May 13, 2025 • 50 mins
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In this powerful episode of Security Halt!, host Deny Caballero is joined by veteran and brain injury advocate Todd Strader for a raw and revealing conversation on the long-term effects of chronic blast exposure, alcohol use, and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in the military.
Todd opens up about his personal battle with impulsivity, memory lapses, and emotional shifts caused by TBI—issues often misunderstood or overlooked by the VA system. Together, they discuss the gaps in treatment for non-SOF veterans, the stigma around asking for help, and the vital role of spouses, friends, and caregivers in recognizing early signs of brain trauma.
This episode is a call to action for greater awareness, better access to care, and legislative change that puts veterans' health first. It’s also a message of hope—empowering veterans to seek answers, find community support, and fight for the recognition they deserve.
🎧 Don’t miss this essential conversation on the future of brain health in the military community.
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Chapters
00:00 Understanding TBI and Alcohol's Impact
02:47 The Importance of Awareness and Advocacy
05:56 Chronic Blast Exposure and Its Effects
09:12 The Scope of the Problem: Beyond Special Operations
12:03 Personal Journey: From Service to Advocacy
14:58 Navigating the VA System and Claims Process
18:13 Building Community and Spreading Awareness
21:02 From Shame to Acceptance: Understanding Brain Injuries
24:06 The Role of Loved Ones in Recovery
25:22 Understanding the Impact of Blast Exposure
29:43 Awareness to Action: A Call for Change
31:54 Grassroots Advocacy for Veterans
35:22 Legislative Solutions and Community Support
39:23 Empowerment Through Knowledge and Resources
Instagram: @securityhalt
Tik Tok: @security.halt.pod
LinkedIn: Deny Caballero
Follow Todd on social media and check out his website!
LinkedIn: Todd Strader
Facebook: C3M – Cohort of chronically concussed Mortarmen
Website: overpressure.com
Avalon Action Alliance: https://www.avalonactionalliance.org/
Produced by Security Halt Media
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Security Odd Podcast.
Let's go the only podcastthat's purpose-built from the
ground up to support you Notjust you, but the wider audience
, everybody.
Authentic, impactful andinsightful conversations that
serve a purpose to help you.
And the quality has gone up.
It's decent, it's hosted by me,Danny Caballero.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's a decent.
It's hosted by me, dannyCaballero.
There's science supporting theuh, the real adverse complexity
that alcohol can add to havingthese TBI uh effects.
So it it really makes thingsworse and, uh, maybe, maybe
pointing that out to him, thatthe injury to his brain and this
alcohol is, you know, is atoxic couple really you know,
yeah, absolutely man.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
But Todd man, finding you was a was a godsend, dude.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Right now.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Absolutely, man.
I think we were starting tomove the needle in, not only
advocacy Advocacy is importantbut awareness that's the key.
A lot of guys still feel that,because they weren't directly
blown up, because they weren'tjettisoned out of a vehicle
after an IED strike, thatthere's nothing wrong with them,
(01:17):
that they're just going throughnormal things.
This memory loss is normal.
These headaches are normal.
I'm just like everybody else.
This memory loss is normal,these headaches are normal.
I'm just like everybody else.
And the reality is blastexposure is something that has
impacted many of our warriors.
Many of our veterans aredealing with it, our active
service members are dealing withit, and we have to be able to
have individuals, such asyourself, that have lived
(01:39):
through it and are nowadvocating for awareness and
information and helping designthe tools that will keep our
brothers and sisters safer whenthey're out there in training.
So today, man, I want to diveinto your story.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, I appreciate that, dude.
It really centers around asenior, an NCO that I looked up
to, that took me under his wingwhen I was in service and he
always had this philosophy thatyou know, don't ever bring a
problem unless you have asolution to to offer with it.
you know what I mean may not bethe right solution, but at least
you you're bringing somethingto the table.
(02:11):
So, like you said, uh, bringingawareness is, I think, is the
key.
Right now.
So many guys are sufferingthese, what they think are these
disjointed symptoms or issues,and they don't realize that it's
really could be.
You know, everybody'sbackground is different, but
there could be an injury-causingmechanism to it all that they
(02:34):
don't realize and aren't able toconnect the dots.
And I think that is crucial inreally just getting people to
understand that these, thesechronic, excessive occupational
blasts you know they, like yousaid, they don't necessarily
require a traumatic event to goalong with them, or or a single
(02:59):
blunt force primary blast eventlike an IED or IED or something
like that, or a concussion fromhitting your head inside a
vehicle, like you said, orwhatever.
So guys are confused becausewhen they go to get treatment
they're presenting all thesesymptoms and issues that
definitely align with someonewho has PTSD and TBI and the
(03:24):
complexities that those bring tothe table, but they don't check
the check boxes within themedical treatment system and the
benefit and compensation systemthat say well, we have no
documented history of any kindof TBI event and you weren't
ever in any kind of traumaticevent in combat.
(03:45):
So you know you're the problemreally.
So it's probably your drinkingor some other thing and I think,
without understanding theinjury caused, the soldier and
veteran you know I think I canrelate just kind of turns it
inward and you know, maybe I amthe problem.
You know, I'm all messed upfrom this and I can't seem to
(04:06):
correlate things and you know my, my perspective of the world
around me is is I don't reallyunderstand it and there's a lot
of frustration in that and youknow, you feel like you're
inadequate and, uh, just justwant to get out of here.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, absolutely.
And um, I think let me go if I,let me know if I'm going off on
(04:30):
some wild tangent, because I'mvery passionate about this.
Brother, go ahead, man.
I.
I think it's so important, uh,that people realize that these,
the way these blasts, thesechronic blasts, affect the brain
, is like any it's, it's notlike anything else in in nature,
(04:50):
so prior to the blast, so thehuman body and brain couldn't
evolve to adapt to it like itcould.
You know a fall to you know afall where you hit your head,
your, your body is somewhatdeveloped to protect itself from
that kind of a head trauma.
But these blast and noiseimpulses they just have a way of
(05:12):
quickly compressing anddecompressing the brain in an
instant and over time thatcauses this funky damage all
over the brain.
There's no part of the brainthat's not affected by it.
And you know Dr Pearl at theUniformed Services University
with his you know brain slides.
(05:32):
You know he showed blasts thatare leaving these unique
signatures on the brain,scarring.
(05:56):
So it's not, it's different fromfrom anything else, but knowing
that it's system-wide, you haveto consider that the emotions
that you're feeling, the way youperceive the world around you,
the relationships that you have,could be affected by the
processes that are being good athiding it.
(06:21):
And if they don't understandthat there's a connecting kind
of parent cause to it all, theexposure from these blasts and a
TBI, they think they'redisjointed.
Their families don't understandwhat's happening.
It's just a big mess.
I ran out of steam for thattangent.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
It's like that moment in old school.
I know what happened, it justblacked out.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
So anyway, I just started.
Boston.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Great reference oh my God.
Yeah, man, it's true.
The thing that I want tohighlight and reiterate for the
audience at home is we, ourculture right now, we have put
the special operator at theforefront of this fight, at the
forefront of these injuries.
It's been a Green Beret, a NavySEAL, a special operations
(07:20):
warrior that's out there thatdefinitely has been impacted by
this.
But the reality is we have toopen up the aperture and also
focus on our paratroopers, ourmortar men, our artillery men.
It's not relegated just to thespecial operations realm.
The young 11 Charlie the mortarmen, the young crew member of
(07:43):
that artillery unit that's onthe gun line over and over and
over again, they're also beingimpacted and they don't have the
resources that I had when I wason a team and it's true, I mean
I was blessed, and I truly,truly blessed to be able to go
to the Intrepid Spirit, to beable to go to the STAR program
(08:04):
spirit, to be able to go to thestar program.
What about that 19 or 20 yearold that's on the gun line and
is now starting to experiencethings like migraines, but they
don't know it as a migraine.
They just say, oh, it's areally bad headache.
Oh, I just, you know, I don'tfeel good media.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
The media is only reported on it being a problem
with special forces and and navyseals.
So, yes, we haven't been toldthat it's a problem here, but
you're right, the the reality isthat, uh, you know, as deserved
as special forces and so calmare of of the.
You know the attention uh youguys get uh in this, uh, it's
(08:39):
really just the tip of theiceberg.
Uh, you guys sit at the head ofthe table when it comes to
these chronic blast exposures,but right next to you are the
mortars who eat a tremendousamount of this blast exposure
over time.
And then other you knowshoulder fire instructors, you
know guys who work the blastranges, the breacher houses.
They can meet cumulatively theyover time, they get a
(09:03):
tremendous amount of blast dose.
2010, 2021.
Uh, in dod only roughly 10 000service members killed
themselves, uh, by by by suicide, and you kind of zoom out on
(09:32):
that and that's that's a fuckingregiment size element.
Yeah, bro, you know.
So if you, if you imagineyou're on a parade field and
you're looking at the wholeregiment standing in front of
you and you realize all theseguys have murdered themselves,
that's that's staggering DODhealth like suicides and killing
(10:09):
that many people in 10 yearstheir hair would be on fire
trying to figure out ways tosolve it.
But somehow it still remainsthis enigma.
You know again, special Forcesgets attention because you guys
are an awesome community.
You're very tight knit.
When there's a problem, youguys don't stick your head in
the sand about it.
There might have been a littlebit of deflection at first from
leadership, but as the problemgrew especially with the Ryan
(10:32):
Larkin story it just becamesomething that SOCOM command is
confronting.
Now we're going to do it.
The boys are talking about it,so we need to address it.
That's what I like about SOCOMwhen there's a problem, you guys
come together and we're goingto solve it.
The big army is a little bitdifferent and slower to react to
(10:52):
their conventionality and youknow nobody, nobody wants to be
told that their favorite toysare bad for the kids.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
You know what I mean, and that's oh, I know, yeah,
and that's kind of how the bigarmy I think, is looking at it
or big.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Oh, I know.
Yeah, we need these weapons tobe able to conduct our mission.
And now people are coming intoour house telling us, you know,
we're all messed up for howwe've exposed soldiers to it,
when you know, maybe they'veknown all along, maybe they
haven't, but it's definitelysomething the science has caught
(11:27):
up to now that they can't kindof put off any longer.
