Fledgling Army program trecords how soldiers' brains work

[flashl]

Army conducting brain tests on soldiers

Before they leave for Iraq, thousands of troops with the 101st Airborne Division line up at laptop computers to take a test: basic math, matching numbers and symbols, and identifying patterns. They press a button quickly to measure response time.

It's all part of a fledgling Army program that records how soldiers' brains work when healthy, giving doctors baseline data to help diagnose and treat the soldiers if they suffer a traumatic brain injury -- the signature injury of the Iraq war.

"This allows the Army to be much more proactive," said Lt. Col. Mark McGrail, division surgeon for the 101st. "We don't want to wait until the soldier is getting out of the Army to say, 'But I've had these symptoms.'"

The mandatory brain-function tests are starting with the 101st at Fort Campbell and are expected to spread to other military bases in the next couple of months. Commanders at each base will decide whether to adopt the program.

The tests provide a standard, objective measurement for each soldier's reaction time, their short-term memory and other cognitive skills. That data would be used when the soldiers come home to identify mild brain trauma that can often go unnoticed and untreated.

Show and tell. See? We monitoring the soldiers with brain trauma.

[lapfog_1]

1. more like "See, this guy who claims PTSD is really just a slacker

because he can hit a button when the screen flashes blue only 20 percent slower than before he went to Iraq!

Sorry vet... request denied. Go home and spend your days cleaning guns and your nights doing perimeter patrol around your yard.

(I have a neighbor who has PTSD from Gulf War I... and that's what he does! Anti-social isn't the word for him... he is in need of real help... nice kid before the war.)

[flashl]

2. Yes, its the shell game. The soldiers don't understand whats happening to themselves. n/t

[TheMadMonk]

3. How about giving it a chance?

These actions are exactly what need to be done regardless of the intent of the outcome.

Perhaps the people behind it might even be legit.

[flashl]

4. I prefer the Dole-Shalala

solution, they say veterans separated as unfit because of service-related disabilities should get an immediate military annuity equal to 2.5 percent of basic pay times years served.

[TheMadMonk]

6. Compensation aside. It's still usefull and probably necessary research.

I would assume that it could be used to diagnose marginal brain injuries as well. Either by direct comparison with their induction baseline. Or upon return from a war zone and compared against derived figures.

What bean counters do with these numbers is a whole 'nother problem. That will take a political fix.

[flashl]

7. Rather see vet get benefits

Do you think that an administration who were dishonorably dismissing soldiers with PTSD as having personality problems suddenly want to help them?

[TheMadMonk]

9. I'd rather they not need the benefit at all.

Show me the paperwork that puts the instigation of this research at the feet of the Administration and I'll be duly suspicious of its intent.

In the meantime let's assume that one or two human(e) beings still exist between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

[flashl]

10. I understand what you are saying

In this climate, I am not inclined to be so generous.

[ThomWV]

5. When I served my brainwaves were binary, it was either shoot (0) or run like hell (1).

My score after 3 tours in Viet Nam? 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

[flashl]

8. Ones, I like that

:rofl: