But if you do a cartoon about it, the Joint Chiefs will come after you

Wounded Soldier Billed for Bloodied Body Armor by Allison Barker AOL News/AP 02/08/06

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."

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