PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Training for missions like the one that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011 played a major role in the deaths of former and active duty Navy SEALs, the New York Times reported.
The Times reported that the blast waves that are created when troops fire their own weapons cause severe brain damage. Former Rep. Scott Taylor, who is also a former Navy SEAL, has an estimate on his exposure to blast waves.
“I heard a statistic … I don’t know if it’s true … that your average Navy SEAL will shoot, in one day, …more rounds than an average Marine will shoot for a year,” Taylor said.
The Times report also exposed that a Maryland-based military laboratory failed to share data that revealed blast wave damage was found in the brains of all SEALs and former SEALs who died by suicide.
The Times reports that’s how Taylor’s teammate, David Collins, died in 2014.
“I mean, I’m going to get choked up right now,” Taylor said. “But, you know, one of my constituents when I was a delegate actually was the gentleman who found David and called me afterward. And here’s a guy who was funny, super organized, detail-oriented, you know. And once he left the military, something didn’t make sense.”
According to the Times report, brain damage symptoms have been confused with PTSD, and the damage may be widespread among all living SEALs.
Regina Mobley: Can technology bring about some real changes such that you can practice with arms but not be exposed to the blast?
Scott Taylor: That’s an excellent point. I think that now, for the money that we spend on these issues, and we will spend on these issues, I think that there are certainly potential technology, virtual reality, and things like that that will help enable us to practice more realistically, but yet, of course, reduce that the blast effect on sailors and soldiers.