Army veteran Kevin Stonestreet (click for story)
To bring everyone up to date from
yesterday's diary, I spoke to Kevin Stonestreet, the veteran who is being forced to pay back approximately $6,000 of his signing bonus after being forced out early due to his PTSD diagnosis.
Steve Gilliard picked up the issue, and challenged Red State bloggers to get on the ball and help one of the guys they helped send to Iraq. Otherwise, we'll do the right thing, and raise funds to help this soldier.
More on the flip ->
Here's a bit from the original
Fontana (CA) paper's story:
When Fontana resident and 2001 Fontana A.B. Miller High School graduate Kevin Stonestreet joined the U.S. Army in the summer of 2001 as a member of the infantry, he was given a $20,000 bonus to be paid out over his six-year enlistment.
However, when Stonestreet was honorably discharged from the Army in 2005, he found out he needed to repay $3,800 of that bonus because he did not complete his six years.
But Stonestreet, who is now 23, said he was kicked out of the Army because he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression from serving in Iraq.
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As always, we'll need to call Babs, Feinstein and Rep Joe Baca(D) to let them know we care. It was because of Sens. Rockefeller and Byrd that the Army had a case of conscience in the AmericaBlog body armor case.
In addition, Stonestreet, who was awarded the Purple Heart and was considered for the Bronze Star for bravery in combat, said the amount he was to pay back was originally $6,000, but the government repossessed his final paycheck of $2,200.
Here's my update from a few minutes ago (crossposted at my blog):
Kevin Stonestreet, the veteran from the story we've been tracking, was gracious enough to spend a few minutes talking to me just now.
He said that he has a meeting with Rep. Joe Baca's staff in the morning (Sunday? That's getting off your ass!), and that they have been very motivated over the past day - that coincides with online activity at dKos. Good job, everyone. So far, Baca's office is the only one to respond. I let him know I fully expected Boxer's people to get involved.
A few words on Kevin: he's a clear spoken guy, who talks with a sharp, quick cadence. He said his family urged him to go public, since his situation is so clearly wrong. He spoke to the local paper Tuesday, and had hoped it would draw the attention of the elected officials he'd written to. Until yesterday, he had received no response.
I let Kevin know that his case had gained attention online - he was taken aback that anyone outside of Fontana had heard of him. I pointed him to the story at Steve's blog so he could follow what was happening online. I told him I had no idea what might become of a possible fundraiser, but I 'd call him when anything happened. He gave me his mailing address, etc.
By way of full disclosure, I let Kevin know that his case has a strong appeal to liberal activists who want to make sure veterans are taken care of. I let him know that I'm a volunteer Dem activist. I mentioned the peculiar partisan breakdown, that liberals, despite the lack of patriotic car decorations, seem most likely to get involved in cases like this. I mentioned that AmericaBlog had done the fundraiser for the Lt. from West Virginia. Kevin knew about the body armor story, but not about the online response. Kevin said, "I'll take help wherever I can get it," with a tone that sounded apolitical - like a lot of young servicemen I know who are often only casually partisan.
Kevin clarified the key points of the press account for me, that he was diagnosed with PTSD while in the Army, and was pushed out because of it. He has not yet provided documents such as his DD214 to anyone outside the Army who might help with his case.
I complemented Kevin on having the wherewithal to get his story in the press, told him, "good job," and "keep up the good work."