matter what you were...you are wrong now.
The latest on this:
http://wvgazettemail.com/section/News/2006020853?pt=24
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.