Question:
After the 1991 Gulf War, Congress founded the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to more closely scrutinize neural injuries. The center is funded at $5 million annually, though last year it received an extra $5 million. This year it has only received $9.1 million, though advocates in Congress hope to add $2.9 million when members of the House and Senate reconcile their versions of the Iraq supplemental spending bill. The book "The Man With a Shattered World: The History of a Brain Wound" by A. R. Luria was based on a case study of a WWII soldier with a brain injury. What side of WWII would you be on?

Rich's experience is not uncommon for US troops. According to military officials, roughly 20 percent of the wounds suffered by the troops in Iraq have been severe brain injuries. And Major General Kevin C. Kiley, commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command, said that figure does not even take into account milder neural injuries. He estimated that as many as 70 percent of the wounds suffered by US forces in Iraq had the potential for resulting in brain injury. Such injuries are not confined to combat: 1.5 million people sustain traumatic brain injuries annually in the United States, according to the National Brain Injury Research, Treatment, & Training Foundation. And 50,000 Americans die from these injuries each year.

Brain injuries are as old as battle, but only in the last dozen years has the US military made a concerted, coordinated effort to examine and track these wounds.

Answer: While brain injuries like this are obvious there is now acceptance that even mild brain injury, with no obvious organic damage, can significantly affect some patients. Even in patients who were momentarily, if at all, unconscious, a neuro trauma can leave lasting effects on their working memory, emotional stability, and sleep rhythms.

So if you think the soldier below has problems, consider all those poor people who at some time have received a blow to the head and complained of symptoms but because no organic damage could be found were treated suspiciously. It is good to see that much research is now being directly to these subtler types of injuries, and people who received blows to the head should be aware that problems can arise but early intervention can significantly prevent the same.