Defence chiefs to blame for lack of action on brain injury

Newly appointed Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral David Johnston. Picture: Getty Images

Defence’s failure to come to terms with the risks to soldiers from blast-induced brain injuries makes a mockery of its claim to always put its people first.

Researchers have long known that the cumulative effects of blast pressure waves can cause serious brain damage, which has in turn been linked to elevated suicide risk.

The US military has been alert to the problem for well over a decade, establishing a Blast Injury Research Co-ordinating Office in 2007, and moving to legislate more recently to protect soldiers from harm.

But in Australia, Defence and Veterans Affairs have put the issue in the too-hard basket.

Crucial research was defunded in 2010, and a half-hearted 2012 project to measure soldiers’ blast exposure went nowhere.

This incuriousness has continued despite a profusion of star-ranked officers across Defence whose job it is to spot emerging problems and deal with them.

There’s no doubt blast-induced traumatic brain injuries are a confronting problem for an organisation whose core business is to blow things up.

Heavy weapons and explosive charges are the tools of the trade for soldiers and navy clearance divers. But that doesn’t mean they need to be used without a care for the harm they can inflict on users.

That’s why the Albanese government’s axing of support for a system to monitor soldiers’ blast exposure is so puzzling.

It would give troops and their commanders the knowledge they need to train more safely.

Defence’s lack of interest in the issue has parallels with the slowness of football codes to respond to the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, caused by repeated head knocks.

But the AFL and NRL are now acting to protect their players, introducing mandatory stand-downs following concussions.

The survival imperative means soldiers in combat are unlikely to hold off using heavy weapons because they might risk future brain damage. But the training environment can be controlled.

Rather than setting off 40 explosive charges a week during a training course, soldiers may have to spread out their exposure to potentially-harmful blasts over a longer period.

This is all the more challenging as Defence faces a personnel crisis that has left it under-strength by 5000 people. But if it fails to address the problem, fewer and fewer young Australians will be willing to embark on a career in uniform.

This should be a top priority for the newly appointed Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral David Johnston.

Johnston was vice-chief of Defence for the past six years, so shares responsibility for the lack of action on the issue so far.

But he has a chance now to seize the initiative, and make good on his pledge in his first speech in the job, that he would “foster a culture that prioritises wellbeing, so our people can serve well, live well and age well”.