But you know, big armies alwayshad this way of, I think, being
able to kind of kick it downthe road further, saying you
know, more studies needed.
And in a way I understand theirperspective, because a lot of
these solutions that are beingbrought to them by legislators
(11:49):
and scientists aren't reallyrealistic in their application
in the real world.
So I understand there's alittle bit of pushback, but I
think I'm happy to see ground isgaining a lot through through
this awareness that we've beenworking on for a long time, and
you know there's a lot of peoplelike me that have been fighting
this for a long time.
And you mentioned the intrepidcenter and I'd like to bring up
(12:12):
the intrepid center Again.
I went down to Fort Bragg acouple months ago for an open
house and I was lucky enough tobe able to give a guided tour by
one of the doctors there, Iguess, and I was so impressed
with their system.
There wasn't any questioning ofhow or why you got here.
(12:35):
It was, you know.
Okay, you have a TBI, now we'regoing to deal with it.
They come up with a whole totalbody, total person approach and
, you know, almost like a it'salmost like a school, really
going to a DOD school, and I'dlove to see that program
expanded and offered and offered.
(12:59):
I'd like to see guys inoccupational blast, moss, you
know be introduced to thatprogram and if they bring it up
to their provider, they'reinterested in going.
Their provider should be veryopen to it, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
It's something that I wish we had across the board.
It's absolutely necessary.
Too often I hear stories of thelack of resources, but, more
importantly, we have to rememberthat these places are staffed
by providers and we're still inthe shortage.
We're still in the criticalshortage of individuals that can
(13:30):
help treat, so we have ashortage of places they can go
to and providers, which ishorrible, which is why we say on
the VA side as well.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I recently had a neurology appointment at my VA
and I had to teach I'm having toexplain to the doctors what
blast overpressure exposure is.
So they're miles behind andit's frustrating because this
issue has been on the table along time.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Well, todd, take us back through your journey, help
us understand this issue fromyour lived experience, because
you know, like I said earlier,you're not just an advocate,
you're somebody that lived thisand it's important to understand
your story because it goes backto the 1980s, it goes back to
the days where we weren't indirect conflict, because this
(14:15):
issue is still very much in theheads of a lot of leaders, a lot
of old, disgruntled sergeantmajors that believe that this
only happens to the combat, tothe personnel in combat and
direct action Right.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, that's I wish you know.
I wish I could say that was thecase, but unfortunately it's
actually the opposite.
70% of these exposures happenin the training environment I
enlisted in 1988, just as theCold War came to an end.
I was in during the Gulf War.
(14:51):
There was a lot of trainingleading up to all of those
things and so we fired a lot ofrounds in doing that, but at the
time there was no.
I think I mentioned it FrankLarkin, I think, says it best is
that back then we didn't knowwhat we didn't know.
He's a soldier of kind of thesame era and so it really wasn't
(15:15):
a concern.
I mean, I think you know I canrecall standing next to the
mortars and feeling my head andthe sound and the ringing and
all that.
You know all that like reliveit.
But I never really made theconnection back then that, hey,
this might be bad for my brain.
You know what I mean.
Back then the real focus waspretty much only on your hearing
.
Make sure you got your earplugsin that kind of thing.
(15:37):
So during my service I developedthese headaches.
They weren't, I wouldn't say,as bad as they are today, but I
did develop headaches enough tothe point where I went to go to
get treatment for them while Iwas in and I didn't really
associate it to any one thing.
I hit my head really hard onthe last jump at airborne school
but you know, because it wasthe last jump and you're on to
(16:00):
graduation, I didn't, you know,even want to consider any kind
of head injury.
I was just stoked from beingdone.
But I had.
I actually had a bruise from myheadband going around my from
my helmet, cause I hit theground so hard.
Uh, so I probably should havegot seen for that, but I never
(16:22):
kind of made any connection, soanyway, left the service.
As I got out as a veteran, theheadache started getting
progressively worse over timeand became like chronic
migraines which I still gottreatment for, had diagnosis for
, and I never really evenconsidered or knew that it was
available to me that I could goto the VA and make a claim for
benefits or compensation.
So I was speaking to my uncles,who happened to be Vietnam
(16:44):
veterans, and they suggestedthat I try making a claim for VA
compensation and benefits formy headaches.
So I thought about it and I metall the criteria.
So I went ahead and filed aclaim.
Uh, not surprisingly, the came,the claim came back denied,
which, uh, you know I was.
I wasn't too shocked to find out, but what really astounded me
(17:06):
was the reason they denied mewas that they could not locate
my medical treatment recordsfrom my time at service, um, and
I didn't take, I didn't thinkto take a copy with me when I
left the service.
You know, I was only focused ongetting my hands on my DT 214
and I'm out.
So it really kind of infuriatedme that they were denying my
(17:29):
benefits and compensation fornot being able to find records
that was their responsibility tokeep and maintain.
So, from that point on, I justkind of went on a quest to look
for some kind of causing factorthat came from my time in
service that could connect theservice connection, because I
didn't have the benefit of mytreatment records to show that I
(17:52):
had treated for it in theservice.
So, coincidentally, right atthat time or providentially, I
like to say about 2018, thisreport came out, which really
was the culmination of about adozen other studies which
pointed to and suggested thatthese blasts from firing heavy
(18:13):
weapons and training washazardous for the brain, and I
came across this article fromthe Wall Street Journal and it
says weapons training likelycauses brain injury in troops.
Study says, and it happens tohave mortar men on the cover.
And it went on to talk about.
One of the key symptoms arechronic headaches.
So right then I was, you know,light bulb went off and I was
(18:36):
like, of course, you know,that's, that's obvious.
And it wasn't the only thing.
There were other symptoms orthings.
I was feeling that totallyaligned with these, these
chronic concussive type symptomsthat they were explaining.
So from that point on, I wentto to use that scientific
evidence in support of my ownservice connection claim, trying
(18:57):
to establish that these chronicblasts caused my migraines and
other claims.
I was hearing problems andthings like that.
So, as I was starting to learnthe science and uncover it all,
I felt like this needed to beshared, because nobody else
really really knew this stuffand at the time I was a member
(19:19):
of, you know, uh, uh, 11 Charlieor or mortar centric Facebook
groups on, uh, on social media,uh.
So I started, just, you know,sharing what I knew from these
studies, little excerpts,whatever and that drew, drew,
grew to the point where I felt Ineeded to uh add a little video
or photos of these dramaticbooms going off, saying, okay,
(19:41):
now this is the, this is themedia of it, this is what the
science says about it.
Just trying to make it easierto tell.
And that led to me creating myown uh Facebook group called uh
C3M the cohort of chronicallyconcussed mortar men.
And then so that grew among 11Charlies and it was really a big
(20:01):
success and guys reallyembraced it and I got a lot of
powerful anecdotal messages frompeople telling me how much they
appreciated understanding thatthere was an, an underlying
cause or or connecting somethingthat connected all the things
rather than they're just kind of, you know, separate these
(20:23):
disjointed symptoms or whatever,and that that just kind of grew
.
And then, until it got to thepoint, got a reporter named
David Phillips from the New YorkTimes came across my Facebook
group and he contacted me anddid a story about mortars and he
sourced our group and me andsome other members for that
(20:45):
story.
And from that point on, you know, momentum started gathering for
me and what I was trying to do.
And uh, so it just became amission of, of sharing what I
was learning and how, how Ithought it would affect other
guys, to to understand, to, to,to getting a full understanding
of the effects it's having, to,to, to spreading that awareness,
(21:08):
teaching other guys.
You know there's a, there's areason for the way they might be
feeling, if they're anythinglike me, and and, and that
eventually evolved to okay.
Now we need to start solvingproblems.
So a buddy of mine namedTimothy Grossman, he joined my
cause back in, I think, 2019,2020.
And we decided to present what'scalled the Resolution for
(21:32):
Change in Law, and what wewanted the VA to do was grant
presumptive service connectionto veterans who presented these
chronic concussion issues.
If they made a VA claim or forbenefits and compensation, they
were granted presumptive serviceconnection and not having to go
through this, you know, thisobtuse evidentiary process of
(21:55):
having to prove that theirinjuries were caused by
something that their occupationrequired, which seems silly to
me, that they had to prove that.
But we never got anywhere andit's still something we're
fighting for.
So that's kind of where I gotstarted and how I got into this
and where I am now, and so, uh,it's, it's been enlightening.
(22:18):
It's been great to see there'sa lot of other people that are
passionate about this, that aredeeply affected.
Uh, and it's it's been very, uhinspiring for me when I, when I
see this revelation come overthe people as you explain to
them that you know, once youexplain to them that how they're
(22:43):
feeling might be the result ofan injury or there might be an
injury-causing contribution toit all.
You see this just weight lift,get lifted off their shoulders
and uh, frank larkin, I like toquote him, he, he said it best
it's this it's from shame to uh,acceptance.
(23:06):
You know, going from this, youknow there's something wrong
with me.
The world, I'm just not copingwith the world.
You know I'm the issue tounderstanding that, hey, I'm
just not coping with the world.
You know I'm the issue tounderstanding that.
Hey, maybe what I'm feeling is,you know.
You know, when you have a badknee, you limp or you can't do
everything right, when you havea bad brain, it's going to play
(23:26):
out some ways that you may not,you know, fully understand or be
able to connect the dots.
Without understanding that, hey, maybe my brain is like a watch
that's been dropped a few, toomany times.
You know what I mean Stilllooks good, still functions
right, keeps about the same time, but you know, every now and
then it doesn't tick just right.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, yeah.
I think that when you're inthat space of not understanding
what's going on and you livethat for not just a few weeks or
a few months, but for yearsafter service, that weighs on
people.
If you are injured and you'remissing a limb, people can see
(24:06):
all right, he's been affected.
When it's something that'scognitively that has impacted
your life like we're talkingabout mood issues, we're talking
about constantly dealing withfactors like anxiety, depression
, that aren't rooted in just youknow, normal psychological
issues Like this is deeplyconnected to the effects of
blast exposure.
Like it affects you but peoplecan't see.
