Dear Sen. King, Sen.Collins, Rep. Golden and Rep. Pingree,

Thank you very much for your support of the Blast Overpressure Safety Act.

As I understand it the purpose will be: “establishing a baseline neurocognitive assessment to be conducted during the accession process of members of the Armed Forces before the beginning of training … ” and will require periodic assessments at prescribed intervals.

Last year, shortly after the traumatic shooting in Lewiston, I began a personal research project on the subject of “blast overpressure” from not only large military weapons but from the regular, constant use of high-powered rifles. This was prompted by an article on the subject that appeared in The New York Times just a couple of weeks following the shooting in Lewiston.

I wondered if Robert Card may have suffered TBI from his military experience. The more I dug the more I suspected this might be the case.

The evidence of potential harm led me to a personal letter-writing campaign, which I addressed to not only all of you but Sen. Elizabeth Warren (who introduced similar legislation back in 2017, I believe, when it was relegated to a committee dustbin), Gov. Janet Mills and about a half dozen or so people of influence, newspaper editors, etc.

I’d like to think that my letter-writing campaign played a role in moving this legislation into the forefront. I’d like to think this mainly because I believe strongly in the power of our individual voices — if we know something to be true and can find the evidence to support that truth, we have an individual responsibility to speak up and point out the evidence to those who have the power to make a difference. We also have an obligation to lend our voice when others have voiced similar truths. Whether it was my voice or another is of no importance. What is important is that some positive action is being taken to protect our military personnel from future harm. The shooting in Lewiston didn’t just take 19 lives (including Robert Card’s) and wound 13 others, it was a traumatic episode in the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of relatives, immediate family, neighbors, friends and community members well beyond the City of Lewiston itself.

Sadly this is a traumatic event that can’t be erased with prayers or thoughts, and for some, not even intensive therapy — for some, it will always be there, indelibly imprinted in their being.

The good result is that we may be able to prevent such tragedy in the future by the actions now being proposed in this legislation.

This lesson is a long, long time coming, and it is a lesson that is blemished by generations of denial by authorities and suffering by combat veterans from dozens of previous wars.

In his book “The Body Keeps the Score,” Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D., devotes chapter 12 to the topic of trauma suffered by soldiers. Here is an excerpt from that chapter:

“Early in the war (WWI) the British created the diagnosis of ‘shell shock’ which entitled combat veterans to treatment and a disability pension. The alternative, similar, diagnosis was ‘neurasthenia’ for which they received neither treatment nor a pension.

More than a million British soldiers served on the Western Front at any one time. In the first few hours of July 1, 1916 alone, in the Battle of the Somme the British army suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead, the bloodiest day in its history.

As the war wore on, shell shock increasingly compromised the efficiency of the fighting forces. Caught between taking the suffering of their soldiers seriously and pursuing victory over the Germans, the British General Staff issued General Routine Order # 2384 in June 1917, which stated ‘under no circumstances whatsoever will the expression “shell shock” be used verbally or be recorded in any regimental or other casualty report, or any hospital, or other medical document.

In 1922 the British government issued the Southbridge Report, whose goal was to prevent the diagnosis of shell shock in future wars and to undermine more claims for compensation.”

Let’s not allow our own military to brush the reality of TBI and its consequences under the rug any longer. If we’re going to have the most powerful military in the world, lets’ at least take care of the veterans who serve in it and make that military possible.

Had we done this for Robert Card, he and 18 others would likely still be alive, living productive and healthy lives, and none of the hundreds of family members, neighbors or communities involved would be living with this dark memory.

Thank you for supporting the Blast Overpressure Safety Act.

Dennis Tefft is a Brunswick resident.