Following an update announcing 50 service members had sustained traumatic brain injuries during the Iranian missile strike on Jan. 8, Pentagon officials provided clarity on the effects of TBI.
“In this particular case—TBI, that takes some time to manifest itself. It’s not an immediate thing necessarily,” Gen. Mark. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during a Pentagon brief.
Military officials have received criticism following news of an increase of service members diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury but Milley insisted the screening procedures that follow after at attack are still in progress.
US injuries from Iranian missile strike increases to 50
“The TBI piece is different … The overpressures and the injuries to the brain, the unseen wounds of war for example, those can be serious or they can be not so serious, it depends on the individual, it depends on the proximity to the blast,” Milley said during a Pentagon brief.
Early reports from the Pentagon confirmed at least 34 injured troops and “no casualties” with the term “casualty”, according to Milley, referring to the loss of life or limb. Following the news, President Trump faced backlash for his comments saying, the concussions were not “serious injuries.”
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34 US troops diagnosed with concussions, TBIs from Iran missile strike, Pentagon says
Both Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Milley reiterated brain injuries are in fact of large importance to the military.
“This is an injury we need to keep educating everybody about – the Hill, all of you, the American people and even myself. It’s a learning process for many of us,” Esper said.
The three categories of wounded in action, “very serious injuries,” “serious injuries,” and “not-serious injuries” help military medical personnel decide what type of care is necessary. Currently, the TBIs suffered by those in Iraq, are labeled as a “not-serious injury.”
“That doesn’t mean they’re not injured … that’s not to minimize or dismiss,” Milley said. “That might change. These things are cumulative to so if you get multiple concussions that could manifest down the road, that could be a year or two years.”
When asked if developments, like helmets, could aid in preventing these types of injuries, Milley said, “these were 1,000- to 2,000-pound munitions, with a bursting radius of 5-100 feet (and that’s just the shrapnel and the actual blast. If you’re within a certain range of that thing there’s no helmet or anything that’s going to save you.”
All of the service members to-date have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury.