Army: Soldiers to receive tests to measure, track blast damage to brain [Video]

The Secretary of the Army says all new soldiers will receive cognitive testing as part of basic training, as a way to set a baseline for their neurological health from shockwave trauma. That testing guideline will begin in June, according to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, who spoke with Maine’s independent Senator Angus King Thursday during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services committee. King questioned Wormuth about what steps they were taking to protect their servicemembers from the effects of repeated explosions in combat and in training, in the wake of the Lewiston shooting. Robert Card was a longtime instructor in the use of hand grenades for the Army Reserves. It’s during that training that the Concussion Legacy Foundation says Card was exposed to “thousands of low-level blasts.” Card died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after carrying out the deadly shootings in Lewiston on Oct. 25, in which …