COWAC curated content on Blast Overpressure Science & Legislation

By Timothy J. Grossman, President

Coverage window: Sept 28 to Oct 5, 2026

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This week at a glance. This was an important week for baseline brain-health and total force awareness. The Army reported that 97 percent of soldiers have now completed baseline brain-health (neurocognitive) testing; current reporting on the issue refers to previous data showing suicide rates of Army mortarmen (MOS 11C) are about 40 percent higher than soldiers not exposed to blast.

That testing is a central piece of the Defense Department’s blast-overpressure monitoring effort, and soldiers in high-blast occupations such as field artillery, combat engineers, and explosive ordnance disposal will now retest every year. No new peer-reviewed blast science broke this week beyond that coverage.

On Capitol Hill, H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, saw no change in status. It remains stalled after House leadership pulled it from the floor in July; the Senate companion, S. 4744, is still in committee, and veterans service organizations continue to press their case.

Our three tracked provisions, Sections 311 and 310 (which we support) and Section 108 (which we oppose), all stand where they were, and nothing this week moved any of them toward amendment, a split, or removal.

Science & Research

Army reports 97 percent of soldiers have completed baseline brain-health testing.

The Army is close to establishing a cognitive baseline for the entire force, which gives clinicians a point of comparison for detecting blast-related decline later on. Soldiers in the highest-blast jobs (field artillery, combat engineers, EOD) will test again every year. The reporting also carried the finding that Army mortarmen saw suicide rates about 40 percent higher than soldiers not exposed to blast.

Sources: [DoD / War.gov, Sept 28], [Soldier Systems, Sept 29], [Task & Purpose, Sept 30], [The Defense Post, Oct 2].

No new peer-reviewed blast studies appeared inside the coverage window. The most recent significant research, the GAO review of how the Defense Department manages blast brain health (GAO-26-107829, Aug 18), the Walter Reed blast-biomarker work (DHA, Aug 14), and the MSMR cohort study of high-risk occupations (Sept 1), all predate this week and appeared in earlier digests.

Legislation & Policy

Standing item: H.R. 9237 / S. 4744, Take Care of America’s Veterans Act

Status this week: no change. The bill is still stalled. House leadership pulled it from the floor on July 16, 2026, before a final vote, after veterans service organizations split publicly over Section 108. The wider package of more than sixty provisions was formally delayed, and the Senate companion S. 4744 has not moved out of committee. The American Legion, VFW, DAV, and MOAA are still advocating, but no vote was scheduled this week, and the text was not touched.

Nothing this week affected whether our tracked sections stay in, get amended, or get stripped or split out.

• SUPPORT  Section 311, VA Blast Overpressure Task Force, directly on topic for this digest. Unchanged.
• SUPPORT  Section 310, Precision Medicine for Veterans Initiative and suicide reporting. Unchanged.
• OPPOSE  Section 108, which restructures VA ratings for tinnitus and obstructive sleep apnea as a budget offset. It is unrelated to blast overpressure but rides the same bill, and it remains the central point of contention. Unchanged.

Sources: [congress.gov, H.R. 9237], [Military.com, omnibus delayed], [MOAA], [VFW].

Defense Department implementation continues under the FY24 blast-monitoring requirements

This week’s Army testing milestone is also the clearest policy signal of the week. It shows the Defense Department carrying out the baseline-assessment and exposure-tracking mandates set in 2024, the same requirements GAO flagged in August as short on resources, specifically industrial-hygiene staffing and assessment technology.

Sources: [GAO-26-107829], [Sen. King on the GAO findings].