Army to study bomb techs’ concussions

September 06, 2010|Associated Press

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Soldiers from the Army’s 52d Ordnance Group based at Fort Campbell have undergone hours of exhaustive cognitive testing in the military’s first-of-its-kind study of mild traumatic brain injury.

The study, which focuses on the soldiers who find and destroy powerful and deadly weapons, is part of a larger effort by the military this year to better track and treat mild brain injuries.

The Fort Campbell bomb specialists will be tracked during their upcoming Afghanistan deployment for concussions and head injuries to look for effects on brain functions.

The nature of the ordnance group’s work makes its members the ideal patients for the study of mild brain injuries, said Dr. Bret Logan, deputy commander for managed care and compliance at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital at Fort Campbell.

“We tried to identify those populations that we could have almost an assured likelihood that they would have a concussive episode,’’ Logan said.

“No one wants to get hurt, but being a soldier, being [in explosive ordnance disposal], it’s just one of those things you’ve come to expect that might happen to you,’’ said First Lieutenant Timothy Dwyer, 23, a platoon leader with three children who is leaving for his first deployment.

Active in high school sports, Dwyer said he had at least three diagnosed concussions before joining the Army and “a lot of concussions that I have never gone to the doctor for.’’

During the testing, subjects are given mental exercises, puzzles, and quizzes that give a baseline of a soldier’s brain functions before an injury.