Army nears crucial brain health testing milestone

WASHINGTON — About 97 percent of Soldiers have taken the Neurocognitive Assessment Tool assessment, helping medical professionals combat the effects of blast overpressure and low-level blast exposure, the Army's top leader overseeing safety and occupational health said.

“It demonstrates our commitment to cognitive safety, medical readiness and warfighting capability,” said Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment Jordan Gillis.

The War Department established NCAT as a required cognitive baseline assessment to monitor and track Soldier brain health and support recovery of traumatic brain injuries.

Soldiers in impacted career fields, including those operating heavy weapons systems such as field artillery, combat engineers and explosive ordnance disposal technicians, must take the assessment under a War Department directive.

Troops in these fields must take the NCAT upon entering the military, before deployment and following an injury or suspected concussion. The Army requires Soldiers in high-risk military occupational specialties to complete the assessment annually and for all Soldiers to take the test every three years.

According to studies published by the National Institutes of Health, continuous exposure to blast shockwaves has been linked to TBI.

Gillis, as the Army’s Designated Agency Safety and Health Official, or DASHO, oversees the Army's safety and occupational health program.

The NCAT is just part of a broader overpressure program that the Army will soon publish in a service wide directive, Gillis said. The core tenets of the program include hazard assessment, risk assessment and exposure tracking, risk mitigation, cognitive monitoring, information management, illness and injury reporting, and training and education.

The Army identified blast overpressure and low-level blast exposure as critical occupational safety and health hazards.

“It affects everyone differently,” Gillis said. “The takeaway is we are trying to take care of Soldiers and monitor their health. And if there is an impact, we’ll be able to treat them.”

Soldiers from across the force on active duty and in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve must complete the NCAT; they began taking it in 2024. To further set an example for Soldiers, Gillis took the NCAT test himself at the Pentagon Special Missions Auxiliary Clinic on Sept. 18.

“This was the perfect time to be wearing both my DASHO hat and my Army Reserve hat and to meet the requirement that I have in the Reserve but also set the example for everyone across the force,” he said. Gillis, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, serves as a field artillery officer, which places him in the high-risk category for blast overpressure effects.

During his years on active duty, he suffered injuries while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, for which he received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star Medal. He knows firsthand the impact of exposure to heavy weapons firings and improvised explosive devices.

“I am from the era of Soldiers who grew up in the height of the global war on terror, and many of us were exposed to blast overpressure through things like IED attacks,” Gillis said. “I myself experienced several IED attacks, and so I believe from personal experience that this is important to do.”

Gillis said managing Soldier cognitive health and preventing potential traumatic brain injury and side effects remains a top readiness priority.

“[The NCAT] is an important part of taking care of Soldiers, but what this does is, it sets a baseline for reaction times and for memory,” he said. “By establishing a baseline for all Soldiers, we’re able to monitor brain health, as well as … let medical providers help with treatment, if required.”

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