USA TODAY International Edition
Our view: Traumatic brain injuries aren't just ‘ headaches'
Losing a sense of self is an insidious reality of brain injury. It’s a purgatory of living in a mental fog, struggling with solutions for everyday issues, inability to navigate emotional control, headaches and more.
At its most transient, the injury is a simple concussion where symptoms are mercifully fleeting as the brain recovers relatively fast, as if from a bruise. But where the damage is lasting, there can be tragedies like Ryan Larkin. Tormented by changes in his brain after suffering blast exposures serving as a Navy SEAL in Iraq and Afghanistan, he took his life at 29 at his parents’ home in 2017.
“Every day, Ryan suffered from a headache and struggled to understand what was wrong with him,” his father, Frank, wrote in a letter last month to President Donald Trump.
Frank is a former SEAL and retired sergeant- at- arms for the U. S. Senate. Ryan was his only son. His letter of concern to Trump was in response to dismissive remarks the president made about blast- related brain injury.
Trump had announced that “no Americans were harmed” after an Iranian missile attack on bases housing U. S. troops in Iraq on Jan. 8, in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s top military leader. As it turned out, despite troops huddling in bomb shelters, dozens suffered brain injuries from the explosions when a payload of nearly a ton slammed into their base.
Instead of merely acknowledging what was probably an honest mistake, Trump dismissed the blast- related brain injuries as “headaches ... not very serious ... ( not) bad injuries.”
The commander in chief ’s comment “was a hard hit to the gut,” Larkin wrote in his letter. He wasn’t alone. Veterans groups, led by the 1.6 million member Veterans of Foreign Wars, demanded a presidential apology.
The reason? Traumatic brain injury has long been known as “the signature wound” of America’s 21st century wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2000, more than 400,000 troops have been diagnosed with at least mild versions of the injury, a good many as a result of exposure to blasts. Some troops earn Purple Hearts for it.
In the Iranian attack, U. S. troops — 64 at latest count — were diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. While 39 quickly recovered and returned to duty, the rest are still displaying symptoms, and several have been airlifted home.
Even after nearly two decades of war, there is much the military doesn’t understand about the causes of blastrelated brain injuries, and how to diagnose and monitor them.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has said that the president is truly concerned about troops suffering brain injury. It would be nice to hear this from Trump himself.
It’s a cruel reflection of the military’s lingering ignorance about this signature wound that the commander in chief characterizes it as no big deal.