I doubt it, but I thought I'd ask.
Lyle Best letter: Soldier had to pay for his jammed gun
The Forum
Published Saturday, March 18, 2006
I recently had a conversation with a woman whose son just completed basic training and would soon be headed to Iraq. She said that during training her son had been told (in no uncertain terms) that should his gun jam, that it was up to him to unjam it any way possible. Lives depended on it. Well, it jammed and the gun was apparently ruined as he tried to unjam it. He now sees $600 deducted from his $1,400 monthly pay for the next six months to compensate the military for his clumsiness.
Most likely this was a military M-16, a civilian model of which can be purchased for a few hundred dollars (not $3,600). He is also required to pay for the insignia patches on his uniform, but that is a small matter.
This would be plenty bad enough; but the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Audit Agency has now decided to pay Halliburton Corp. all but $10 million out of the $263 million it had decided were questionable. As Rhonda James, spokeswoman for the Pentagon explained, under the type of contract awarded to the company, “... the contractor is not required to perform perfectly to be entitled to reimbursement ...” Too bad this Army private isn’t entitled to the same consideration, applying the same ratio to his bill, he would only owe $136, rather than $3,600, for “not performing perfectly.”
The disadvantaged may be fighting this war; but they are obviously not the ones the war is being fought for.
Smells fishy to me.