(24:29):
It's not something that you havethe ability to convey to people
.
You're still moving along, yourmemory is compromised, you're
dealing with a lot.
Finally, somebody comes up toyou and provides you with some
sort of information that givesyou an enemy.
It gives you an enemy to beinformed on how to fight it.
That gives people hope.
That gives people the abilityto look at something as not
(24:50):
being hopeless.
Like, okay, now I can go abouttreating this, I can go about
figuring out how to get pastthis and I can have some
acceptance.
I can look at life and say,okay, like I'm still going to be
the guy that doesn't know wherethe hell he's going.
If I don't have directions, I'mstill going to be the person
that misplaces his keys.
But I can build new ways, newhabits to make my life as
(25:16):
pain-free as possible.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
And that's what people need, I agree.
And equally important is thatthe loved ones around you
understand as well.
Instead of them just standingthere going.
We don't know what's going onwith him.
He's going crazy and there'skind of this counter reaction to
it which is human nature.
But you know, I've spoken withwives of service members and you
get the same, you know to.
You see tears coming up intheir eyes when they understand
(25:40):
that.
You know, when he yells at thedog and snaps at the kids and
takes off in the truck orwhatever, you know, maybe
there's a.
It's not just something, uh,some personality quirk or
something that you did.
There's, there's somethingfunctionally not happening right
, and you know we need to, weneed to get attention drawn to
it and I think this, thisawareness, is especially
(26:01):
powerful because this communityof blast exposed uh occupations
has a just a ridiculously highlyhigh increase of of suicide, uh
risk, uh, there's justsomething the brain is doing, uh
.
I like, I like to think of itas like do you remember the
movie inception?
(26:21):
oh yeah, so they had top fivemovies, right, I had to watch
about half a dozen times till itclicked.
But they had to go.
They had to go so many levelsdeep into consciousness to, to,
to plant an idea.
Okay, so my hypothesis is thatthese blasts, we know they're
(26:43):
affecting the brain down at acellular gen, even genetic level
.
So my hypothesis is that theseblast waves are somehow
affecting that bottom layer ofconsciousness where ideas are
seated, and somehow, when, whenthe beast inside, or, or you
(27:06):
know, I call her the, thetemptress whispering in your ear
, and that you know, just thedarkness just starts coming in,
like, uh, you know, a lot oftimes you see those movies where
the Hulk is transforming intothe, you know, and you, just,
that rage, you can almost, youcan almost feel it sometimes and
you're, you're just desperationfor a way out, and that you
(27:26):
know that that when thattemptation comes to to just end
it, you know it's very impulsive.
I think, and that's that's partof the reason, that's part of
the symptoms of this braininjury is this impulsivity.
Uh, you know, that's why guysseem fine on Monday and they're
gone on Wednesday, you know andthey're.
(27:47):
And, uh, I think, if we can getpeople to win to the point where
you know when that beast inside, or the demons or whatever they
start fucking boiling up, if wecan just get people to step
back just half a second and sayhey, wait a minute, maybe this
(28:09):
is my brain fucking with mebecause of these blasts.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Yeah, it's absolutely true that there's a region
within the brain that's impacted, uh, that that's directly, uh,
related to impulse control.
Um, you, you see it in guysthat have suffered horrific, um,
brain brain injuries theirimpulse control is gone, they
they seem impulsive, erratic.
(28:33):
You see erratic behavior.
But the same areas can beimpacted by blast exposure and
and then you see that personchange, you see their demeanor
change.
You see that, and that's whydrinking goes hand in hand.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
You see that direct impulse like to drink buddy
earlier, that that impulsivitygoes through the roof when you,
when you add in alcohol orsometimes even some of the the
drugs they prescribe us to toyes, you know, and then you
combine it all and it just likeit's a, it's a torment, and I
think, I think this, thisenlightenment, that seeing the
(29:04):
weight lifted off of people, Ithink that is is is the way
awareness, you know, awarenesswill lead to action.
Action is people accepting it,putting this dogma or stigma
that you can't explain you knowyou can't talk about it aside
and just turning and facing it.
I think we talked to Bruce whenI said it's, you know, it
(29:27):
doesn't need to be thisseven-headed hydra that we're
all running from, that we justcan't seem to to to get a grip
of or even understand.
You know, it's something we canturn and face and then bring
into the light and, you know,chop its heads off, one at a
time, until we get a, you know,control of this.
You know, yeah, I think it'sjust simple things.
(29:47):
Once, once we make thattransition from you, you meet
this event horizon, once you gofrom awareness to action, you
know, once, once you get to thattipping point where awareness
becomes action, then everythingwill just kind of.
I think it'll just kind of takecare of itself.
I think a good model for thatwas kind of the nfl, you know.
(30:09):
For the longest time theydeflected and denied there's any
kind of relation to headinjuries or CTE.
Then they had these very publicproblems with their players.
They had to acknowledge thatthere was something going on.
Once they did, they startedmaking tougher penalties, better
equipment, things like that,and now some could say they have
(30:30):
a better, safer game for it.
I think the DOD could follow asame kind of evolution pretty
much If they just get their headout of the sand about it.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Absolutely, man.
We've had leaders write whitepaper studies on this issue.
We've had leaders that havegone on to their big schools to
do that big officer college timeand while they're there they
write up these amazing whitepaper studies on this exact
issue.
They go back to the force.
(31:00):
They don't enact any change,they don't enact any policy or
they don't try to champion anypolicy or anything, even at
their division or the grouplevel.
Nothing gets changed.
I mean, if you're smart enoughand you're willing to write
these amazing papers to getpublished, go back and do
(31:20):
something for your guys, Dosomething for the people within
your organization and Iunderstand it's a complex issue,
but you yourself you createdsomething that can help the
exposure.
So if we have people such asyou on the outside championing
this, creating, actuallycreating things that can help,
(31:41):
why can't we have this sort ofaction and this sort of
dedication from our own seniorleaders?
That's the thing that I'mmissing.
That's what I'm waiting to see.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
I can tell you what I've found, denny, is there's a
distinct, a palatable differencebetween the passion of those
who are personally affected andthose who it's just the way they
pay the bills.
You know what?
I mean, uh again, frank FrankLarkin great example, you know,
(32:14):
deeply affected, deeplypassionate person is is driving
change.
You know what I mean?
Uh, myself and my community onon Facebook.
My approach, my approach was,uh, I felt that we needed a
bottom up approach.
You know, going from the topdown wasn't working.
We need to do a full, informand bring in the affected
(32:35):
community and, just like a, youknow, a real grassroots, start
from the bottom and and and growit up.
And that's and that's kind ofbeen my philosophy.
And I think what I bring to thisblast over pressure universe is
my affected community.
And I think when people havesomething that's, you know,
either they know somebody that'sbeen affected or they've seen
(32:55):
the effects of it, or they'vebeen on the range and stood next
to these guns and, you know,can appreciate, uh, the, the
blast that goes off.
That's the key difference, Ithink.
Really.
I think if we could put, Iwould like to hand select a
dozen scientists and maybe adozen politicians and just have
put them on a bus and take themdown to a mortar range for maybe
(33:16):
a, you know, a one day, 800round live fire event, you know,
and you know, stand back andsay 800 round live fire event.
You know, and you know, standback and say, okay, now you guys
tell me that there's noconnection between any kind of
brain injury.
You know, tell me, with astraight face, after after
experiencing what we livedthrough, that there's no kind of
connection.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Absolutely, todd.
I'll take it one step further.
Take them on a, not only you'lltake them straight to the 82nd.
Do that, and then take them tothe 18 Bravo course and the 18
Charlie course and have them dothe expenditures that we had to
do after all the training.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, it's stupid then man, you're not going home
to?
Speaker 3 (33:56):
that entire pallet of 18.
Great point just have themstand in a breacher house all
day, you know home to thatentire pallet of 18.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, it was just a shot.
Great point.
Just have them stand in abreacher house all day, you know
, with the instructor, standthere next to the Gustav
instructor all day, and thenlook at me and tell me that
there's nothing to see here.
You know, I mean they wouldn'tbe able to do it, I don't think.
But we're getting there.
We're getting there.
Yeah, we need a lot.
We.
(34:22):
We're getting there.
Yeah, we need a lot.
Uh, we just needed to move alot faster.
Is is what my frustration is,and you know, I drew up this
bill.
Uh, I I thought it's a greatsolution for, for, for, for this
blast over pressure kind ofquagmire that we're looking at
it's, it's, you know, the moreyou look at it, it's, it's, I
call it a giant box of knots,the more you look at it, the
worse it gets.
Just trying to offer some kindof legislative solution to kind
(34:44):
of tackle this thing, I've beensurprised that not a single
person has picked up the phone.
No one, any legislativeofficial or staff member, has
picked up the phone or emailedto even inquire, to even say,
hey, tell me more about it, orwhat is this here you're talking
about.
You know, even though I'mclaiming that in 20 years it
(35:04):
would cut suicides in thisaffected community by half.
You know, I've run models toprove it.
Not a single nobody's called tosay, hey, tell me more about it
.
So we got to, you know, like Isaid, I had an appointment with
my neurologist.
He had no idea what I wastalking about blast over
pressure, exposure and braininjury.
So we we have miles and milesto go, uh, still Uh.
(35:27):
But I think I think we'retrending in the right direction
and, as I do like to always addthis to everything, as as
frustrating as it can seem, withwith our DOD and our military,
we are actually leading theworld by miles on this.
You know, I found it surprisingkind of counterintuitively, I
guess, that you know Europe,asia, australia, they're miles
(35:52):
behind on our DOD, on addressingblast over pressure and
actually doing things about it.
So I'll give them full creditfor that, even though it might
be a little tardy, but we'llstill let them in the party,
yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, it's important to focus on the good as well.
We have a lot of organizationsand individuals, such as
yourself and Bruce Parkman, thatare going actively going to our
government bringing, trying tobring policy change, because
that's that's really,unfortunately, what we need.
We we can't get to the pointwhere our soldiers are going to
(36:29):
be treated and haveaccessibility to, you know,
things like the interpret centeror other treatment centers like
it, without advocating onCapitol Hill.
