Thursday, February 09, 2006

Is this true?

While I'm hardly ever surprised at the ability of large bureaucratic organizations to make idiotic mistakes, this one strikes me as needing some sort of confirmation. I know the Army can fuck up in ways that rival Dali paintings in their creativity particularly when it comes to soldiers pay and such, but if this is true all I can say is, "Wow, a new masterpiece."

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.

Now, I understand that screwups happen. But someone please tell me this was straightened out forthwith, or better yet, that it didn't really happen.