#brainwounds

PRESS RELEASE

Wednesday, 1 July 2026

SOAA: Special Operations Association of America

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Access for Veterans

Beth Bailey

A stalwart group of advocates has made it their mission to raise awareness about the safety and efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for helping veterans alleviate post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Retired U.S. Navy SEAL John ‘Sandy’ Pidgeon, Vietnam-era tanker pilot Dr. Robert Beckman, Co-founder of TreatNOW, and U.S. Air Force C-141 Flight Engineer and National Director of TreatNOW State Legislative Efforts Eric Koleda spoke with the Special Operations Association of America (SOAA) about their mission to bring HBOT to the population of veterans with brain wounds related to their military service in order to fight back against the veteran suicide epidemic, which has claimed more than 140,000 lives since 2001.

TreatNOW is a coalition of veterans, academics, researchers, civilians, and veteran service organizations working together to advocate for veterans’ access to HBOT. The group says it has successfully supported 33,000 citizens, service members, and veterans, including over 12,500 veterans and 800 special operations forces (SOF) personnel, with HBOT access.

Advocates believe this number is not enough. 

Beckman says that TreatNOW wants the population of roughly 18 million veterans “to hear, to understand, to educate themselves” about how they can assist with brain wounds and traumatic brain injury that “can lead to depression, suicide, and significant loss of quality of life.”

Accessing HBOT for Veterans

During HBOT, patients enter a chamber in which they breathe 100 percent oxygen delivered at higher than normal air pressure.

HBOT is FDA-approved for 14 indications, including carbon monoxide poisoning, necrotizing infections, wound healing, burns, and radiation injury. It has not been approved for PTSD or any other conditions conventionally thought to be linked with mental health. 

However, according to Beckman, there are “28 clinical studies showing efficacy” since 2008.

Among these is a 2023 study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience. Following an exhaustive review of the mechanisms in HBOT thought to support brain repair, researchers stated that “pre-clinical and clinical trials have shown that HBOT can induce neuroplasticity and improve clinical outcomes of veterans with treatment-resistant PTSD.” Of ten clinical trials, including six controlled trials, cited in the article “all…studies indicated positive effects on PTSD symptoms.”  

SOAA asked the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) whether it would provide veterans experiencing PTSD or TBI with HBOT. A spokesperson told SOAA that the “FDA has neither approved nor cleared the use of HBOT to treat traumatic brain injury or PTSD. VA continues to review emerging research and incorporate new findings into clinical practice guidelines to deliver Veterans safe, proven, and patient-centered treatment options.”

HBOT to Treat Brain Wounds

Advocates who spoke to SOAA emphasized that they believe that while PTSD is often considered a mental health diagnosis, it typically results from TBI, which they refer to as a “brain wound.” Concussive forces from heavy weapons overpressure, artillery and rocket back-blasts, improvised explosive devices, close-quarters small arms fire, breaching explosives, accidents, and injuries can radiate, Beckman explained, creating a conglomerate of physiological, behavioral, psychological, and moral impacts, “any one of which, when neglected, leads to dysfunctions that negatively affect all the others.”

Though a variety of treatments are emerging which can assist with PTSD and TBI, Beckman says that it is best “to diagnose and heal the brain first.” On this score, Beckman says HBOT “has worked for decades,” including at over 183 TreatNOW Coalition clinics and hospitals nationwide.

Congressional Support for HBOT

SOAA spoke to Rep. Greg Murphy, MD, (R-NC) about the Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act, H.R.1336, legislation he sponsored which passed the House of Representatives’ Veterans Affairs Committee in May 2025. If the legislation is passed, it will require the VA to conduct a five-year pilot program to provide veterans who experience TBI or PTSD with access to HBOT.

Murphy explained that he has “spent the better part of a decade” looking into HBOT, and that he is “as a scientist, convinced, especially after talking with so many veterans who’ve had such a good response for this, that this is a treatment that is there for veterans when nothing else is working.”

