health conditions, the leading cause of tbi among seniors is false. according to the cdc, individuals over age 65, had the highest rates of tbi-related hospitalizations and death. more research is required to establish definitively the link between head injuries and neurological diseases. but it is clear that this important research could lead to a better understanding of such devastating diseases as alzheimer's, par kenson's and als. this critical research could also benefit our veterans and troupes on the ground. far too many of whom have experienced tbi and its painful lasting effects. again, mr. chairman, thank you for holding this hearing. we have a great panel of witnesses and i look forward to getting their insights and learning more about the current research on this topic. >> thank you, senator collins. >>> i want to especially recognize kevin turner. kevin was a star fullback at the university of alabama. he played eight seasons with the new england patriots and the philadelphia eagles in the 1990s. since being diagnosed in 2010 with als, lo

with tbi and can affect their ability to concentrate. but it's very difficult to detect. just last week terry gross on fresh air wrote on single injuries to today's veterans, they include sorrow, grief, regulate, ale nation. -- alienation. this is something they had to do that goes against their value system, maybe they had to kill a child, maybe something they were horrified by. terry called it moral injury, the signature wound of a veteran. i would say it's a significant you -- signature wound of a war veteran. if we combine ptsd and tbi and moral injury, it's that many of our troops are going to be compromised. it's critical that we keep a high awareness so that members of this group aren't lost to homelessness, that members of this group can work. just so something that we are watching out for and we believe everyone needs to watch out for. to go on, there are all sorts of disabling conditions that can affect the veterans, there is gulf war syndrome that includes symptoms of fatigue, cognitive issues, gastrointestinal problems and ne

not necessarily identifying being a disabled person and cover disabilities, post traumatic stress and tbi and recommendation for hiring managers and what they should focus on in the workplace. to go over the compensation process, i will go over and use my first person narrative. like chris, i'm also an iraq veteran and deployed and in infantry myself. i did not identify with being disabled and even though i do hold that rating. i'm rated for post traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury and musculo injury throughout my body and something the va hasn't currently given me a rating for. i went in 2006. only 60 percent access va care. i went in and told the doctors, these were my issues from my time in service and they basically went on to verify whether they were legitimate or not after going through about a process of a year with multiple appointments and doctors, i received my first rating and after that i started receiving compensation. i thought because i was fairly young, only 22-23 that was good enough in seeking services and benefits. however there were many underlying issues and i di

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, you have very little access to the v.a./ someone with mental illness, pts, physical, tbi, you have very little access to the v.a.o someone with mental illness, pts, physical, tbi, you have very little access to the v.a. there is a program with about 16,000 people in it right now, there are 1.9 million post the/11 care givers and 16,000 in this program.9the/11 care giver in this program.he/11 care given this program.9e/11 care givers and 16,000 in this program./11 care givers and 16,000 in this program. that's where programs like nami provide incredible service. and beryl mentioned the fact that there's no precedence for these repeated deployments. we have never dealt with this before. they are doing some research now but there's a lot of research steps around the mental health impact on children, on spouses, and on service members and veterans from repeated deployment. i'm going to stop pretty early. because i would rather have a discussion. but i think that it is really important for all of us to understand that no one organization can do this alone. the v.a. has a charge and i kn

we offer information about ptsd and tbi. learning about triggers of wetion and changing how think, and changing feelings of sadness while recognizing and helping others who are depressed. the groups are interactive and provide a powerful model for group cohesion and universality. facilitators, we have about three facilitators, licensed mental health professionals, and they are red cross volunteers in the community, all over the nation and internationally. some are veterans. some are spouses or other kind of family members. the future of red cross is about expanding those v.a. benefit assistance programs using a peer to peer support model for case coordination, advocacy, appeals process, and combined with information, referral, and other programs and other communities. will also be expanding our reconnection workshops and our stress and trauma model with the includesmodule that blending our mind and body skills program, deep breathing, meditation, for those veterans who have been diagnosed with ptsd or tbi born out of their c