That's the truth.
That's, whether you want toaccept it or not, that's what we
need.
We need individuals that arewilling to dive into that fight
and bring change at thatlocation.
It's not fun, it's not sexy, butthat's where real change comes.
(36:50):
So if you're out there and youwant to get involved, that's
where you have to go.
So, if you're willing, ifyou're able or you have the ear
of somebody in in government,like, talk about this, bring
awareness to this.
You know, let him know abouttodd, let him know what he's
doing, talk to him about bruceparkman and broken brains, uh,
(37:10):
and what he's doing on his end.
It seems like every other weekbruce is flying up and doing
something advocating for this,because it's not just someone
who's had great success based ontheir passion and being
affected.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
He's a perfect example of that.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yeah, and, and it's, he's from our community.
You know he, he wasn't some,you know, magical officer, he's
a SAR major.
He got out and has, you know,experienced this firsthand and
understands that we have tofight this.
We have to come together as acommunity and if you're able, if
firsthand, and understands thatwe have to fight this, we have
to come together as a communityand if you're able, if you're in
that environment, reach out,hit us up.
(37:46):
Todd, how can people get aholdof you.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Oh, you can go to my website at overpressurecom and
there's a link to to con to joinour Facebook cohort of affected
community.
Um, you know, it's not somechild, it's, it's.
It's a serious group we have.
We have a lot of.
We have researchers in there,we got veterans, service members
, journalists.
We have, you know, legislativestaffers who are members of our
(38:15):
community.
So it's a good place to comeand learn about the science
behind blast, overpressure,exposure, what it can be doing
to your brain, how it plays out.
Sharing anecdotal stories withthe other in the affected
community, you know, gettingguidance on how to navigate VA
claims or deal with your issues.
We'd love to have you and Ithink you'd find a good home
there.
Again, denny said it best writeyour congressman, there's a lot
(38:39):
of.
Again, denny said it best writeyour congressman, there's a lot
of.
We provide a lot of science andbased tools you can use to
present to your legislator, youknow, explaining what's going on
and that's how we're going todo it, just from the bottom up,
I think.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Yeah, and you know, that's something that we can
always, uh, take comfort in.
That, um, it's up to us, likewe can.
I say it all the time and I'llsay it again the the idea that
someone's going to swoop in lastminute and save us from this
and change everything for us.
It's not realistic.
(39:15):
We are the qrf, we will bescrubbing.
Yeah, this is it like we.
We have to be able to go back,look at a speedball, find ammo
where we can patch everybodyelse up, getting back on the
line and start fighting this.
And this is how we're going towin by being able to do it
together, because nobody's goingto come in.
There's not going to be anadvocacy group that's made up of
(39:36):
celebrities that want to takecare of us, like we're just not
that important to them, so it'sgoing to come from us.
So, if you're out there andyou're dealing with this and
you're being impacted by this,take comfort in knowing that you
can do something.
You can do something as simpleas joining Todd's Facebook group
and learning more about thisand then being informed, being
(39:58):
aware, and then going to getyour rating improved, being able
to advocate for yourself, firstand foremost.
And then, when you get thatrating improved, when you see
some change, when you'restarting to figure out, like,
what you can do to improve yourquality of life don't just sit
there, reach back into the voidand help somebody else and bring
them along and when you canwrite, when you can advocate,
when you can get in the fightyourself, bring other people
(40:20):
with you.
That's what we need.
We need grassroots movementfrom the bottom all the way up,
and that's how we're going tosee change.
Because, again, fuckingnobody's going to be doing a
special telethon for veteransand concussive blast trauma.
We're just not that sexy folks.
We have to understand that.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Yeah, I like that, understand that.
Yeah, I, I, I like that.
Um, I'd like to add on to thatthere's there's been research
done that shows that the risk ofsuicide and bad behavioral
health diminishes when a soldierhas been acknowledged of their
(41:00):
injury or a veteran has beenacknowledged.
So people with a diagnosis anda TBI, who are at least
acknowledged that there's anissue, it really is it, can be a
powerful thing.
Absolutely.
In how you view things andhopefully, like I said, it can
(41:20):
buy you that half second.
You need to step back whenyou're on the brink and just
kind of reevaluate that maybeyou aren't the cause of this and
maybe there's an underlyinginjury cause to it.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah, and let your loved ones know too.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, your loved ones know too.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Yeah, Families and yourself you deserve.
If you're, if you're sitting athome and you're dealing with
stuff that we talked aboutmigraines, uh, impulsivity and
feeling like you're constantlyriding cycles of highs and lows,
depression, anxiety these areall things that can be
completely related to TBI andblast exposure.
Like it's not.
(41:58):
They always talk about PTSD.
They always try to push you andsell you on PTSD and, yes,
maybe, maybe you have that aswell, but I'm willing to bet
that if you were an artilleryman, if you were a paratrooper, if
you were an infantryman and youserved during the GY and you
have a few documented TBIs,concussions, maybe you're
(42:20):
dealing with something more.
Be willing to do the research,Print out the white papers, Read
them.
I took operator syndrome withme to my QA, QC appointments or
QTC appointments because thedoctors didn't know they weren't
talking about it and knowledgeempowers you.
When you have those white paperstudies, when you can sit down
(42:40):
and, yeah, it's, it's heavilyhighlighted.
I went through this when Icouldn't focus.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yeah, when I couldn't read, I would go to my doctor's
appointments with the samething and rub their nose in it.
You know, look at this.
Yeah, and a lot of times, youknow, the doctors are like, wow,
I didn't know this.
And they're they're very openand receptive to it.
You know what I mean.
If you just, if you just bringit up to them and you're, you
know, they work.
I think service members andveterans, our providers, work
(43:09):
for us.
So, yeah, you can make themlook at this.
This is, this is evidenceyou're bringing to them that is
relevant to your healthbackground.
So if you take this scientificresearch and you show them that,
look, I am the living personthat they're talking about in
these studies, they need to takeyou seriously and if not, then
you need to make a fuss about it.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Yeah, that's the beauty of the plain language in
research papers and scientificstudies.
List out your deployments.
Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
What you did is brilliant.
That's actually very similar towhat I provide on the website
is a pdf.
That's just, uh, the excerptsand extracts of like maybe two
dozen studies, and I justprovide it to the guys.
Download this, take it to yourcmp exam, take it to your
medical providers.
Learn it, you know.
Read it, learn it, share thescience, share it with your
(43:59):
buddies, tell your wife thatkind of thing, and I think doing
that, that that is going tochange everything.
When, when guys walk up to thegun line or go into the breacher
house now, they're going toknow that there's a health
hazard.
Now, yes, considering mythinking about my brain is going
to be something that futureguys are going to be calculating
(44:20):
into their math.
And when they go into a blastand they're like, fuck, that
hurt they're going to, they'regoing to think I need to
remember that my might've justhurt my head right there.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
Yeah, absolutely, and I will tell you guys I've put
it before him, I'll do it againfor this episode.
The thing I want you to beinformed about is when you get
out, when you retire, when youETS, when you medically retire,
you're going to go through theseevaluations and they are 100%
going to sell you on PTSD.
I'm going to put the Venndiagram up again right here.
(44:52):
You'll see it.
It's a beautiful Venn diagram.
It'll say it'll show you,they'll do it and they'll put it
out.
And they'll show you as well.
It'll show you, they'll do itand they'll put it out.
And they'll show you as well.
They'll put PTSD and TBI, youknow, and they'll have all the
things that they, they co.
You know that they exist withinboth and I'll say, well, it's
probably PTSD.
I'll tell you right now yes, Ibelieve in PTSD.
(45:13):
But for our service members thatare in that population that we
just talked about, I will tellyou that you need to go down and
look at the fine tooth and lookat the information that you
have in your service record.
Understand the difference.
Understand that your migraines,your impulsivity, your desire
(45:34):
to drink, your desire to maybeyou have suicidal ideations,
they're not just associated withPTSD.
It could be that you have beenseverely impacted by blast
exposure and traumatic braininjury from your training, from
your combat deployments.
Be willing to sit down, look atall the things you've done and
you write it out.
One of the best piece of adviceI ever got was write out all
(45:56):
the things that you went throughon your deployment and training
.
Look at how much you canremember All the times you were
concussed, all the times youwere injured, all the times you
did training in the shoot house,all the times you did demo
training, all the times that youwrote a charge too close.
Put all that stuff down andlook at it and I'm sure that if
(46:16):
you're just like me, you'll havepages, pages of stuff to look
back and reflect on.
And then print out the whitepaper study on operator syndrome
or blast exposure and go downand look at all the signs and
symptoms, look at all the thingsthat could have affected you in
your career.
And if you're like me, youcan't focus on reading.
Highlight it, just highlight it, and write out notes of how you
(46:40):
felt, of things that impactedyou throughout your career.
It's not just for the specialforces guys, it's for you, too,
mortar men.
It's for you, too, paratroopers, it's for you, too, artillery
men, anybody that had exposureto these weapon systems over and
over and over again.
It can impact you, and what Iwant you to do is take charge,
(47:01):
take accountability, takeownership of this and understand
that, like the first thing youwant to do is make sure that you
get out of the military withthe right rating, but on the
backside of that, I also wantyou to get better, because these
things you can improve.
You can improve your quality oflife once you know the enemy
that you're fighting.
And there are tons of resourcesout there that are not going to
(47:22):
charge you.
They're not going to cost you adime to get help.
Go to episode description rightnow.
You'll see that there's a linkto the Avalon network.
These are treatment facilitiesfor TBI concussive blast
injuries that are free of charge.
You're not going to pay a dimeto go to these treatment centers
and you don't need to walk inthere with anything but your
(47:43):
discharge papers, yourretirement orders, your list of
exposures, that's it.
They're not going to gatekeepyou and say, well, you weren't a
special forces operator, youcan't come in here.
No, you just walk in and say,hey, I had a long history of
blowing shit up with borders andAT4s and Carl Gustavs.
I need help and they willgladly take you, so please know
(48:06):
that there are resources outthere that people don't want to
help you and they want to seeyou improve and get better.
Todd, I can't thank you enoughfor being here today and for
being an advocate and a leaderin this space.
