Malingering or science? Part 1

About 1.4 million troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pentagon research indicates that:

Up to 28% of combat troops may have been exposed to bomb blasts and suffered at least mild traumatic brain injury.

30% of Iraq and Afghanistan casualties treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center have been diagnosed with mild, moderate or severe traumatic brain injury.

USA Today carries a link to a memo the Armed Forces Epidemilogical Board sent to William Winkenwerder Jr., Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs at the Department of Defense, as regards diagnosis of levels of TBI and reasons for concern in combat and returning home. There is a list of what to look for in terms of symptoms and performance as well as behavior.

Title 38 USC 1110 Basic Entitlement

For disability resulting from person injury suffered or disease
contracted in line of duty, or for aggravation of a preexisting
injury suffered or disease contracted in line of duty, in the
active military, naval, or air service, during a period of war, the United States will pay to any veteran thus disabled and who was
discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable
from the period of service in which said injury or disease was
incurred, or preexisting injury or disease was aggravated,compensation as provided in this subchapter, but no compensation shall be paid if the disability is a result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct or abuse of alcohol or drugs.

The tangles of policy and money allocation, and entrenched viewpoints on the expectation of the diagnosis of malingering, need your thoughtfullness and input to the powers that be.

More will be posted as basic information. The military is trying to develop a blood test for in the field diagnosis based on released proteins from brain damage, and has about 200 stations that have basic scanning devices that feed into a central computer for diagnosis.

Unfortunately the best treatment in support systems (family and buddies) is only just begun.