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Pattern of Brain Damage Is Pervasive in Navy SEALs Who Died by Suicide
(www.nytimes.com)
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this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2024
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i was listening to a podcast a month or two ago that brought light to this problem - soldiers, who may never have seen combat but were within range of powerful blasts, can suffer enormous amounts of brain damage from it.
The episode was discussing the case of one particular soldier who worked in a support role and later went to teach a course that bombarded cadets and trainees with all sorts of simulated blasts. Just because he was there, it caused him huge amounts of brain damage only discovered after he'd killed himself.
CTE can't be reliably diagnosed right now as the only definitive test for it is to cut your brain into millimeter-thick slices and analyzing them. obviously, they can only perform this test upon the deceased.
Even the relatively minor "trauma-rette" of hitting a soccer ball with your head is associated with permanent brain damage. Our brains were not made for being hit a bunch of times.
If a soccer ball can do that then I imagine fighters have tons of brain damage.
Have you heard Mohammed Ali or George Foreman speak now?
Also, what do you think will be the discourse when OJ’s brain is confirmed to have CTE? If we have proven cases of brain damage dramatically altering personality, if a person with CTE commits a crime, are they responsible? I’ve heard people with long term use of certain drugs have “dead spots” on functional MRI scans; would those same scans reveal similar results for people who have experienced a TBI or ten?
Science, always providing answers that lead to more questions.
Ali is dead, but he had Parkinson's disease the second half of his life. I haven't heard Foreman speak lately. Does he sound fucked up?