Again, please, everybody, takecare of your brains, take care
of yourselves and know thatthere is a way to get better.
You're not alone in this fight.
Please reach out to Todd, hitus up at setcappodcastgmailcom
(48:28):
if you need resources or pointedto the right place to go, and I
will do my best to answer youremails as soon as possible.
And please take care of eachother and yourselves Until next
time.
Take care, please take care ofeach other and yourselves Until
next time take care.
Thanks for tuning in and don'tforget to like, follow, share,
subscribe and review us on yourfavorite podcast platform.
If you want to support us, headon over to buymeacoffeecom
(48:51):
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Connect with us on Instagram, xor TikTok and share your
thoughts or questions abouttoday's episode.
You can also visitsecurityhallcom for exclusive
content, resources and updates.
And remember we get throughthis together.
If you're still listening theepisode's over, yeah, there's no
(49:14):
more Tune in tomorrow or nextweek.
Thank you.
Security Odd Podcast.
Let's go the only podcastthat's purpose-built from the
ground up to support you Notjust you, but the wider audience
, everybody.
Authentic, impactful andinsightful conversations that
serve a purpose to help you.
And the quality has gone up.
It's decent, it's hosted by me,Danny Caballero.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's a decent.
It's hosted by me, dannyCaballero.
There's science supporting theuh, the real adverse complexity
that alcohol can add to havingthese TBI uh effects.
So it it really makes thingsworse and, uh, maybe, maybe
pointing that out to him, thatthe injury to his brain and this
alcohol is, you know, is atoxic couple really you know,
yeah, absolutely man.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
But Todd man, finding you was a was a godsend, dude.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Right now.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Absolutely, man.
I think we were starting tomove the needle in, not only
advocacy Advocacy is importantbut awareness that's the key.
A lot of guys still feel that,because they weren't directly
blown up, because they weren'tjettisoned out of a vehicle
after an IED strike, thatthere's nothing wrong with them,
(01:17):
that they're just going throughnormal things.
This memory loss is normal.
These headaches are normal.
I'm just like everybody else.
This memory loss is normal,these headaches are normal.
I'm just like everybody else.
And the reality is blastexposure is something that has
impacted many of our warriors.
Many of our veterans aredealing with it, our active
service members are dealing withit, and we have to be able to
have individuals, such asyourself, that have lived
(01:39):
through it and are nowadvocating for awareness and
information and helping designthe tools that will keep our
brothers and sisters safer whenthey're out there in training.
So today, man, I want to diveinto your story.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, I appreciate that, dude.
It really centers around asenior, an NCO that I looked up
to, that took me under his wingwhen I was in service and he
always had this philosophy thatyou know, don't ever bring a
problem unless you have asolution to to offer with it.
you know what I mean may not bethe right solution, but at least
you you're bringing somethingto the table.
(02:11):
So, like you said, uh, bringingawareness is, I think, is the
key.
Right now.
So many guys are sufferingthese, what they think are these
disjointed symptoms or issues,and they don't realize that it's
really could be.
You know, everybody'sbackground is different, but
there could be an injury-causingmechanism to it all that they
(02:34):
don't realize and aren't able toconnect the dots.
And I think that is crucial inreally just getting people to
understand that these, thesechronic, excessive occupational
blasts you know they, like yousaid, they don't necessarily
require a traumatic event to goalong with them, or or a single
(02:59):
blunt force primary blast eventlike an IED or IED or something
like that, or a concussion fromhitting your head inside a
vehicle, like you said, orwhatever.
So guys are confused becausewhen they go to get treatment
they're presenting all thesesymptoms and issues that
definitely align with someonewho has PTSD and TBI and the
(03:24):
complexities that those bring tothe table, but they don't check
the check boxes within themedical treatment system and the
benefit and compensation systemthat say well, we have no
documented history of any kindof TBI event and you weren't
ever in any kind of traumaticevent in combat.
(03:45):
So you know you're the problemreally.
So it's probably your drinkingor some other thing and I think,
without understanding theinjury caused, the soldier and
veteran you know I think I canrelate just kind of turns it
inward and you know, maybe I amthe problem.
You know, I'm all messed upfrom this and I can't seem to
(04:06):
correlate things and you know my, my perspective of the world
around me is is I don't reallyunderstand it and there's a lot
of frustration in that and youknow, you feel like you're
inadequate and, uh, just justwant to get out of here.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, absolutely.
And um, I think let me go if I,let me know if I'm going off on
(04:30):
some wild tangent, because I'mvery passionate about this.
Brother, go ahead, man.
I.
I think it's so important, uh,that people realize that these,
the way these blasts, thesechronic blasts, affect the brain
, is like any it's, it's notlike anything else in in nature,
(04:50):
so prior to the blast, so thehuman body and brain couldn't
evolve to adapt to it like itcould.
You know a fall to you know afall where you hit your head,
your, your body is somewhatdeveloped to protect itself from
that kind of a head trauma.
But these blast and noiseimpulses they just have a way of
(05:12):
quickly compressing anddecompressing the brain in an
instant and over time thatcauses this funky damage all
over the brain.
There's no part of the brainthat's not affected by it.
And you know Dr Pearl at theUniformed Services University
with his you know brain slides.
(05:32):
You know he showed blasts thatare leaving these unique
signatures on the brain,scarring.
(05:56):
So it's not, it's different fromfrom anything else, but knowing
that it's system-wide, you haveto consider that the emotions
that you're feeling, the way youperceive the world around you,
the relationships that you have,could be affected by the
processes that are being good athiding it.
(06:21):
And if they don't understandthat there's a connecting kind
of parent cause to it all, theexposure from these blasts and a
TBI, they think they'redisjointed.
Their families don't understandwhat's happening.
It's just a big mess.
I ran out of steam for thattangent.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
It's like that moment in old school.
I know what happened, it justblacked out.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
So anyway, I just started.
Boston.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Great reference oh my God.
Yeah, man, it's true.
The thing that I want tohighlight and reiterate for the
audience at home is we, ourculture right now, we have put
the special operator at theforefront of this fight, at the
forefront of these injuries.
It's been a Green Beret, a NavySEAL, a special operations
(07:20):
warrior that's out there thatdefinitely has been impacted by
this.
But the reality is we have toopen up the aperture and also
focus on our paratroopers, ourmortar men, our artillery men.
It's not relegated just to thespecial operations realm.
The young 11 Charlie the mortarmen, the young crew member of
(07:43):
that artillery unit that's onthe gun line over and over and
over again, they're also beingimpacted and they don't have the
resources that I had when I wason a team and it's true, I mean
I was blessed, and I truly,truly blessed to be able to go
to the Intrepid Spirit, to beable to go to the STAR program
(08:04):
spirit, to be able to go to thestar program.
What about that 19 or 20 yearold that's on the gun line and
is now starting to experiencethings like migraines, but they
don't know it as a migraine.
They just say, oh, it's areally bad headache.
Oh, I just, you know, I don'tfeel good media.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
The media is only reported on it being a problem
with special forces and and navyseals.
So, yes, we haven't been toldthat it's a problem here, but
you're right, the the reality isthat, uh, you know, as deserved
as special forces and so calmare of of the.
You know the attention uh youguys get uh in this, uh, it's
(08:39):
really just the tip of theiceberg.
Uh, you guys sit at the head ofthe table when it comes to
these chronic blast exposures,but right next to you are the
mortars who eat a tremendousamount of this blast exposure
over time.
And then other you knowshoulder fire instructors, you
know guys who work the blastranges, the breacher houses.
They can meet cumulatively theyover time, they get a
(09:03):
tremendous amount of blast dose.
2010, 2021.
Uh, in dod only roughly 10 000service members killed
themselves, uh, by by by suicide, and you kind of zoom out on
(09:32):
that and that's that's a fuckingregiment size element.
Yeah, bro, you know.
So if you, if you imagineyou're on a parade field and
you're looking at the wholeregiment standing in front of
you and you realize all theseguys have murdered themselves,
that's that's staggering DODhealth like suicides and killing
(10:09):
that many people in 10 yearstheir hair would be on fire
trying to figure out ways tosolve it.
But somehow it still remainsthis enigma.
You know again, special Forcesgets attention because you guys
are an awesome community.
You're very tight knit.
When there's a problem, youguys don't stick your head in
the sand about it.
There might have been a littlebit of deflection at first from
leadership, but as the problemgrew especially with the Ryan
(10:32):
Larkin story it just becamesomething that SOCOM command is
confronting.
Now we're going to do it.
The boys are talking about it,so we need to address it.
That's what I like about SOCOMwhen there's a problem, you guys
come together and we're goingto solve it.
The big army is a little bitdifferent and slower to react to
(10:52):
their conventionality and youknow nobody, nobody wants to be
told that their favorite toysare bad for the kids.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
You know what I mean, and that's oh, I know, yeah,
and that's kind of how the bigarmy I think, is looking at it
or big.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Oh, I know.
Yeah, we need these weapons tobe able to conduct our mission.
And now people are coming intoour house telling us, you know,
we're all messed up for howwe've exposed soldiers to it,
when you know, maybe they'veknown all along, maybe they
haven't, but it's definitelysomething the science has caught
(11:27):
up to now that they can't kindof put off any longer.
But you know, big armies alwayshad this way of, I think, being
able to kind of kick it downthe road further, saying you
know, more studies needed.
And in a way I understand theirperspective, because a lot of
these solutions that are beingbrought to them by legislators
(11:49):
and scientists aren't reallyrealistic in their application
in the real world.
So I understand there's alittle bit of pushback, but I
think I'm happy to see ground isgaining a lot through through
this awareness that we've beenworking on for a long time, and
you know there's a lot of peoplelike me that have been fighting
this for a long time.
And you mentioned the intrepidcenter and I'd like to bring up
(12:12):
the intrepid center Again.
I went down to Fort Bragg acouple months ago for an open
house and I was lucky enough tobe able to give a guided tour by
one of the doctors there, Iguess, and I was so impressed
with their system.
There wasn't any questioning ofhow or why you got here.
(12:35):
It was, you know.
Okay, you have a TBI, now we'regoing to deal with it.
