I strongly encourage any and all to help
Operation Helmet. The government is once again failing the troops and they need are help. Upgrades are authorized, but dollars to fund our slow. They need them NOW. Leave NO Soldier behind..........
There are links to 2 reports in the article, that contain streaming video.
The Signature Wound of the Iraq WarSNIP
Specialists in brain injury know all too well that people can suffer brain problems without losing consciousness. One of the most frightening aspects of brain injury is that brain-injured people often lose the ability to know something is wrong.
Dr. Harriet Zeiner, a VA psychologist and brain injury specialist, was recently on a conference call with medical officials at several military treatment facilities including hospitals in Iraq. "One of the things commanders are trying to determine," she says, "is that after someone has been exposed to five and six concussive blasts are they still battle ready? Frankly, that floored us. You could have very significant effects from one exposure, and now they're trying to figure out if people who've been exposed five and six times should be going back into battle."
To follow up on those comments, I called the Pentagon several times to request an interview with someone who would explain the policy of what field commanders do to determine if troops are suffering brain injury, and what is the policy for returning them to duty. My requests were denied repeatedly.
But beyond that problem, as we have been reporting, the toll of brain injury in this war is enormous.
Almost 18,000 troops have been wounded according the Department of Defense. The VA doctors say that two-thirds of them have been injured by IED blasts and two-thirds of those exposed to blasts suffer some brain injury -- ranging from a mild concussion to permanent damage. Brain injuries -– thousands of them –- could be the legacy of this war just as much as post-traumatic stress and problems from exposure to Agent Orange persisted among many of the troops who served in Vietnam.