The story hit liberal AMERICABlog this morning. 

First Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV, 25, suffered severe injuries when he was struck by a roadside bomb one year ago in Iraq.  Because of his injuries, Rebrook left the Army recently, returning home last Friday.  Upon his discharge, he learned that the Army billed him $700 for the "lost" body armor that he was wearing when the IED exploded in his face.

Rebrook, for his part, doesn’t remember how he lost his armor — only that he recalls seeing it when he was placed on a stretcher.  Most likely, it was removed by an attending medic.

Editor & Publisher picks up the story:

His mother, Beckie Drumheler, said she was saddened — and angry — when she learned that the Army discharged her son with a $700 bill. "Soldiers who serve their country, those who put their lives on the line, deserve better", she said. "It’s outrageous, ridiculous and unconscionable," Drumheler said. "I wanted to stand on a street corner and yell through a megaphone about this."

And yell through a megaphone is what John Aravosis of AMERICABlog did:

"We liberal folk may disagree with the Bush administration over the reasons for going to war and over how they’re fighting this war, but one thing you’d expect no disagreement over would be the treatment of our soldiers. They fight for their country and they deserve some respect in return. And that means not charging them for their body armor because someone blew them up on the battlefield."

And in the course of today, AMERICABlogs readers (aided by further publicity from other blogs) raised over 5,000 dollars — 4,400 coming in the first two hours after John’s post.

The right blogosphere — you know, the "Support Our Troops" people — haven’t said word one about the story.