In addition to looking at the science, Murphy says that he has “visited HBOT centers, spoken with advocates,” and concludes that HBOT “is something I truly believe as a physician that our VA should be offering.” Unfortunately, Murphy noted, “I think those who are controlling some of the things at the VA are scientists who are stuck in data from either the ‘60s, ‘70s, or even ‘80s that did not at the time show a benefit, but so many different protocols, new protocols are being done, new treatments modalities are being done, where I really believe this moves the needle.” 

For the Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act to come to fruition, Murphy said that it must get onto the House floor and acquire more co-sponsors. Murphy urges interested parties “to call their member of Congress, and ask them to get on this bill, because it’s a notification to leadership. If there are a lot more co-sponsors, that means there’s a lot more interest in it.”

Murphy noted that there is a companion bill on the Senate side sponsored by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) “who believes in this.” 

“Truth be told, I don’t think the VA needs to do a study, it just needs to read the most recent literature and understand that the preponderance and overwhelming amount of evidence shows the efficacy of HBOT for PTSD and TBI,” Murphy said. “They just need to do their job.”

Getting the HBOT legislation passed is “one of the things that I would like to have done,” Murphy explained. “I truly believe it helps those who have literally nothing else to turn to… We can’t accept the numbers that we still have every day for veteran suicide.”

State-Level Support for HBOT 

One impediment to helping veterans access HBOT is its expense. Advocates note that it costs between $230 and $450 per hour for the therapy, and that a typical treatment requires 60 to 100 hours in a hyperbaric chamber. They also believe that costs will decline as HBOT infrastructure expands.

Koleda noted that he has worked extensively at the state level to help veterans access HBOT. One state where he has had great success is Kentucky, where veterans with PTSD can have their HBOT covered through $1.5 million in state funding through 2028. Koleda says that in Kentucky, 64 percent of veterans he has treated “are either back to full-time or part-time school or work.”

In the 14 states that have enacted laws, Koleda said that about “1,955 state lawmakers voted ‘yes’ to five ‘no’s.’” Koleda says that another 10 states are working on HBOT legislation. Seven of the 14 states that have passed legislation have assembled over $33 million in HBOT funding, but Koleda emphasized that “the fiduciary responsibility for the treatment of veterans should lie with the U.S. government and the VA.” Koleda said that “Congress is not standing up and doing what they need to do to provide the best care for” veterans with PTSD and TBI. 

“Despite the VA, we’re having success. We’re winning, just not fast enough,” Beckman reports. Beckman wants veterans to understand that they “do not have to live a diminished life,” and that “legislators will start to pay attention to the extent that veterans make their voices heard.”

Sandy Pidgeon is a 20-year Navy SEAL Officer, who qualified as a diving supervisor in open circuit, O2, mixed gas, and SEAL Delivery Vehicles (Mk-8 and MK-9). He was also a hyperbaric chamber operator/co-pilot of the Advanced SEAL Delivery System.

Our knowledge of brain wounds and how to heal them has “exploded” in the last decade. The medical universe is mired in old notions about the brain and how to heal brain wounds. We can help in their education by allowing and funding State hospitals and clinics to use HBOT to heal TBI/PTSD while Congress and the VA and DoD catch up.

"HBOT Heals Brains, Stops Suicides, Restores Lives." TreatNOW

Failing to treat brain wounds can lead to degraded lives, escalating healthcare costs, depression, and suicide. Images of successes and the history of service member suicides and effects of negligence can be found here.

Press Release: Washington, DC  7 January 2026

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: DoD and the VA should immediately treat brain-wounded Service Members with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and other proven alternative therapies to stop the suicide and opioid overdose epidemics and bolster readiness imperiled by untreated brain wounds. The evidence of safety and efficacy is backed by over 28 clinical trials. Oversight of Veteran suicides seems to be left to family members, friends, some not-for-profits, and the media since Congress, the VA and DoD allow the carnage to continue.

