This is how the troops are supported???

Discussion in 'Politics' started by ZZZzzzzzzz, Feb 8, 2006.

  1. Wounded Soldier Billed for Bloodied Body Armor

    By ALLISON BARKER, AP

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Feb. 8) - A former U.S. soldier injured in Iraq says he was forced to pay $700 for a blood-soaked body armor vest that was destroyed after medics removed it to treat shrapnel wounds to his arm.

    First Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV, 25, 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. Rebrook was billed because a supply officer failed to document that the vest had been destroyed more than a year ago as a biohazard.

    "I last saw the (body armor) when it was pulled off my bleeding body while I was being evacuated in a helicopter," Rebrook told his hometown newspaper, The Charleston Gazette. "They took it off me and burned it."

    Rebrook's story spurred action Tuesday from U.S. Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both West Virginia Democrats.

    "I've been in touch with his family, and I've already written (Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld) to request that they immediately refund his money and review this horrendous policy," said Rockefeller, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "I'm shocked that he has been treated this way by our military."

    Byrd questioned Gen. Peter Schoomaker, chief of staff of the Army, on Tuesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee budget hearing.

    "How can it be that the Defense Department, which is requesting $439 billion in this budget, has to resort to dunning a wounded soldier for $700 to replace a piece of body armor?"
    -- Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V.

    "I last saw the (body armor) when it was pulled off my bleeding body while I was being evacuated in a helicopter. They took it off me and burned it."
    -- Eddie Rebrook, Army First Lt.

    "My son loved the Army and was proud of serving his country. For any soldier to be treated like this is outrageous."
    -- Beckie Drumheler, Rebrook's mother


    "We certainly have procedures that account for battle loss, and I just find it a highly unusual story. But we'll certainly follow up and correct it if there's any truth to it."
    -- Gen. Peter Schoomaker, Army chief of staff
    Sources: AP, The Charleston Gazette

    Schoomaker called Rebrook's story unusual and promised Byrd to "correct it if there's any truth to it."

    Rockefeller said he first met Rebrook when he was an ROTC cadet at a Charleston high school and later nominated him to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., where he graduated with honors. Rebrook then spent four years on active duty, including six months in Iraq.

    Rebrook's mother, Beckie Drumheler, said soldiers who serve their country and put their lives on the line deserve better. "My son loved the Army and was proud of serving his country. For any soldier to be treated like this is outrageous," she said.

    Rebrook was standing in the turret of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle when a roadside bomb exploded Jan. 11, 2005. The explosion fractured his arm and severed an artery. His arm never completely recovered despite seven operations. He still has range-of- motion problems and pain.

    Rebrook said he tried to get a battalion commander to sign a waiver for the Kevlar vest, but the officer declined. He was told he would have to supply statements from witnesses to verify the body armor was taken from him and burned.

    His story has prompted donations from residents. A local radio station raised $700 within 90 minutes Tuesday, and one woman dropped off a $200 check by his mother's home.

    "I thought that was pretty nice that people care," said Rebrook's stepfather, Charles Drumheler.

    Rebrook's father, Ed Rebrook, a Charleston lawyer, said while the donations were appreciated, his son did not plan to accept them.

    2/8/2006 11:42:27
     
  2. rumsfish should be fired for this.
     
  3. There you have it.

    A supply officer makes a mistake, and ZZZZzzzzzzz fallaciously implies that the military as a whole couldn't give a shit about its troops.

    Typical ZZzzzzzzz garbage.
     
  4. Ricter

    Ricter

    Z, get off the left man.
     
  5. Yup, sometimes these liberals remind me of those ZZZzzzealous MuZZZzzzlims.

    Any lie is ok as long as it furthers your liberal cause....

    No guilt at all about any outrageous statement or action.....

    And never an apology when your lies are 'outed'.....
     
  6. You are comparing liberals to zealous Muslims?

    :eek:

    Feel free to point out any lie in this thread that a liberal spoke or wrote....

    :D :D :D



     
  7. Ricter

    Ricter

    Well, you'd never get an apology from Z. Some of us lefties would though.
     
  8. Please stop the flaming and personal attacks.

    Thanks!

     
  9. Never?

    LOL....

    Nothing quite like an all or nothing fallacy.....


     
  10. Hey, let's be fair. The Bushpigs offered this guy a choice - he could pay the $700 or take a vicious beating.

    But seriously - this guy was a West point graduate who will now be disabled for the rest of his life, and these fucking douchebags wouldn't accept his word. And the complete whorebag Schoomaker compounded the insult by promising to take care of the matter "if there was any truth to it." What a shitsucking maggot.

    Posted by: MoeLarryAndJesus on February 08, 2006 at 06:02pm
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    ________________________________


    "Outrageous? Just wait till this soldier sees what the GOP has done to his VA benefits.
    Posted by: SteveSeattle on February 08, 2006 at 05:57pm "

    Sadly, you have hit that right on the mark. I'm a 10-point vet, service connected, and even with the ID card they gave me, it's still not enough. I've gotten frustrated and just started relying on private doctors for the past year. V.A. has turned into a joke. Bad enough you can't get an appointment til 2 or 3 months down the road. Bad enough if you do a walk-in, you better have brought a lunch cause you'll be there 6 to 8 hours waiting to see someone. Even before all that, there's the mighty red-tape and mountains of paperwork they try and bury you under. It's to the point that I'm beginning to think that they purposely try and frustrate you like that, to make you "go away" so they don't have to deal with you.

    Posted by: Destin on February 08, 2006 at 06:06pm
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    That's just fucked up!

    Of course after I spent 13 years in the navy this makes sense. He had to turn the armor in, and with no proof of what happened to it they charge him for it. Ah the red tape!!!

    "Gee sir the last time I saw it they were cutting it off me to treat me for the wound your discharging me for."

    "Tough shit sodier. Without documented proof you need to pony up the cash. It's in the regs."

    I guarantee you it went something like that.

    Posted by: tominjax on February 08, 2006 at 06:18pm
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    ___________________________

    Didn't Sen. Murtha mention another soldier having a similar experience last fall when he talked about visiting them in hospitals?

    Maybe this is why the republicans refused to make an exception for the military under the bankruptcy act? They figured that all the shot off armor, damaged fighting tools, etc. that were going to be billed to the soldiers would place them in bankruptcy later. That's because they could not serve or work because of their war wounds. It requires cold minds and no hearts to treat these soldiers that way.

    And this administration plans perpetual wars? How on earth can they expect to have them when they treat their troops as bad as they do their poor, elderly, sick, halt, and lame at home? This is not the sort of "democracy" they're fighting for.

    Like the WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam soldiers, these troops think they are defending their country, freedoms, and families against great threats.

    Many of the soldiers are poor. That's why they enlisted. Most of them don't go to West Point and have lawyers for daddies.

    All these poorer boys and girls can do is end up in our inhumane bankruptcy system if they're too wounded to serve. Most of the jobs available are for minimum wage these days, and that hasn't been raised since the 1990's!

    What kind of treatment is this for service to country?

    Posted by: seriously on February 08, 2006 at 07:07pm
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    _____________________________

    More here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/02/08/wounded-soldier-made-to-p_n_15315.html
     
    #10     Feb 8, 2006