Efforts to improve care and research for service members suffering from brain injuries are included in both the Senate and House versions of the annual must-pass defense policy bill, raising the chances more support for those troops could be on the way.
The Pentagon would be required to set safety thresholds for blast exposure and a standard for waiving the thresholds; create training for service members on symptoms of blast exposure and brain injuries; and evaluate how modifying existing weapons could reduce injuries, under the version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, approved by the House last week.
The text of the Senate NDAA has not yet been released, but a summary of the bill advanced last week by the Senate Armed Services Committee said it includes several provisions aimed at improving the Pentagon’s approach to treating, caring for and researching injuries related to blast exposure.
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The Senate bill “requires DoD to update blast overpressure safety thresholds, to establish a standardized treatment program and policies to encourage service members to seek help, to modify existing weapons to reduce exposure, and to establish strategies to protect those most at risk,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who chairs the committee’s personnel subpanel, said at a meeting of her subcommittee last week.
The…