1. TreatNOW has escalated Congressional legislative progress in 2025. Senate members have joined House members on pushing for the use of Hyperbaric Oxygenation to treat and heal brain injuries. Active Bills being considered are:

*H. R. 1336. Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act. Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) (for himself, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, Mrs. Kiggans of Virginia, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Wittman, Ms. Malliotakis, Ms. Ross, Mr. Van Orden, and Mr. Biggs of Arizona) introduced February 13, 2025. It was voted out of the full Veterans Affairs Committee and sent to the floor for a House vote. It directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a pilot program to furnish hyperbaric oxygen therapy to a veteran who has a traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder.

*S.2737 - Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act. Senator Tuberville (R-AL) Introduced in Senate (09/09/2025)  It would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement a pilot program to furnish hyperbaric oxygen therapy to certain veterans through community care providers, and for other purposes.

*S.862 - HBOT Access Act of 2025. Senator Tuberville (R-AL) Introduced in Senate (09/09/2025) It would amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish hyperbaric oxygen therapy to certain veterans with traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder.

*S.3130 - Veterans TBI Adaptive Care Opportunities Nationwide Act of 2025. Senators McCormick (R-PA) and Rosen (D-NV) introduced on November 6, 2025 a Bill instructing that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish a grant program (to be known as the “TBI Innovation Grant Program”) to award grants to eligible entities for the development, implementation, and evaluation of approaches and methodologies for prospective randomized control trials for neurorehabilitation treatments for the treatment of chronic mild TBI (in this section referred to “mTBI”) in veterans. The emphasis shall be on designing and testing novel or integrative treatments for mTBI that prioritize patient-centered care, including non-pharmacological therapies.

*H. R. 72. TBI and PTSD Treatment Act. Mr. Biggs of Arizona (for himself, Mr. Crane, and Mr. Gosar) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The Bill would amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish hyperbaric oxygen therapy to veterans with traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder.

TreatNOW is calling for the following revisions and additions in all Bills that would call for revision of safety provisions and establish immediate funding of treatments of eligible Veterans while conducting research.

- Incorporation of the recommendations in CBO Cost Estimate Report, June 11, 2025. CBO estimates that roughly 6,000 veterans would participate in the program at an average cost of $27,000 for a course of 40 treatments. The bill would establish a fund to accept donations for the program; however, CBO anticipates that contributions would be minimal and would not significantly offset the costs of the program. In total, CBO estimates that the temporary program would cost $158 million over the three-year period. - Validation of “pay-fors” that would use already appropriated funds from Suicide Prevention set-asides and the use of MIPRs to move money into Community Care providers to pay for HBOT Invoices from hyperbaric treatment facilities treating service members. - We are in general support of these amendments proposed relative to safety: - Strengthen Regulatory Enforcement: Halt imports of unapproved pressure vessels and oxygen concentrators and investigate foreign distributors evading FDA oversight.  - Support compliance with ASME, NFPA, and FDA standards for all hyperbaric equipment. - Support Ethical and independent Research: Ensure studies are IRB-approved, transparent, and designed to produce publishable, peer-reviewed data. - Educate Stakeholders: Collaborate with manufacturers, HBOT associations, facilities, the ACHM, IHMF, AHI, IBUM and other foundations to educate veterans, providers, and the public about safe HBOT practices.  - NOTE: cf. American College of Hyperbaric Medicine (ACHM) Safety CAQ for definitive standards for Safety and Operations of HBOT facilities. - Ensure the VA informs Veterans about the availability of HBOT for TBI/PTSD as one of the treatments available to them. Lack of informed consent prevents Veterans from knowing about HBOT as a safe and effective treatment. This is equally true for Diabetic Foot Ulcers, an approved and insured Indication.

2.    For the last decade, TEN states have passed legislation calling for HBOT for TBI and/or PTSD: OK, TX, IN, AZ, KY, FL, NC, WY, MD, and VA. In 2025, THREE more states passed similar legislation: North Dakota (HCR 3011), Tennessee (HJR 0001), and Missouri (HB 262 spear headed by USAF Veteran Dale Lutzen)

3.    We have been helping craft legislation in TWELVE (12) additional states with anticipated action in 2026: Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Michigan, Indiana (funding), New Jersey, Ohio, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma (funding), and Texas (funding) are active with HBOT legislation anticipated in 2026.

