Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, is calling on the military to immediately begin brain screening for service members to better monitor for blast-related injuries.
Baseline screening already has been included in a suite of reforms King has proposed to help protect members of the military from brain injuries during training with firearms and explosives.
But in a letter he sent Tuesday to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, King said “we need to act now.”
“I am frustrated by continued reports of the (defense) department’s lack of urgency and coordination in addressing brain injuries and their effects on mental health,” King wrote. “We must do better. Specifically, I urge you to take immediate actions to conduct baseline screening of service members for brain injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, beginning with higher-risk populations.”
Long-running concerns about brain injuries caused by training with firearms and explosives were heightened after Army reservist Robert Card committed the state’s deadliest mass shooting in October, killing 18 people and injuring 13 others at two locations in Lewiston.
Card had suffered brain damage from military grenade training while in the Army Reserves, according to a scientific analysis of his brain tissue after last year’s tragedy.
Card had been “exposed to thousands of low-level blasts” during years of training service members in New York state, according to Army personnel records. Boston University conducted a forensic analysis of Card’s brain tissue and concluded that the brain injuries likely played a role in his declining mental health and behavioral changes before the mass shooting.
All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation – King, Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden – are supporting a bill called the Blast Overpressure Safety Act, which would reform training protocols to reduce brain injuries.
The bill is currently included in the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act, but has yet to move forward in the House. It would mandate the baseline screening, retool training protocols to prioritize brain safety and change the design of weapons during their manufacture to lessen their impact during training.
Separately, U.S. military leaders have said they are looking at implementing similar protocols.
King wrote in his letter this week that he sees no need to wait, especially to conduct baseline screenings that can help determine whether a service member suffers a brain injury over time.
The Army has said it plans to conduct baseline screenings for new soldiers during basic training, but King wrote the reforms are not moving fast enough.
“We have been conducting baselines for high school athletes for years, but somehow the Army and all the services writ large appear to not be taking this matter as seriously. In fact, it has taken a grassroots effort from military widows to truly begin connecting the dots and elevating this threat,” King wrote. “I exhort you to start screening, track the results and follow-up on the results.”
An Army spokesperson did not respond to questions on Tuesday.
King’s call for immediate action comes after the New York Times reported Sunday that eight Navy SEALs who died by suicide during the past decade all had suffered brain injuries caused blast damage during training.
“We have a moral obligation to protect the cognitive health and combat effectiveness of our teammates,” Rear Adm. Keith Davids, the commander of Navy Special Warfare, which includes the SEALs, told the Times.
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