They come up with a whole totalbody, total person approach and
, you know, almost like a it'salmost like a school, really
going to a DOD school, and I'dlove to see that program
expanded and offered and offered.
(12:59):
I'd like to see guys inoccupational blast, moss, you
know be introduced to thatprogram and if they bring it up
to their provider, they'reinterested in going.
Their provider should be veryopen to it, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
It's something that I wish we had across the board.
It's absolutely necessary.
Too often I hear stories of thelack of resources, but, more
importantly, we have to rememberthat these places are staffed
by providers and we're still inthe shortage.
We're still in the criticalshortage of individuals that can
(13:30):
help treat, so we have ashortage of places they can go
to and providers, which ishorrible, which is why we say on
the VA side as well.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
I recently had a neurology appointment at my VA
and I had to teach I'm having toexplain to the doctors what
blast overpressure exposure is.
So they're miles behind andit's frustrating because this
issue has been on the table along time.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Well, todd, take us back through your journey, help
us understand this issue fromyour lived experience, because
you know, like I said earlier,you're not just an advocate,
you're somebody that lived thisand it's important to understand
your story because it goes backto the 1980s, it goes back to
the days where we weren't indirect conflict, because this
(14:15):
issue is still very much in theheads of a lot of leaders, a lot
of old, disgruntled sergeantmajors that believe that this
only happens to the combat, tothe personnel in combat and
direct action Right.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, that's I wish you know.
I wish I could say that was thecase, but unfortunately it's
actually the opposite.
70% of these exposures happenin the training environment I
enlisted in 1988, just as theCold War came to an end.
I was in during the Gulf War.
(14:51):
There was a lot of trainingleading up to all of those
things and so we fired a lot ofrounds in doing that, but at the
time there was no.
I think I mentioned it FrankLarkin, I think, says it best is
that back then we didn't knowwhat we didn't know.
He's a soldier of kind of thesame era and so it really wasn't
(15:15):
a concern.
I mean, I think you know I canrecall standing next to the
mortars and feeling my head andthe sound and the ringing and
all that.
You know all that like reliveit.
But I never really made theconnection back then that, hey,
this might be bad for my brain.
You know what I mean.
Back then the real focus waspretty much only on your hearing
.
Make sure you got your earplugsin that kind of thing.
(15:37):
So during my service I developedthese headaches.
They weren't, I wouldn't say,as bad as they are today, but I
did develop headaches enough tothe point where I went to go to
get treatment for them while Iwas in and I didn't really
associate it to any one thing.
I hit my head really hard onthe last jump at airborne school
but you know, because it wasthe last jump and you're on to
(16:00):
graduation, I didn't, you know,even want to consider any kind
of head injury.
I was just stoked from beingdone.
But I had.
I actually had a bruise from myheadband going around my from
my helmet, cause I hit theground so hard.
Uh, so I probably should havegot seen for that, but I never
(16:22):
kind of made any connection, soanyway, left the service.
As I got out as a veteran, theheadache started getting
progressively worse over timeand became like chronic
migraines which I still gottreatment for, had diagnosis for
, and I never really evenconsidered or knew that it was
available to me that I could goto the VA and make a claim for
benefits or compensation.
So I was speaking to my uncles,who happened to be Vietnam
(16:44):
veterans, and they suggestedthat I try making a claim for VA
compensation and benefits formy headaches.
So I thought about it and I metall the criteria.
So I went ahead and filed aclaim.
Uh, not surprisingly, the came,the claim came back denied,
which, uh, you know I was.
I wasn't too shocked to find out, but what really astounded me
(17:06):
was the reason they denied mewas that they could not locate
my medical treatment recordsfrom my time at service, um, and
I didn't take, I didn't thinkto take a copy with me when I
left the service.
You know, I was only focused ongetting my hands on my DT 214
and I'm out.
So it really kind of infuriatedme that they were denying my
(17:29):
benefits and compensation fornot being able to find records
that was their responsibility tokeep and maintain.
So, from that point on, I justkind of went on a quest to look
for some kind of causing factorthat came from my time in
service that could connect theservice connection, because I
didn't have the benefit of mytreatment records to show that I
(17:52):
had treated for it in theservice.
So, coincidentally, right atthat time or providentially, I
like to say about 2018, thisreport came out, which really
was the culmination of about adozen other studies which
pointed to and suggested thatthese blasts from firing heavy
(18:13):
weapons and training washazardous for the brain, and I
came across this article fromthe Wall Street Journal and it
says weapons training likelycauses brain injury in troops.
Study says, and it happens tohave mortar men on the cover.
And it went on to talk about.
One of the key symptoms arechronic headaches.
So right then I was, you know,light bulb went off and I was
(18:36):
like, of course, you know,that's, that's obvious.
And it wasn't the only thing.
There were other symptoms orthings.
I was feeling that totallyaligned with these, these
chronic concussive type symptomsthat they were explaining.
So from that point on, I wentto to use that scientific
evidence in support of my ownservice connection claim, trying
(18:57):
to establish that these chronicblasts caused my migraines and
other claims.
I was hearing problems andthings like that.
So, as I was starting to learnthe science and uncover it all,
I felt like this needed to beshared, because nobody else
really really knew this stuffand at the time I was a member
(19:19):
of, you know, uh, uh, 11 Charlieor or mortar centric Facebook
groups on, uh, on social media,uh.
So I started, just, you know,sharing what I knew from these
studies, little excerpts,whatever and that drew, drew,
grew to the point where I felt Ineeded to uh add a little video
or photos of these dramaticbooms going off, saying, okay,
(19:41):
now this is the, this is themedia of it, this is what the
science says about it.
Just trying to make it easierto tell.
And that led to me creating myown uh Facebook group called uh
C3M the cohort of chronicallyconcussed mortar men.
And then so that grew among 11Charlies and it was really a big
(20:01):
success and guys reallyembraced it and I got a lot of
powerful anecdotal messages frompeople telling me how much they
appreciated understanding thatthere was an, an underlying
cause or or connecting somethingthat connected all the things
rather than they're just kind of, you know, separate these
(20:23):
disjointed symptoms or whatever,and that that just kind of grew
.
And then, until it got to thepoint, got a reporter named
David Phillips from the New YorkTimes came across my Facebook
group and he contacted me anddid a story about mortars and he
sourced our group and me andsome other members for that
(20:45):
story.
And from that point on, you know, momentum started gathering for
me and what I was trying to do.
And uh, so it just became amission of, of sharing what I
was learning and how, how Ithought it would affect other
guys, to to understand, to, to,to getting a full understanding
of the effects it's having, to,to, to spreading that awareness,
(21:08):
teaching other guys.
You know there's a, there's areason for the way they might be
feeling, if they're anythinglike me, and and, and that
eventually evolved to okay.
Now we need to start solvingproblems.
So a buddy of mine namedTimothy Grossman, he joined my
cause back in, I think, 2019,2020.
And we decided to present what'scalled the Resolution for
(21:32):
Change in Law, and what wewanted the VA to do was grant
presumptive service connectionto veterans who presented these
chronic concussion issues.
If they made a VA claim or forbenefits and compensation, they
were granted presumptive serviceconnection and not having to go
through this, you know, thisobtuse evidentiary process of
(21:55):
having to prove that theirinjuries were caused by
something that their occupationrequired, which seems silly to
me, that they had to prove that.
But we never got anywhere andit's still something we're
fighting for.
So that's kind of where I gotstarted and how I got into this
and where I am now, and so, uh,it's, it's been enlightening.
(22:18):
It's been great to see there'sa lot of other people that are
passionate about this, that aredeeply affected.
Uh, and it's it's been very, uhinspiring for me when I, when I
see this revelation come overthe people as you explain to
them that you know, once youexplain to them that how they're
(22:43):
feeling might be the result ofan injury or there might be an
injury-causing contribution toit all.
You see this just weight lift,get lifted off their shoulders
and uh, frank larkin, I like toquote him, he, he said it best
it's this it's from shame to uh,acceptance.
(23:06):
You know, going from this, youknow there's something wrong
with me.
The world, I'm just not copingwith the world.
You know I'm the issue tounderstanding that, hey, I'm
just not coping with the world.
You know I'm the issue tounderstanding that.
Hey, maybe what I'm feeling is,you know.
You know, when you have a badknee, you limp or you can't do
everything right, when you havea bad brain, it's going to play
(23:26):
out some ways that you may not,you know, fully understand or be
able to connect the dots.
Without understanding that, hey, maybe my brain is like a watch
that's been dropped a few, toomany times.
You know what I mean Stilllooks good, still functions
right, keeps about the same time, but you know, every now and
then it doesn't tick just right.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, yeah.
I think that when you're inthat space of not understanding
what's going on and you livethat for not just a few weeks or
a few months, but for yearsafter service, that weighs on
people.
If you are injured and you'remissing a limb, people can see
(24:06):
all right, he's been affected.
When it's something that'scognitively that has impacted
your life like we're talkingabout mood issues, we're talking
about constantly dealing withfactors like anxiety, depression
, that aren't rooted in just youknow, normal psychological
issues Like this is deeplyconnected to the effects of
blast exposure.
Like it affects you but peoplecan't see.
(24:29):
It's not something that you havethe ability to convey to people
.
You're still moving along, yourmemory is compromised, you're
dealing with a lot.
Finally, somebody comes up toyou and provides you with some
sort of information that givesyou an enemy.
It gives you an enemy to beinformed on how to fight it.
That gives people hope.
That gives people the abilityto look at something as not
(24:50):
being hopeless.
Like, okay, now I can go abouttreating this, I can go about
figuring out how to get pastthis and I can have some
acceptance.
I can look at life and say,okay, like I'm still going to be
the guy that doesn't know wherethe hell he's going.
If I don't have directions, I'mstill going to be the person
that misplaces his keys.
But I can build new ways, newhabits to make my life as
(25:16):
pain-free as possible.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
And that's what people need, I agree.
And equally important is thatthe loved ones around you
understand as well.
Instead of them just standingthere going.
We don't know what's going onwith him.
He's going crazy and there'skind of this counter reaction to
it which is human nature.