4.    SAFETY has been a major focus in 2025 due to the two deaths attributed to negligence leading to fires in Michigan and Arizona. In both cases, the accidents were preventable if proper safety procedures had been followed. Though no official reports have been published, Team member Tom Fox has issued an in-depth analysis based on his on-the-ground reporting sponsored by Shannon Kenitz of AHI and others.

5.    The American College of Hyperbaric Medicine has prepared a set of up-to-date Safety Documents that incorporate an independent, objective, scientific compendium of the best safety procedures followed worldwide. The ACHM has already begun initial accreditation and certification procedures for its members and is available for any clinic seeking the imprimatur of the ACHM.

6.    Once again, Veterans Service Organizations like the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Air Force Sergeants Association, Green Beret Foundation, and others have used language to Congress calling for the use of HBOT to help stop the service member suicide epidemic.

7.    We continued working relationships with the Wounded Warrior BATTALION/EAST at Camp Lejeune to treat brain wounded Marines before they are medically retired from service. To date, over two dozen Marines have participated and have shown significant medical success. We have been as successful with dozens of Special Operations Warriors on active duty: SEALs, Force Recon, EOD, Special Forces, Air Force FACs, and Rangers. Most have been able to stay on active duty, saving millions of dollars for each successful treatment. Importantly, SpecOps Warriors report the end of suicidal ideation, though many report suicidal ideation when they come to us. And we can’t forget the organizations that are donating to those treatments: Marines Helping Heroes Foundation and the Anne Arundel County Detachment of the MARINE CORPS LEAGUE; America’s Mighty Warriors; Grunt Style; the HOW Foundation; the 22Project; Stand for the Troops; the HUGS Project; KOTERRA; the Martin R. Hoffmann Fund; and the many Foundations affiliated with the 170+ TreatNOW Coalition clinics across the U.S.

8.    The University of South Florida in Tampa, led by HBOT expert and TreatNOW Team member Dr. Joseph diTuri, kicked off an RCT using HBOT for Veterans with TBI/PTSD. Using $28 Million provided by the Florida legislature, the goal of this blinded, adaptive, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial is to investigate the use of hyperbaric oxygen as a therapy to treat mild to moderate traumatic brain injury/concussion in Veterans and active-duty service military. For more information about this clinical trial, you can contact USF via email at: [email protected] or call at (813) 396-9200.

9.    TreatNOW published 30 BLOGs in 2025 on topics as diverse as Suicide Prevention to a Letter to SEC VA Doug Collins with suggestions on how to immediately reverse the Suicide Epidemic.

10. TreatNOW Coalition HBOT clinics now total over 172. Since 2010, the Coalition has helped heal over 33,000 patients, among them over 12,500 Veterans, including over 750 Special Operators.

11. We have been tracking servicemember suicide numbers for over a decade. Since 9/11 we have lost an estimated 159,000 service members to suicide . Over the last decade, suicide prevention programs have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. And the suicide rate is increasing while the standard of care is piecemeal and episodic. We developed this chart to make the numbers come to life.

12.          Kentucky (5th state to legislate) expanded its statewide network of treatment hospital Wound Care Centers to five with four additional planned in 2026 with support of the $1.5 million in state treatment funds. Hospitals under contract to use their HBOT facilities to treat TBI is a first, thanks to the efforts of TreatNOW’s State Legislative director, Eric Koleda.

13.         A neuroscience team at the University of Pittsburgh, led by Drs. Pravat Mandal, PhD and neurosurgeon Joseph Maroon, MD, using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, have demonstrated and published a deficiency of glutathione (GSH), the main antioxidant in the brain, in patients with Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson’s (PD). This supports oxidative stress as the progenitor in AD, PD and also, they believe, in traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (TES) from repetitive hits to the head. Supported by a grant from the Chuck Noll Foundation, they are enrolling former NFL players, Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and SWCC operators in an IRB approved study to scan non-invasively for glutathione deficiency and also assesses memory, neurocognition and the microbiome. If deficient in GSH as anticipated, participants will receive for the first time an oral over the counter supplement, gamma glutamyl cysteine (glyteine) for one year and then be re-evaluated with MRS and cognitive studies for improvement. This is a first in kind study.

