Louise Slaughter, a congresswoman from upstate New York and a member of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, says she was once told of a soldier whose ears bled after using the Carl Gustaf. And some members of Congress became concerned. Shots - Health News War Studies Suggest A Concussion Leaves The Brain Vulnerable To PTSDĪlso during those wars, the military began to consider the effects on the brain of repeated blasts from weapons like the Carl Gustaf. troops sustained this sort of mild traumatic brain injury, which has been linked to long-term problems ranging from memory lapses to post-traumatic stress disorder. "The blast bounces off the ground and it overwhelms you."ĭuring the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military recognized that the blast from a roadside bomb could injure a service member's brain without leaving a scratch. "It feels like you get punched in your whole body," is the way one Army gunner described the experience in a military video made in Afghanistan. Even so, they get hit by powerful blast waves coming from both the muzzle and breech. And as the weapon fires, it directs an explosive burst of hot gases out of the back of the barrel.įor safety reasons, troops are trained to take positions to the side of weapons like this. The shell leaves the gun's barrel at more than 500 miles per hour. The concern centers on the possibility of brain injuries from shoulder-fired weapons like the Carl Gustaf, a recoilless rifle that resembles a bazooka and is powerful enough to blow up a tank.Ī single round for the Carl Gustaf can weigh nearly 10 pounds. military is trying to figure out whether certain heavy weapons are putting U.S. Coalition forces fire a Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle during a training exercise in Afghanistan's Helmand province in 2013.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |