Following a disturbing report showing that service members are sustaining crippling traumatic brain injuries as a result of firing their own weapons, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand visited VFW Post 5350 to announce legislation to address traumatic brain injuries among service members and veterans.
Service members who regularly fire heavy weapons are at increased risk of brain injury as a result of repeated exposure to explosions or blasts from their own weapons and explosives – otherwise known as blast overpressure. These brain injuries can cause depression, anxiety, cognitive problems, hallucinations, panic attacks, violent outbursts, suicidal tendencies, psychiatric disorders, dementia, and a variety of other serious health problems. At least a dozen Navy SEALs who have died by suicide over the past decade were later found to have suffered blast injuries, and many more service members have complained of health issues after blast exposure. Despite this, the Pentagon has struggled to properly investigate the impact of blast overpressure, effectively track the prevalence of blast overpressure-related injuries, or offer appropriate care to service members and veterans. Gillibrand is calling for more research and better treatment for those affected.
“After repeatedly being exposed to blasts from their own weapons during both training and combat, our service members are sustaining severe and crippling brain trauma,” said Senator Gillibrand. “This bill will require the DoD to investigate the prevalence and causes of these brain injuries; to track each service member’s exposure to blasts; and to help service members access care. This is a critical bill and I look forward to getting it passed in the NDAA.”
Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker said, “As a Suffolk County Legislator, I proudly serve as a member of the Veteran’s Committee. In addition, this topic hits close to home since one of my brothers served in the Marine Corps in the first Gulf War in Iraq. I applaud Senators Gillibrand, King, Collins, Warren and others for their work on the Blast Overpressure Safety Act. According to a 2023 Department of Defense report, traumatic brain injuries are one of the invisible wounds of war and one of the signature injuries of troops wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq. From 2000 to 2022, approximately 458,894 service members were diagnosed with a TBI during training or in combat. The most important cause of brain injury is long term exposure coming from service members’ own weapons. The Blast Overpressure Safety Act is focused on mitigating and protecting service members from blast overpressure and TBI. I applaud and wholly support the work of Senator Gillibrand and this critically important initiative.”
Gillibrand was joined by VFW Post Commander Bill Hughes, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, Suffolk County Veterans Agency Director Marcelle Leis, Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore, and Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker.
Specifically, the Blast Overpressure Safety Act would:
- Mandate regular neurocognitive assessments over a service member’s career, including a baseline neurocognitive assessment before training.
- Create blast overpressure exposure and TBI logs for all service members.
- Increase transparency regarding blast overpressure safety in the weapons acquisition process. DoD must consider the minimization of blast overpressure during the acquisition process, require contracting entities to provide blast overpressure safety data, and publish blast overpressure safety data for weapons systems and its plans to better protect service members from in-use weapons systems.
- Improve data on concussive and subconcussive brain injuries service members sustain. This includes information on discharges related to and medical providers trained in these injuries, as well as efforts with allies and partners to better address these injuries.
- Enhance efforts to mitigate exposure and help service members access care. This includes retaliation protections for those who seek care; modifying existing weapons system to reduce blast exposure; updating and making publicly available blast overpressure thresholds and creating a waiver system for exceeding these thresholds; training high-risk service members to help them recognize exposure symptoms and creating strategies to mitigate their risk; and expanding the types of technologies in the Warfighter Brain Health Initiative pilot blast monitoring program.
- Support service member treatment by establishing a Special Operations Comprehensive Brain Health and Trauma program, making the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) a program of record and requiring DoD to provide child care services to those seeking treatment there, and mandating training for medical and training personnel on blast overpressure and exposure and TBI.