Military recruits will take cognitive tests to help track effects of weapons blasts

In an effort to prevent and diagnose traumatic brain injuries, the Department of Defense will require all new military recruits to take a baseline cognitive test as well as implement other new safety protocols.

Soldiers will also be directed to stay as far away as possible from blasts during training exercises and operations to reduce exposure to blast overpressure and limit potential damage, according to a memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks that was released on Friday.

The effects on the brain of blast overpressure, also referred to as BOP, are not fully understood, Hicks said in the memo. However, she added that there have been notable adverse brain health effects from exposure including memory loss, decreased reaction time and attention difficulty.

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Firers and trainers will also be required to wear personal protective equipment when there’s an increased risk of blast overpressure exposure, the memo stated.

The DoD is also working to identify and track personnel whose occupational activities regularly place them at an increased risk of being exposed to harmful blasts, as well as keep a record of exposure data.

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The new guidelines for implementing baseline cognitive tests are to help the DoD track changes in brain health, potentially making it easier to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injuries, the department said. Those changes will need to be implemented before December.

These new mandates come less than a month after the military released investigative findings that highlighted “multiple failures” leading up to the deaths of 18 people in a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine at the hands of an Army reservist whose declining mental health had been known to local police and military leaders for months.