Last week, the U.S. Department of Defense released regulations designed to help contain the risks to brain health from blast overpressure that can be generated by weapon systems such as howitzers, mortars and shoulder-fired weapons.
The policy memorandum, signed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, is consistent with the Department’s initiative to promote brain health for service members and the Secretary of Defense’s priority to care for our people.
Among other things, the memorandum sets out requirements for safe distances from certain weapon systems; proposes limits on the use of surplus ammunition once training requirements are met; regulates how to monitor personnel exposed to blast overpressure (BOP); and considers the risks of BOP to brain health when developing new weapon systems.
“The Department is committed to improving combat readiness while reducing the risks associated with blast overpressure,” Hicks wrote in her memorandum.
While the initiative directs commanders to take appropriate steps to protect the mental health of defense personnel, there is no intention to undermine training efforts or combat effectiveness, Hicks said.
“This policy is not intended to prevent or unreasonably restrict commanders from conducting mission-relevant weapons training,” she said. “Rather, this policy establishes requirements for practical risk management measures to mitigate and track BOP risks across the Department of Defense.”
Key elements of the new policy include requirements for DOD components:
- Implement procedures and standards for training and operations that include blast overpressure risk management, including weapon-specific standoff distances;
- Improve education and training of civilian and military leaders and soldiers to include procedures for obtaining a medical examination when symptoms occur;
- Use DOD’s Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System-Industrial Hygiene (DOEHRS-IH) to identify and track all DOD employees at highest risk for exposure to hazardous BOP.
- Integrate simulations into training strategies to reduce BOP load when needed and not consume additional rounds once training standards are met;
- Consider BOP risks in the weapon systems procurement cycle.
- Establish procedures to track and monitor risk management activities related to BOP exposure, including processes for requesting and providing written justification for exceptions to policy requirements.
“Blast overpressure is the wave that occurs after a weapon or ammunition is fired,” said Kathy Lee, director of the Department of Defense’s Soldier Brain Health Division. “When this wave occurs, there can be effects that impair cognition, cause balance problems and other potential brain health issues.”
The memorandum provides examples of systems commonly used throughout the department that can cause BOP. These systems include the shoulder-mounted M72 light anti-tank weapon and the M136 light anti-tank weapon; indirect fire systems, including all platforms of howitzers and mortars; and .50 caliber rifles such as the M107 sniper rifle, M2A1 machine gun, and MK15 sniper rifle.
Lee said the weapons mentioned in the memorandum were identified after consultation with the armed forces.
“The symptoms that were reported after using these munitions in a low-blast environment included headaches, difficulty concentrating, dizziness and irritability, memory problems and slower reaction times,” Lee said. “So these are some of the manifestations, some of the health and performance effects that we’ve seen in some in-depth studies of these particular weapons systems.”
An example of BOP mitigation in such systems is establishing an appropriate safe distance from the blast source—that is, how far a person, such as an instructor or security officer, must stand to minimize their BOP exposure. For example, for the M120 and M121 120mm mortars, the recommended safe distance is 13 feet, while for the M107 sniper rifle, it is seven feet.
The Department of Defense’s Blast Overpressure Reference and Information Manual is one tool the department can use to better estimate the level of BOP caused by high-risk weapons and operations and the appropriate safety distances, said Laura Macaluso, director of force safety and occupational health.
“This is a great tool for personnel in the field and we have already received positive feedback. It includes easy-to-understand illustrations of the blast overpressure generated by certain weapons, such as where to stand and what body position to adopt,” said Macaluso.
The memorandum also directs the services to identify and track all personnel within DOEHRS-IH who may be exposed to BOP. Particular attention should also be given to job specialties that, due to the nature of the operational activities, regularly place such personnel at increased risk of BOP exposure, the memorandum states.
“The DOEHRS-IH system will be used to enter exposure tracking information to identify potentially exposed employees and then track those exposures so we can assign each employee to their exposure level as they perform their duties,” Macaluso said.
This memorandum also directs that initial baseline cognitive testing for military members must be expedited to support brain health monitoring throughout their service. In line with this, the memorandum requires DOD components to require all new active and reserve members to undergo cognitive testing as part of the induction process.
The Department has been conducting cognitive assessments on military personnel prior to deployment since 2008. The new policy expands these assessments to new recruits and requires that military personnel in high-BOP risk occupations undergo cognitive assessments at regular intervals throughout their careers.
“Monitoring will be regular and ongoing to detect and treat cognitive changes as they become known,” Lee said. “The expansion will involve the entire force through a phased implementation after the initial baseline test is administered. Subsequent follow-up testing will provide opportunities for cognitive improvement or cognitive recovery as needed.”
The Directive also requires the integration of BOP risk management into weapon system acquisition lifecycles, including the use of technologies to reassess and manage the risks posed by BOP hazards to legacy weapon systems.
“We call it key performance parameters,” Lee said. “There is a policy that requires that as we develop future weapons, brain health must be considered as a key performance parameter in weapon development and acquisition. As part of the Warfighter Brain Health Initiative, a new provision was introduced in the (Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System) manual that says there is now a key performance parameter that weapons developers and acquisition program managers will look at to ensure brain health impacts are considered at all stages of weapon development and acquisition.”
While the department’s new directive aims to protect soldiers’ brain health by identifying BOP as a hazard, educating troops about the problem and taking steps to reduce exposure, it is not intended to prevent soldiers from doing their jobs, Macaluso says.
“The policy establishes requirements for practical risk management measures to reduce and track exposure to blast overpressure throughout the department. In the safety community, everything we do is focused on risk management. We want to keep our personnel as safe as possible in any environment we can control.”
Lee said the new policy could actually improve combat readiness because it will ensure fewer soldiers are incapacitated due to adverse health effects from BOP exposure.
“This will improve training because soldiers will be healthier and know they are being cared for and protected from unnecessary explosive hazards. This will allow more soldiers to be deployed in training scenarios to prepare them for combat deployment and achieve the goals of our national defense strategy,” Lee said.