14.         In 2025, Aviv Clinics in central Florida expanded its partnership with KOTERRA, a nonprofit dedicated to healing Veterans with brain injuries and related conditions. Through this collaboration, we were able to provide our three-month medical program at no charge to two Veterans in need, with the shared goal of serving many more in the future. Our commitment is to serving complex neurological conditions. AVIV is an independent clinic that primarily treats off-label conditions like TBI, PTSD, stroke, and long COVID.

15.         As part of building momentum, TreatNOW is encouraging all clinics to become Preferred Providers to their local VA so that they can be eligible for repayments on both on-label use of HBOT, and for hoped-for VA payment of Invoices for TBI/PTSD.

NEWS and MEDIA - Boy 5 dies in HBOT chamber fire at Michigan medical facility. And an HBOT clinic owner died in a chamber fire in Lake Havasu City, AZ. Both fires were due to negligence and safety violations. HBOT is one of the safest devices approved by the FDA for Indications like wound healing, burns, and diabetic foot ulcers. - Owing to legislation passed in Kentucky, hospital-based HBOT is now available for Veterans. the Jennie Stuart Medical Center is offering HBOT for TBI Veterans around Ft Campbell, Kentucky. For more information, call the JSH Wound Healing Center at 270- 886-6412 or HBOT4KYVETS at 502-938-1300. - Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a law establishing funding support to study and potentially expand HBOT access for veterans with PTSD and brain injuries, reflecting growing state interest in alternative veteran therapies. - In August 2025 the FDA issued a letter to health care providers urging safe use of HBOT devices and adherence to manufacturer instructions following reports of serious injuries and deaths tied to HBOT chamber fire. - September 30, 2025 The Philadelphia Flyers and NexGen Hyperbaric (“NexGen”), a leader in hyperbaric oxygen therapy (“HBOT”), today announced a partnership extension for the 2025–26 season. - CBS Sunday Morning aired a program on HBOT: Over 300 victims with at least PTSD from the October 7th Israeli attack are being treated with HBOT.

What do the pictures have in common? The faces of brain injured Warriors and athletes who sacrificed, not just served. And too many dead with undiagnosed brain wounds.

We're twenty-four years out since 9/11. On the order of fifteen thousand Americans — roughly seven thousand U.S. service members and about eight thousand U.S. military contractors — have been killed in the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and related theaters, according to the best available research. Ten times that number are dead from suicide over the same period, and 877,000+ Veterans and millions of citizens suffer with untreated brain wounds.

A third of NFL players surveyed think they have CTE. While the total number of NFL players with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) isn't known, a landmark Boston University study found CTE in 91.7% (345 out of 376) of the brains from former NFL players studied, highlighting the disease's prevalence linked to repeated head impacts in football. With over 25,000 Veterans of the NFL, we're looking at many thousands of potentially undiagnosed CTE sufferers.

Not just football. Soccer, lacrosse, hockey, rugby, MMA, Volleyball, cheerleading, skiing. Any sport or activity where head injuries occur is a Petrie dish for concussion and potential progressive brain disease.

The Suicide Epidemic among service members and Veterans continues. Over 158,000 Veteran suicides since 9/11. Billions of dollars spent on Suicide Prevention programs, call centers, polls, data centers, conferences, research studies, White Papers, reorganizations, hotlines, cross-sector coordination and collaboration, "means restrictions" , outside consultants, videos, public service announcements, mental health support, "post-attempt care" and followup, more funding, and appeals for more "responsible reporting."

Five Bills in the Congress are awaiting votes in the House and Senate to get help to Veterans suffering brain wounds from TBI/PTSD. Over 66,000 organizations claim to be helping Veterans lead better lives offering hundreds of millions of pills, and billions of dollars on unproven, off-label interventions and drugs. Not even half of Veterans are enrolled in the VA. and long-term neurodegeneration → symptoms of and eventual discovery of CTE.

A line from Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is apropos: "You don't need a weatherman to see which way the wind blows."

