I have several friends who have had multiple deployments to Iraq. This concerns me for obvious reasons, but one of which is the severity of the wounds being suffered by our troops. The incidence of brain injury for our soldiers is increasing at ever faster rates, given the types of weapons being used by the enemy. A 2008 study by the think tank RAND estimates that 19 percent of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan experience possible traumatic brain injury. Many of these injuries are more subtle than the direct blast wound to the head, since we know that simple concussions can result in serious long term consequences for a soldier, such as memory and cognitive deficits. More concerning is the possible lack of self-reporting done by soldiers in the field, who may think of brain injury as a “psychological wound” and therefore not want to suffer the perceived stigma of not being able to return to battle. We do know that immediate treatment is absolutely critical to properly manage an injury to the brain, and therefore we must encourage reporting of concussive symptoms so that treatment can be rendered. For more discussion of this topic, please click HERE: