Tuesday, June 01, 2010

The Obamacy


Billed for missing military gear


Gary Pfleider

Military administrative SNAFUs are the stuff of legend, but this is coming from an Administration that wanted to charge Pfleider, and others,  for his hospital care too. 
Gary Pfleider, a former Oregon National Guard soldier, was shot by a sniper while on patrol in Iraq in September 2007. He has only vague memories of the event, but now must live with a permanent reminder -- a brace he'll have to wear on his leg for the rest of his life.

"I remember grabbing a hold of my leg, and realizing I had blood on my hands," he said. "And from that point on until I got loaded onto the Stryker was just a big blur."

Three days after he was shot, Pfleider received a Purple Heart.

Almost two years later, he received a bill from the military for missing equipment.

The sum of the bill, which includes interest, is $3,175. It itemizes a list of gear the military issued to Pfleider that did not come back with his unit in 2008. The lists includes clothing items, canteens and grenades. [Full]

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't see why this wasn't written off as a "combat loss".

As a Brigade-level logistics officer, I dealt with lost equipment issues all the time during peacetime. There's an appeal process for this and anyone with any sense would just write this off as a loss to the government.

MAJ Mike

Rodger the Real King of France said...

A problem I think plagues every level of the gummint bureaucracy, Maj Mike. The right hand unaware of the left hand.

Anonymous said...

It's worse than that Rog. Any decent officer would pick up the phone, and resolve this fellow's problem in a couple of hours. It's a black mark on the organizational leadership.

Casca

Juice said...

UFB wouldn't touch this. Bet he's not the only one out there.
"Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em all around..."

God forbid we mess with illegals.

Esteve said...

I retired in 1996 from the USN and I wonder every day what has happened to our military leadership? We have these incredible selfless young people who are treated like crap by the bean counters and yet they keep giving their all. When the army was more concerned about their diversity program than the dead soldiers at Ft. Hood, I decided these modern warriors have determined to serve despite the lack of leadership at the top. I don't know how they do it. Well, yes I do and God bless them.
PS-Now I picture some GS with an old green logbook still trying to find who to bill for my kumshawed flight gear that's in the garage.

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