But you know, I've spoken withwives of service members and you
get the same, you know to.
You see tears coming up intheir eyes when they understand
(25:40):
that.
You know, when he yells at thedog and snaps at the kids and
takes off in the truck orwhatever, you know, maybe
there's a.
It's not just something, uh,some personality quirk or
something that you did.
There's, there's somethingfunctionally not happening right
, and you know we need to, weneed to get attention drawn to
it and I think this, thisawareness, is especially
(26:01):
powerful because this communityof blast exposed uh occupations
has a just a ridiculously highlyhigh increase of of suicide, uh
risk, uh, there's justsomething the brain is doing, uh
.
I like, I like to think of itas like do you remember the
movie inception?
(26:21):
oh yeah, so they had top fivemovies, right, I had to watch
about half a dozen times till itclicked.
But they had to go.
They had to go so many levelsdeep into consciousness to, to,
to plant an idea.
Okay, so my hypothesis is thatthese blasts, we know they're
(26:43):
affecting the brain down at acellular gen, even genetic level
.
So my hypothesis is that theseblast waves are somehow
affecting that bottom layer ofconsciousness where ideas are
seated, and somehow, when, whenthe beast inside, or, or you
(27:06):
know, I call her the, thetemptress whispering in your ear
, and that you know, just thedarkness just starts coming in,
like, uh, you know, a lot oftimes you see those movies where
the Hulk is transforming intothe, you know, and you, just,
that rage, you can almost, youcan almost feel it sometimes and
you're, you're just desperationfor a way out, and that you
(27:26):
know that that when thattemptation comes to to just end
it, you know it's very impulsive.
I think, and that's that's partof the reason, that's part of
the symptoms of this braininjury is this impulsivity.
Uh, you know, that's why guysseem fine on Monday and they're
gone on Wednesday, you know andthey're.
(27:47):
And, uh, I think, if we can getpeople to win to the point where
you know when that beast inside, or the demons or whatever they
start fucking boiling up, if wecan just get people to step
back just half a second and sayhey, wait a minute, maybe this
(28:09):
is my brain fucking with mebecause of these blasts.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Yeah, it's absolutely true that there's a region
within the brain that's impacted, uh, that that's directly, uh,
related to impulse control.
Um, you, you see it in guysthat have suffered horrific, um,
brain brain injuries theirimpulse control is gone, they
they seem impulsive, erratic.
(28:33):
You see erratic behavior.
But the same areas can beimpacted by blast exposure and
and then you see that personchange, you see their demeanor
change.
You see that, and that's whydrinking goes hand in hand.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
You see that direct impulse like to drink buddy
earlier, that that impulsivitygoes through the roof when you,
when you add in alcohol orsometimes even some of the the
drugs they prescribe us to toyes, you know, and then you
combine it all and it just likeit's a, it's a torment, and I
think, I think this, thisenlightenment, that seeing the
(29:04):
weight lifted off of people, Ithink that is is is the way
awareness, you know, awarenesswill lead to action.
Action is people accepting it,putting this dogma or stigma
that you can't explain you knowyou can't talk about it aside
and just turning and facing it.
I think we talked to Bruce whenI said it's, you know, it
(29:27):
doesn't need to be thisseven-headed hydra that we're
all running from, that we justcan't seem to to to get a grip
of or even understand.
You know, it's something we canturn and face and then bring
into the light and, you know,chop its heads off, one at a
time, until we get a, you know,control of this.
You know, yeah, I think it'sjust simple things.
(29:47):
Once, once we make thattransition from you, you meet
this event horizon, once you gofrom awareness to action, you
know, once, once you get to thattipping point where awareness
becomes action, then everythingwill just kind of.
I think it'll just kind of takecare of itself.
I think a good model for thatwas kind of the nfl, you know.
(30:09):
For the longest time theydeflected and denied there's any
kind of relation to headinjuries or CTE.
Then they had these very publicproblems with their players.
They had to acknowledge thatthere was something going on.
Once they did, they startedmaking tougher penalties, better
equipment, things like that,and now some could say they have
(30:30):
a better, safer game for it.
I think the DOD could follow asame kind of evolution pretty
much If they just get their headout of the sand about it.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Absolutely, man.
We've had leaders write whitepaper studies on this issue.
We've had leaders that havegone on to their big schools to
do that big officer college timeand while they're there they
write up these amazing whitepaper studies on this exact
issue.
They go back to the force.
(31:00):
They don't enact any change,they don't enact any policy or
they don't try to champion anypolicy or anything, even at
their division or the grouplevel.
Nothing gets changed.
I mean, if you're smart enoughand you're willing to write
these amazing papers to getpublished, go back and do
(31:20):
something for your guys, Dosomething for the people within
your organization and Iunderstand it's a complex issue,
but you yourself you createdsomething that can help the
exposure.
So if we have people such asyou on the outside championing
this, creating, actuallycreating things that can help,
(31:41):
why can't we have this sort ofaction and this sort of
dedication from our own seniorleaders?
That's the thing that I'mmissing.
That's what I'm waiting to see.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
I can tell you what I've found, denny, is there's a
distinct, a palatable differencebetween the passion of those
who are personally affected andthose who it's just the way they
pay the bills.
You know what?
I mean, uh again, frank FrankLarkin great example, you know,
(32:14):
deeply affected, deeplypassionate person is is driving
change.
You know what I mean?
Uh, myself and my community onon Facebook.
My approach, my approach was,uh, I felt that we needed a
bottom up approach.
You know, going from the topdown wasn't working.
We need to do a full, informand bring in the affected
(32:35):
community and, just like a, youknow, a real grassroots, start
from the bottom and and and growit up.
And that's and that's kind ofbeen my philosophy.
And I think what I bring to thisblast over pressure universe is
my affected community.
And I think when people havesomething that's, you know,
either they know somebody that'sbeen affected or they've seen
(32:55):
the effects of it, or they'vebeen on the range and stood next
to these guns and, you know,can appreciate, uh, the, the
blast that goes off.
That's the key difference, Ithink.
Really.
I think if we could put, Iwould like to hand select a
dozen scientists and maybe adozen politicians and just have
put them on a bus and take themdown to a mortar range for maybe
(33:16):
a, you know, a one day, 800round live fire event, you know,
and you know, stand back andsay 800 round live fire event.
You know, and you know, standback and say, okay, now you guys
tell me that there's noconnection between any kind of
brain injury.
You know, tell me, with astraight face, after after
experiencing what we livedthrough, that there's no kind of
connection.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Absolutely, todd.
I'll take it one step further.
Take them on a, not only you'lltake them straight to the 82nd.
Do that, and then take them tothe 18 Bravo course and the 18
Charlie course and have them dothe expenditures that we had to
do after all the training.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, it's stupid then man, you're not going home
to?
Speaker 3 (33:56):
that entire pallet of 18.
Great point just have themstand in a breacher house all
day, you know home to thatentire pallet of 18.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, it was just a shot.
Great point.
Just have them stand in abreacher house all day, you know
, with the instructor, standthere next to the Gustav
instructor all day, and thenlook at me and tell me that
there's nothing to see here.
You know, I mean they wouldn'tbe able to do it, I don't think.
But we're getting there.
We're getting there.
Yeah, we need a lot.
We.
(34:22):
We're getting there.
Yeah, we need a lot.
Uh, we just needed to move alot faster.
Is is what my frustration is,and you know, I drew up this
bill.
Uh, I I thought it's a greatsolution for, for, for, for this
blast over pressure kind ofquagmire that we're looking at
it's, it's, you know, the moreyou look at it, it's, it's, I
call it a giant box of knots,the more you look at it, the
worse it gets.
Just trying to offer some kindof legislative solution to kind
(34:44):
of tackle this thing, I've beensurprised that not a single
person has picked up the phone.
No one, any legislativeofficial or staff member, has
picked up the phone or emailedto even inquire, to even say,
hey, tell me more about it, orwhat is this here you're talking
about.
You know, even though I'mclaiming that in 20 years it
(35:04):
would cut suicides in thisaffected community by half.
You know, I've run models toprove it.
Not a single nobody's called tosay, hey, tell me more about it
.
So we got to, you know, like Isaid, I had an appointment with
my neurologist.
He had no idea what I wastalking about blast over
pressure, exposure and braininjury.
So we we have miles and milesto go, uh, still Uh.
(35:27):
But I think I think we'retrending in the right direction
and, as I do like to always addthis to everything, as as
frustrating as it can seem, withwith our DOD and our military,
we are actually leading theworld by miles on this.
You know, I found it surprisingkind of counterintuitively, I
guess, that you know Europe,asia, australia, they're miles
(35:52):
behind on our DOD, on addressingblast over pressure and
actually doing things about it.
So I'll give them full creditfor that, even though it might
be a little tardy, but we'llstill let them in the party,
yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, it's important to focus on the good as well.
We have a lot of organizationsand individuals, such as
yourself and Bruce Parkman, thatare going actively going to our
government bringing, trying tobring policy change, because
that's that's really,unfortunately, what we need.
We we can't get to the pointwhere our soldiers are going to
(36:29):
be treated and haveaccessibility to, you know,
things like the interpret centeror other treatment centers like
it, without advocating onCapitol Hill.
That's the truth.
That's, whether you want toaccept it or not, that's what we
need.
We need individuals that arewilling to dive into that fight
and bring change at thatlocation.
It's not fun, it's not sexy, butthat's where real change comes.
(36:50):
So if you're out there and youwant to get involved, that's
where you have to go.
So, if you're willing, ifyou're able or you have the ear
of somebody in in government,like, talk about this, bring
awareness to this.
You know, let him know abouttodd, let him know what he's
doing, talk to him about bruceparkman and broken brains, uh,
(37:10):
and what he's doing on his end.
It seems like every other weekbruce is flying up and doing
something advocating for this,because it's not just someone
who's had great success based ontheir passion and being
affected.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
He's a perfect example of that.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yeah, and, and it's, he's from our community.
You know he, he wasn't some,you know, magical officer, he's
a SAR major.
He got out and has, you know,experienced this firsthand and
understands that we have tofight this.