, you have very little access to the v.a./ someone with mental illness, pts, physical, tbi, you have very little access to the v.a.o someone with mental illness, pts, physical, tbi, you have very little access to the v.a. there is a program with about 16,000 people in it right now, there are 1.9 million post the/11 care givers and 16,000 in this program.9the/11 care giver in this program.he/11 care given this program.9e/11 care givers and 16,000 in this program./11 care givers and 16,000 in this program. that's where programs like nami provide incredible service. and beryl mentioned the fact that there's no precedence for these repeated deployments. we have never dealt with this before. they are doing some research now but there's a lot of research steps around the mental health impact on children, on spouses, and on service members and veterans from repeated deployment. i'm going to stop pretty early. because i would rather have a discussion. but i think that it is really important for all of us to understand that no one organization can do this alone. the v.a. has a charge and i kn

it depends on the or bet of tbi earth. but these are large scale cycles.ry 100,000 years depending upon the wobble of -- >> i can remember maybe 30 years ago the big talk was the global freeze. we had one blizzard after another in the late '70s, they were talking about the great freeze to come. the whole world was going to be polarized. >> people thought smoking used to be good for us. >> but the consensus of 90% of the community was that this was a given. this same percentage roughly says it's climate change. i'm not here to be some sort of a cave man. i am here to say when we talk about committing money and resources, much of the world doesn't have to address something that might not really be a problem -- >> i don't know that it might not really be a problem. i hear what you're saying, but we understand sood very little about climatic science back then. >> they want us to spend a lot of money to reverse it. >> if take you a look at renewables that will reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere, they're on parity with other -- >> actually a lot of thos

i am thinking about what your family -- [inaudible] that had tbi. i mean, it is a terrible death. [inaudible] >> i am not sure. it seems to me and i think based on the tenor of your question, there are certain people who in their 20s know that there are possibilities in life that involve great risk. responsibilities also involve great rewards, that involve financial rewards, that involve her with an intensity and joy, camaraderie and they choose those risks. they know more now about what they are getting into there's no doubt about that. that day so far our choices are going to make. doctors made the same choices. at the same time, and you may feel a stretch in the little bit here, maybe five. headlong romantic poets who decide like shelley that i'm going to land i'm going to land stopped to never stop inside the four and 30. painters like jackson pollock who drink themselves half into a go on and on, and make those kinds of choices. i'm sorry? rock musicians, yeah, make those all the time to jimi and janis and all the rest. they knew the road they were going down. they look at th

a reseptember medical journal said emergency room visit for these sports related tbis increased by the 2% over a ten-year period. you're a parent. you have a child. they want to play sports. if it's a contact sport, do you let them play? >> right down. >> mr. newinski. >> after doing this for a long -- >> i'll keep you short because we have to vote. >> we have sports with repetitive brain trama after high school -- i don't have kids yet, but i would say, don let them get hit in the head hundreds of times before high school. >> i would have to agree with mr. newinski. there is a high school in texas that has gone to flag football up through high school. you see players in the nfl that dpt play in college. they become pro bowl players in the nfl. so can you in fact remove contact sports until high school and still teach fundamentals? still teach even correctly how to attack, removing contact? i believe that you can. >> doctor? >> i agree. i just still have my concerns as large and fast as high school players have gotten today that there is still a major issue. but at least reremoved anyb

we had agent orange presumptions, we discover things like tbi and now we have those that thought before those things were available. we have the average veteran of it makes claims and after world war ii it was one. but the other thing is that you don't see the full effect of the war on the veterans of that war until 40 years after the war is over. because these veterans age and as they age, they get more and more difficult problems and i can attest to that because i have about 60 parachute jumps and am missing about two discs in my back and every night it started to stand for long periods of time. so 40 years from now and we are going to be asking for budget increases in order to do that and be able to provide the capability that we need to provide for the veterans. >> any budgets? >> under president obama the budget has increased every year. that is good news. but again, that curve is headed on a loop up and it's not study and it's not flat. most americans would think that the wars are over so we don't have to about that. we are still dependent for the civil war and we still have many

he is a columnist and he has been an adviser to the chair of tbi in turkey. abdulaziz saga as chairman and founder of the gulf research center. i'm sorry chairman and founder of the gulf research center. he is president of the saga group holding in this kingdom of saudi arabia active in information technology aviation services and investment. this time as a speaker are owned marwan muasher vice president of the middle east at carnegie endowment. now there has been a lot of discussion about the coalition partners and the dynamics among them and the dynamics between them and the united states for example and how all of this shapes the willingness of the coalition partners to cooperate against the islamic state. we welcome comments on that in this panel but we also want to go a little bit beyond that a little bit deeper and look at the domestic developments inside these countries because of course every country has its own unique situation that it brings to the situation. we want to talk about how each of these countries, how both the government and the public v

