Bipartisan, bicameral coalition seeks accountability report of DoD’s efforts to protect service members from blast overpressure

Members from across the political aisle, and from both chambers of Congress, last week wrote to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to request a review of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) actions for its service members exposed to blast overpressure.

In all, 24 lawmakers sought an analysis of efforts made to identify, prevent and treat traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) from these blasts, owing to uncertainty over DoD’s current strategy to address them. They stressed their belief that DoD needs to move more urgently to mitigate blast overpressure and support servicemembers. TBIs became particularly prominent in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and remain a major health concern for soldiers.

According to the lawmakers, service members were treated by DoD for TBI over 210,000 times in 2022 alone.

“While the DoD has spent almost $3 billion on TBI research from fiscal year (FY) 2020 to FY 2023, major gaps remain in turning this research into action to better protect service members’ brain health, particularly to mitigate the impact of blast exposure and overpressure on service members,” the lawmakers wrote.

Specifically, they asked GAO to review DoD research on TBI, blast overpressure and blast exposure, plus its moves to identify those most at-risk for blast overpressure and to protect service members from retaliation for seeking the care they need. The Marine Corps has separately found that artillery crews firing high numbers of rounds could result in injuries faster than they could be replaced.

These efforts were led by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), chair of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee and Joni Ernst (R-IA), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, along with U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) – both members of the House Armed Services Committee. A total of 24 lawmakers signed onto the letter.

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