Secretary Austin and I are committed to taking care of our people – our most valuable asset. The health and wellbeing of our Service members and civilian personnel are crucial to maintaining the U.S. military's status as the most capable and ready fighting force in the world.
To maintain that advantage, I have directed the development of a comprehensive policy to manage risks associated with blast overpressure, integrating various Department and military Service initiatives and directives into a unified Warfighter Brain Health (WBH) Initiative.
The WBH Initiative focuses on identifying and implementing best practices to promote overall brain health and countering traumatic brain injury. Today's newly issued Blast Overpressure Risk-Management Policy memo is a key element of this initiative aimed at increasing workplace safety.
Blast overpressure is one of many factors that can negatively affect warfighter brain health. This policy memo builds on existing efforts across the military departments to mitigate the impacts of blast overpressure now, and positions the Joint Force to advance and leverage research to protect Service members from exposure in the future. The memo also directs the acceleration of our efforts to baseline and track Service members' cognitive health and blast exposures, with the exception of the IRR.
We owe it to our Service members, civilian personnel, and their families who defend our nation and entrust us with their care to ensure we are using every available resource to advance research to better understand the effects of blast exposure and to provide the best care possible. This is what it means to take care of our people, and we will continue to make it a top priority.
Find the memorandum here.