the way it the center of excellence failed in subjecting to trying to find the underlying causes of tbi and ptsd and to try to help the va, with some research to address these critical issues that are facing today's warfighters. but it just utterly failed. not one mri was produced in order to assist with this project. and tens of millions of dollars were wasted in the process. a whistleblower brought to this hour -- brought this to our attention that whistleblower and some of the other whistleblowers who participated in letting america know about the problems faced incredible retaliation and we heard -- you saw the hearings we had back in the summer where when the waiting list issue came up the bureaucracy retaliation against whistleblowers goes beyond the pale. and so i urge you to continue to work on that part of the culture as well. there should be no retaliation. they should be celebrated as people trying to make the system better. anyway said two things and i will be brief. one is your commitment to this particular incidence and two you will remember that we need to fix the culture

we discovered things like tbi and pstd, which now we have people making claims for tb and i ptsd that fought in previous wars before that science was available. we have the average veteran now makes six claims. after world war ii it was one. the other thing found out was you don't see the full effect of the war on the veterans of the war until 40 years after the war is over, because these veterans age, and as they age, they get more and more difficult problems. i can attest to that because i have about 60 parachute jumps, missing two disks in my lower back and every night it's harder and harder to sleep and harder and harder to stand for long periods of time. so, 40 years from how to is going to be the peak need of the veterans who fought in afghanistan and iraq. so we need to start building that capability now, and we're going to be asking for budget increases in order to do that to be able to provide the capable ity the law says we need to provide for our veterans. [inaudible question] >> under president obama the budget has increased every year. and that's good news. but again, it'

way the center of excellence totally failed and is subjected to try to find the underlying causes and tbi and ptsd and try to help the va, for some groundbreaking research to address these critical issues facing today's war fighters. but it's just utterly failed. not one mri was produced. tens of millions of dollars were wasted in the process. a whistleblower prop this to our attention and this is where i get back to the culture. the whistleblower and some other whistleblowers who participated in letting america know about the problems faced incredible retaliation. you saw the hearings we had back in the summer were when the waiting list issue came up, and the bureaucracy retaliation against whistleblowers is just going beyond the pale. and so, i urge you to continue to work on that part of the culture as well. there is no retaliation. they should be celebrated as people make the system better. two things and i will be brief. you'll have the briefing that this particular center for excellence and you will remember that we need to fix the culture of retaliation as part of our overall attem

the money will go to get tbi injured veterans into hyperbaric centers. bid on this bike.ndencefund.org where they can bid on it. i do believe for the next month. senator, thank you very much for your good work regarding the vets and have a great veterans day. >> thank you very much. >> exactly 20 minutes after the top of the hour on this veterans day. >>> coming up, why are iraqis calling their luxury cars obama's and monicas? the story you have to hear to believe is coming up. monica's? then, this two-time combat veteran spent six years as a code breaker for the navy before trading in her uniform for a ball gown. miss veteran america here live on the harley! my name is david granillo, i'm a lineman and troubleman. i work out of the stockton division. been married seven years. i got two kids. this is where i want to raise my family. pg&e lineman, our job is to keep the power on so that our customers can go about their daily lives. if there's an emergency, we'll get the lights back on. i grew up in ripon and i've traveled the world with the military we can use that work et

we have a mini clinic on tbi. we have a mini clinic on suicide prevention with veterans, where we give you all of the tools that we use at v.a., and we have translated them so you are aware of military culture and all of those sorts of things so that you can then engage with veterans the same way we do, and we have really wanted to make ise that this toolkit disseminated for all of you, so if you can also pass that along, we want to make sure you are aware of that, so that is for you and for us and you to work together. i think i am probably out of time, but i will look forward to your questions. my e-mail address. please e-mail me. c-a-i-t-l-i-n va.gov.n at havingou so, so much for me here today. really wonderful collaboration, thank you. [applause] >> now that she is breathing again, diane, can you continue our program, please? >> i am going to sit, because i am training for a marathon, and my feet are killing me. also honored to be part of this panel. we have some programs you can share. and this is consistent