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A bipartisan group of senators wants the Pentagon to explain how it will protect service members from brain injuries resulting from firing heavy weapons.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., recently sent Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III a letter seeking action on blast overpressure.
"We write to learn more about the Department of Defense’s current efforts to protect service members’ brain health, particularly in ensuring that military operations do not result in blast overpressure that can lead to depression, crippling headaches, hallucinations, and suicide," the senators wrote in their Jan. 18 letter to Austin.
Warren is the chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, while Ernst is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Tillis is a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
The letter cited recent DoD research and reporting from The New York Times warning about the risks from blast overpressure.
For example, the letter referenced a Pentagon study that estimated "up to 22% of troops from recent conflicts suffered from mild traumatic brain injury, or mTBI, and the most prevalent cause was long-term exposure to explosive weapons."
Brain injuries from repeated blast exposure can cause health problems including cognitive issues, depression, panic attacks and violent outbursts.
The Times reported Jan. 19 repeated exposure to the blasts from weapons like artillery and rocket launchers can cause lasting and profound brain damage.
But according to The Times, the U.S. military has often failed to protect troops — or even recognize the risk — from these blasts.
The Times found the U.S. military routinely mistook brain injury symptoms for post-traumatic stress disorder or, at times, willful misconduct.
The senators’ letter asks Austin to answer 12 questions about DoD’s blast overpressure efforts.
For instance, one question asks how DoD and the Department of Veteran Affairs coordinate on addressing blast overpressure, including screening for symptoms.
The letter demands answers to the senators’ questions no later than Feb. 27; it also asks DoD for a briefing about the Warfighter Brain Health Initiative and the Pentagon’s latest efforts to address TBI no later than Feb. 1.
Warren introduced a bill in 2018 that required DoD to measure the blast intensity of its weapons and study the effect on troops’ brains.
A 2020 bill then required the U.S. military to start documenting service members’ blast exposure in their records.
In 2022, the Pentagon launched the Warfighter Brain Health Initiative, which aims to understand brain injuries from blast overpressure and find solutions to the problem.
Per The Times, the U.S. military will start giving cognitive tests to all new troops this year before retesting them every five years for signs of mental decline.
Blast overpressure can come from Guard activities ranging from breaching buildings to handling improvised explosive devices.
— By Mark Hensch
