Gauges worn by troops offer clues on impact from blasts
By Gregg Zoroya
USA TODAY
About 7,000 U.S. ground troops in Afghanistan are now wearing blast gauges that enable neurologists in the war zone for the first time to gather detailed profiles of explosions that cause brain damage among servicemembers.
The gauges, three of which are worn on a soldier's body, track the direction, pressure and speed of a blast wave as it overtakes a servicemember in the milliseconds after an improvised bomb detonates.
The bombs the Taliban bury along roads or pathways patrolled by Afghan and U.S. troops are among the deadliest weapons used against coalition forces.
Soldiers or Marines who step on them can be killed or lose arms and legs to the blast. Many comrades nearby are left unconscious or dazed from a brain injury scientists are still trying to understand — invisible damage long considered one of the signature wounds of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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