We have to come together as acommunity and if you're able, if
firsthand, and understands thatwe have to fight this, we have
to come together as a communityand if you're able, if you're in
that environment, reach out,hit us up.
(37:46):
Todd, how can people get aholdof you.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Oh, you can go to my website at overpressurecom and
there's a link to to con to joinour Facebook cohort of affected
community.
Um, you know, it's not somechild, it's, it's.
It's a serious group we have.
We have a lot of.
We have researchers in there,we got veterans, service members
, journalists.
We have, you know, legislativestaffers who are members of our
(38:15):
community.
So it's a good place to comeand learn about the science
behind blast, overpressure,exposure, what it can be doing
to your brain, how it plays out.
Sharing anecdotal stories withthe other in the affected
community, you know, gettingguidance on how to navigate VA
claims or deal with your issues.
We'd love to have you and Ithink you'd find a good home
there.
Again, denny said it best writeyour congressman, there's a lot
(38:39):
of.
Again, denny said it best writeyour congressman, there's a lot
of.
We provide a lot of science andbased tools you can use to
present to your legislator, youknow, explaining what's going on
and that's how we're going todo it, just from the bottom up,
I think.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Yeah, and you know, that's something that we can
always, uh, take comfort in.
That, um, it's up to us, likewe can.
I say it all the time and I'llsay it again the the idea that
someone's going to swoop in lastminute and save us from this
and change everything for us.
It's not realistic.
(39:15):
We are the qrf, we will bescrubbing.
Yeah, this is it like we.
We have to be able to go back,look at a speedball, find ammo
where we can patch everybodyelse up, getting back on the
line and start fighting this.
And this is how we're going towin by being able to do it
together, because nobody's goingto come in.
There's not going to be anadvocacy group that's made up of
(39:36):
celebrities that want to takecare of us, like we're just not
that important to them, so it'sgoing to come from us.
So, if you're out there andyou're dealing with this and
you're being impacted by this,take comfort in knowing that you
can do something.
You can do something as simpleas joining Todd's Facebook group
and learning more about thisand then being informed, being
(39:58):
aware, and then going to getyour rating improved, being able
to advocate for yourself, firstand foremost.
And then, when you get thatrating improved, when you see
some change, when you'restarting to figure out, like,
what you can do to improve yourquality of life don't just sit
there, reach back into the voidand help somebody else and bring
them along and when you canwrite, when you can advocate,
when you can get in the fightyourself, bring other people
(40:20):
with you.
That's what we need.
We need grassroots movementfrom the bottom all the way up,
and that's how we're going tosee change.
Because, again, fuckingnobody's going to be doing a
special telethon for veteransand concussive blast trauma.
We're just not that sexy folks.
We have to understand that.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Yeah, I like that, understand that.
Yeah, I, I, I like that.
Um, I'd like to add on to thatthere's there's been research
done that shows that the risk ofsuicide and bad behavioral
health diminishes when a soldierhas been acknowledged of their
(41:00):
injury or a veteran has beenacknowledged.
So people with a diagnosis anda TBI, who are at least
acknowledged that there's anissue, it really is it, can be a
powerful thing.
Absolutely.
In how you view things andhopefully, like I said, it can
(41:20):
buy you that half second.
You need to step back whenyou're on the brink and just
kind of reevaluate that maybeyou aren't the cause of this and
maybe there's an underlyinginjury cause to it.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah, and let your loved ones know too.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, your loved ones know too.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Yeah, Families and yourself you deserve.
If you're, if you're sitting athome and you're dealing with
stuff that we talked aboutmigraines, uh, impulsivity and
feeling like you're constantlyriding cycles of highs and lows,
depression, anxiety these areall things that can be
completely related to TBI andblast exposure.
Like it's not.
(41:58):
They always talk about PTSD.
They always try to push you andsell you on PTSD and, yes,
maybe, maybe you have that aswell, but I'm willing to bet
that if you were an artilleryman, if you were a paratrooper, if
you were an infantryman and youserved during the GY and you
have a few documented TBIs,concussions, maybe you're
(42:20):
dealing with something more.
Be willing to do the research,Print out the white papers, Read
them.
I took operator syndrome withme to my QA, QC appointments or
QTC appointments because thedoctors didn't know they weren't
talking about it and knowledgeempowers you.
When you have those white paperstudies, when you can sit down
(42:40):
and, yeah, it's, it's heavilyhighlighted.
I went through this when Icouldn't focus.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yeah, when I couldn't read, I would go to my doctor's
appointments with the samething and rub their nose in it.
You know, look at this.
Yeah, and a lot of times, youknow, the doctors are like, wow,
I didn't know this.
And they're they're very openand receptive to it.
You know what I mean.
If you just, if you just bringit up to them and you're, you
know, they work.
I think service members andveterans, our providers, work
(43:09):
for us.
So, yeah, you can make themlook at this.
This is, this is evidenceyou're bringing to them that is
relevant to your healthbackground.
So if you take this scientificresearch and you show them that,
look, I am the living personthat they're talking about in
these studies, they need to takeyou seriously and if not, then
you need to make a fuss about it.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Yeah, that's the beauty of the plain language in
research papers and scientificstudies.
List out your deployments.
Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
What you did is brilliant.
That's actually very similar towhat I provide on the website
is a pdf.
That's just, uh, the excerptsand extracts of like maybe two
dozen studies, and I justprovide it to the guys.
Download this, take it to yourcmp exam, take it to your
medical providers.
Learn it, you know.
Read it, learn it, share thescience, share it with your
(43:59):
buddies, tell your wife thatkind of thing, and I think doing
that, that that is going tochange everything.
When, when guys walk up to thegun line or go into the breacher
house now, they're going toknow that there's a health
hazard.
Now, yes, considering mythinking about my brain is going
to be something that futureguys are going to be calculating
(44:20):
into their math.
And when they go into a blastand they're like, fuck, that
hurt they're going to, they'regoing to think I need to
remember that my might've justhurt my head right there.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
Yeah, absolutely, and I will tell you guys I've put
it before him, I'll do it againfor this episode.
The thing I want you to beinformed about is when you get
out, when you retire, when youETS, when you medically retire,
you're going to go through theseevaluations and they are 100%
going to sell you on PTSD.
I'm going to put the Venndiagram up again right here.
(44:52):
You'll see it.
It's a beautiful Venn diagram.
It'll say it'll show you,they'll do it and they'll put it
out.
And they'll show you as well.
It'll show you, they'll do itand they'll put it out.
And they'll show you as well.
They'll put PTSD and TBI, youknow, and they'll have all the
things that they, they co.
You know that they exist withinboth and I'll say, well, it's
probably PTSD.
I'll tell you right now yes, Ibelieve in PTSD.
(45:13):
But for our service members thatare in that population that we
just talked about, I will tellyou that you need to go down and
look at the fine tooth and lookat the information that you
have in your service record.
Understand the difference.
Understand that your migraines,your impulsivity, your desire
(45:34):
to drink, your desire to maybeyou have suicidal ideations,
they're not just associated withPTSD.
It could be that you have beenseverely impacted by blast
exposure and traumatic braininjury from your training, from
your combat deployments.
Be willing to sit down, look atall the things you've done and
you write it out.
One of the best piece of adviceI ever got was write out all
(45:56):
the things that you went throughon your deployment and training
.
Look at how much you canremember All the times you were
concussed, all the times youwere injured, all the times you
did training in the shoot house,all the times you did demo
training, all the times that youwrote a charge too close.
Put all that stuff down andlook at it and I'm sure that if
(46:16):
you're just like me, you'll havepages, pages of stuff to look
back and reflect on.
And then print out the whitepaper study on operator syndrome
or blast exposure and go downand look at all the signs and
symptoms, look at all the thingsthat could have affected you in
your career.
And if you're like me, youcan't focus on reading.
Highlight it, just highlight it, and write out notes of how you
(46:40):
felt, of things that impactedyou throughout your career.
It's not just for the specialforces guys, it's for you, too,
mortar men.
It's for you, too, paratroopers, it's for you, too, artillery
men, anybody that had exposureto these weapon systems over and
over and over again.
It can impact you, and what Iwant you to do is take charge,
(47:01):
take accountability, takeownership of this and understand
that, like the first thing youwant to do is make sure that you
get out of the military withthe right rating, but on the
backside of that, I also wantyou to get better, because these
things you can improve.
You can improve your quality oflife once you know the enemy
that you're fighting.
And there are tons of resourcesout there that are not going to
(47:22):
charge you.
They're not going to cost you adime to get help.
Go to episode description rightnow.
You'll see that there's a linkto the Avalon network.
These are treatment facilitiesfor TBI concussive blast
injuries that are free of charge.
You're not going to pay a dimeto go to these treatment centers
and you don't need to walk inthere with anything but your
(47:43):
discharge papers, yourretirement orders, your list of
exposures, that's it.
They're not going to gatekeepyou and say, well, you weren't a
special forces operator, youcan't come in here.
No, you just walk in and say,hey, I had a long history of
blowing shit up with borders andAT4s and Carl Gustavs.
I need help and they willgladly take you, so please know
(48:06):
that there are resources outthere that people don't want to
help you and they want to seeyou improve and get better.
Todd, I can't thank you enoughfor being here today and for
being an advocate and a leaderin this space.
Again, please, everybody, takecare of your brains, take care
of yourselves and know thatthere is a way to get better.
You're not alone in this fight.
Please reach out to Todd, hitus up at setcappodcastgmailcom
(48:28):
if you need resources or pointedto the right place to go, and I
will do my best to answer youremails as soon as possible.
And please take care of eachother and yourselves Until next
time.
Take care, please take care ofeach other and yourselves Until
next time take care.
Thanks for tuning in and don'tforget to like, follow, share,
subscribe and review us on yourfavorite podcast platform.
If you want to support us, headon over to buymeacoffeecom
(48:51):
forward slash SecHawk podcastand buy us a coffee.
Connect with us on Instagram, xor TikTok and share your
thoughts or questions abouttoday's episode.
You can also visitsecurityhallcom for exclusive
content, resources and updates.
And remember we get throughthis together.
If you're still listening theepisode's over, yeah, there's no
(49:14):
more Tune in tomorrow or nextweek.
Thank you.
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