Fontana, California is a fairly large city in the San Bernardino Valley, at the intersection of Interstate routes 10 & 15, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. The city has a population estimated at over 160,000, and was a booming part of the massive industrialization brought about by World War II. Kaiser built a huge steel plant there to feed the military’s need for ships and tanks. A major part of the steel plant has long since closed, and an area that used to be known for agriculture has diversified. Solidly middle class, and heavily blue collar, it’s now a distant exurb of Los Angeles, part of the huge city-sprawl.

Fontana was where the Hell’s Angels first banded together, and is now right next to the California Speedway, which prefers to pretend it’s located in Ontario, California. It was once a center of the Great Meth Empire, but now it’s part of the Inland Empire.

Now it’s got something else to be known for: the home of Kevin Stonestreet. Kevin graduated from the local high school in 2001, and joined the Army that summer, volunteering for Infantry, and earning a $20,000 enlistment bonus. (That bonus isn’t paid out in a lump sum, but rather in increments over the term of service.) In September 2003 Kevin went to war, in Iraq.

[Kevin] said he was first attracted to the infantry because of the kind of work it did.

"We did raids, searches, observations, all the good stuff," he said.

He received his first installment of his bonus -- $7,000 -- in February 2002, he said, adding the rest of the money would come over time.

Stonestreet was stationed near Fallujah, Iraq in April 2004 when an insurgency was being put down by U.S. military personnel.

On April 6, 2004, Stonestreet said he was riding in a Bradley fighting vehicle, which can seat up to 13 soldiers -- albeit not comfortably -- when it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

"We were providing security for the Marines as they were pulling out (of Fallujah) when they just got ambushed," Stonestreet said. "My platoon leader lost his leg and his gunner lost his right hand."

Stonestreet also was wounded. He was hit by shrapnel in his neck and was grazed by a bullet on his left arm. The shrapnel is still in his neck.

"I was a centimeter away from bleeding to death if it had hit my jugular," he said.

He was later recommended for the Bronze Star as he gave up his machine gun to a buddy when he went to get first aid for the injured -- but that's now all but forgotten, he said.

"I went on top of the Bradley to give them first aid," he said. "We were apparently under heavy fire, but because of the blast, I didn't hear anything. I was surprised there wasn't a fire, just a lot of smoke -- a lot of smoke -- and our uniforms smelled like ammonia for days."

Stonestreet came back to the States in September 2005. Now stationed at Ft. Riley, Kan., he came back to Fontana where he was welcomed with a big party, he said.

Kevin had a lot of problems adjusting to life after Iraq, a situation that will be familiair to some of our readers.

"When I first got home I had insomnia," he said. "When I could sleep, I had flashbacks, nightmares and cold sweat.

"I'm a world better being away from the Army. I miss my friends, but they'll be all right, hopefully."

Kevin was honorably discharged in 2005, diagnosed as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There’s a lot of that going around in George Bush’s America, it seems. The honorable discharge terminated his service before the end of his six year enlistment. It sounds as if he did his part, and the Army decided to cut their losses and turn him loose, right?

Wrong.

[W]hen 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.

[Kevin] said the amount he was to pay back was originally $6,000, but the government repossessed his final paycheck of $2,200.

"They were nice enough to take out the $170 for my child support," Stonestreet said, laughingly.

The man enlists, the Army agrees to pay him a bonus in annual increments, he’s wounded, and the Army discharges him because he’s wounded and suffers psychological maladies because of the wound, and then wants money back because he didn’t complete his full term of enlistment that the Army unilaterally terminated for their convenience.

And they’ve sicced a collection agency on him.

The Government isstill interested in recouping its $3,800 it believes it is entitled to. Stonestreet, who works as a clerk at Pep Boys in Rialto, said he has been contacted by a collection agency on the government's behalf and will soon be owing interest on that amount if something isn't done soon.

He added while he feels he shouldn't have to repay the money, he doesn't have it in the first place.

"They ended my contract for me and I'm being forced into paying this," Stonestreet said. "I tried to hold up my end of the bargain."

In addition, while Stonestreet said the government contends it paid him his entire bonus, Stonestreet said he never received the final payment and his bank has no record of ever receiving it.

Stonestreet said the government contends it paid him his entire bonus, Stonestreet said he never received the final payment and his bank has no record of ever receiving it.

This is a no-brainer. The services are very careful with their financial records. If they paid him the last portion there will be either a cancelled check, or a record of electronic deposit into a bank account.

I suppose the story really is not too surprising, coming from an Army that planned how to protect an Oil Ministry, but not how to deliver food and water to its troops. An Army that worked very hard to organize no-bid contracts to a favored civilian contractor that was a big Republican campaign donor because the Vice President of the country used to be CEO of the company. This is an Army that considers its troops to be as expendable as an empty plastic bag, and less important than a uniform and ballistic vest that was burned as a health hazard after the wearer was wounded.

Many thanks to Pacific John at Daily Kos for the tip on this story.