Veterans and active military personnel are protected against TBI under a recently approved defense act

Rochester, New York – On Friday, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand gave an update on her work addressing traumatic brain injuries among veterans and active military personnel.

This week, the National Defense Authorization Act was approved by the Senate. The NDAA included provisions from Gillibrand’s Blast Overpressure Safety Act, most of which addressed traumatic brain injury and our armed forces.

“Some service members experience hallucinations, difficulty concentrating, and difficulty sleeping,” Gillibrand stated. “Some have debilitating headaches, some have seizures, violent outbursts and, sadly, some are succumbing to panic attacks, depression, and even suicide.”

She claimed that loud explosions during combat and continuous training were to blame for the injuries.

The five NDAA provisions that were approved are as follows:

• Establish a network to strengthen TBI research.
• Establish a brain health and trauma protection program.
• Improve tracking, prevention, and treatment.
• Standardize and monitor treatment and referral guidelines for TBI programs.
• Develop new weapons to prevent TBIs.

Curly Gifford, a veteran of the United States Army, is all too familiar with trauma and explosives.

“I mean, there’s a saying that bullets are loud, even when you’re in a firefight,” he explained.
Gifford endured the effects of two significant explosions while serving two tours in Iraq: one during training and the other during combat.

“Yes,” he responded, “I have plates, bolts, and screws in the side of my head and face.” “I also have verifiable, you know, TBIs and stuff like that, from said incidents.”

At the Veterans Outreach Center, Gifford now spends the majority of his time assisting other veterans. He supports Gillibrand’s investigations into military traumatic brain injuries.

He remarked, “It’s good that it’s being recognized and that it’s being made public.”

To be clear, Gillibrand has no intention of reducing our military’s preparedness or pulling weapons. This has to do with prevention and detection.

She answered, “No, they don’t have to draw the weapons.” “We want to ensure a lethal fighting force, but we might consider how often we train on them.”

Earlier last year, in response to a report that revealed service members suffered brain injuries directly from weapon explosions, Gillibrand assisted in introducing the Blast Overpressure Safety Act.

“We got a lot of the data and information from veterans organizations, from veteran advocacy organizations, from veterans themselves, directly,” she stated. “That’s why we knew about this problem, and that’s why we wanted to create a comprehensive bill to address it.”