Soldiers fire the M136 AT4 on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., on Nov. 17, 2023. The AT4 is a 84mm, disposable, shoulder-fired recoilless unguided anti-tank weapon. ((U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Michael Schwenk))
WASHINGTON — Three senators are asking the Pentagon to explain how it is protecting service members from brain injuries caused by blast waves from firing weapons.
The senators are requesting updates from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on steps the military is taking to better understand and address the effects of repeated blast exposure from weapons such as artillery and rocket launchers.
“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 a letter to Austin.
The letter is signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Thom Tills, R-N.C. Warren and Ernst, an Army veteran, are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee while Tillis is a former member.
Their demand for answers follows recent research by the Defense Department and an investigation by The New York Times that showed troops can experience lasting brain damage from firing weapons but the military is not doing enough to protect them from the blasts.
Traumatic brain injury is considered the “signature wound” of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers said. Researchers measuring blast pressure from roadside bombs in Afghanistan found 75% of exposure to troops came from their own weapons, according to the letter.
Up to 22% of troops from recent conflicts suffered from mild traumatic brain injury, largely due to long-term exposure to explosive weapons, according to medical research.
Two recent studies by the Navy found service members who fire a large amount of artillery rounds or rockets are at an increased risk of developing anxiety disorders, substance abuse problems, dementia and psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia.
Some service members who fired heavy weapons even within allowable limits experienced delayed verbal memory, visual-spatial memory and executive function, according to Defense Department studies.
A 2019 Marine Corps review of one unit noted knowledge of ways to mitigate harm was “extremely limited” and long-term impacts are “seemingly ignored.”
Lawmakers have pressed the Pentagon for years to lessen blast overpressure during training and operations and recognize the symptoms of brain injury.
Warren in 2018 included a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act requiring the Defense Department to study the blast intensity of weapons and review safety precautions for service members firing them. In 2020, Congress required the military to begin documenting blast exposure in service members’ records.
The Defense Department, spurred by congressional scrutiny, launched the Warfighter Brain Health Initiative in 2022 to gather information and offer solutions even as weapons that deliver blasts above the initiative’s recommended safety threshold are reported to be in wide use.
shkolnikova.svetlana@stripes.com
Twitter: @svetashko
