CHARLESTON, W.Va., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The Pentagon is being challenged for demanding a West Virginia Army officer who was wounded in Iraq pay $700 for his damaged body armor.
The state's two Democratic senators, Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd, raised the issue of 1st Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV with the Pentagon and within the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reported.
When the news broke after Rebrook's medical discharge from Fort Hood, Texas, last week, more than 200 people from across the country sent him donations totaling $5,700 in a show of support. However, the 25-year-old said he wouldn't keep the money, but rather donate it to a Louisiana woman who lost her home in Hurricane Katrina. He said the woman's son helped save his life in Iraq.
Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, said he would follow-up on why Rebrook was billed.
"That is a very unusual story," Schoomaker said. "I have no idea why we would ever do something like that."