We already know that wounding the brain causes damage that can lead to premature suffering and death. Twenty years of research into CTE and TBI and PTSD and BLAST injuries concur that banging your head hard enough to cause damage is tantamount to inflicting brain wounds. Nevertheless, current standards of care for these injuries does not include brain wound healing. But you can find billions of dollars for programs that don't work and research that focuses on amost anything except actually using proven means to heal those brain wounds and end the symptoms and continuing brain deterioration.

The five Bills in Congress mentioned above aim to upgrade and modernize how the DoD and VA conceive of and treat TBI/PTSD. All are directly or indirectly tied to the use of alternative therapies, especially Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT):

S.3130 - Veterans TBI Adaptive Care Opportunities Nationwide Act of 2025. S.2737 - Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act. S.862 - HBOT Access Act of 2025. H. R. 1336 - Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act. H. R. 72 - TBI and PTSD Treatment Act.

Congressional members are frustrated with a VA and DoD which continue to spend hundreds of millions on Suicide Prevention without bringing the suicide rate down. Further, they recognize the results of thirteen states that have already enacted and funded HBOT state legislation totaling more than $33 million: IN, KY, AZ, FL, NC, MD, VA, OK, TX, WY, TN, ND, and MO, with seven more states drafting Bills for the same purposes.

Those states recognize that:

- Veteran suicides increased from 2000-2024 (now over 157,000) and that they can interrupt that cycle. Annual reports on their programs prove the worth of treatment. - Veterans have been misdiagnosed or had their brain wounds ignored, and that Veterans and athletes with TBI are twice as likely to commit suicide. - Inadequate VA and the medical community standards of care palliate mental health symptoms with off-label non-FDA approved drugs and or counseling, with little to no appreciable effect on brain wound healing. - TBI is a physical brain wound, resulting in debilitating mental, physical, behavioral, moral, and psychological health symptoms. - Current VA treatment protocols to palliate TBI symptoms cost the US Government $118.1 billion annually, $4.7T over 40-year life span. Treatment with HBOT can be done for less than ½ of 1% of lifetime cost , while restoring a Quality of Life denied to Veterans on disability, drugs, and diminished ability to function without help. - 28 clinical trials and studies encapsulating 900+ Veterans demonstrating safety and efficacy since 2007. - Israeli Defense Forces and Ukraine, along with thousands of athletes worldwide use HBOT for TBI/PTSD, to retain military force levels, heal wounds of all kinds, and to ensure peak performance and resilience. - DoD could help meet requirements, military operational needs, and force readiness through immediate intervention with HBOT. They recognize that the 1990 Textbook of Military Medicine has approved HBOT for Blast Wave TBIs for 35-years. Over 12,500+ Veterans have been successfully treated, along with over 750 Special Operators. Successes are found in 100+ TBI Veteran video testimonials: lives restored and suicidal ideation eliminated. Heal Brains. Stop Suicides. Restore Lives. TreatNOW with HBOT

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The TreatNOW Mission is ending service member suicides. Along the way, we have learned that we can end suicidal ideation, help end symptoms of PTSD, get patients off most of their drugs, and heal brain wounds to end the effects of Concussion, BLAST injury, mild TBI, Persistent Post Concussive Syndrome, and polytrauma from AHI, Burn Pits, and COVID. No Veteran or civilian has ever been killed while undergoing HBOT treatment for TBI/PTSD.

Over eighty years ago, the U.S. made what some would call a Faustian bargain: help us get to the atomic bomb before Germany and we'll live with the consequences. Well, the Japanese were forced to swallow the medicine we brewed for the Germans, but the world is living with the consequences.

Similarly, Veterans made a deal with the US Government: we signed a blank check payable with our lives and health; in return, you will take care of us and our families. The check has come due: 7,000 combat deaths, over 53,000 visibly wounded, and 875,000 invisibly brain-wounded service members. Parallels between the nuclear weapons and health care industries are stark. And the distrust levels among victims of each industry continue to mount.

Investigative reporter Duane Pohlman has created a searing documentary on one aspect of the Nuclear Weapons Industry, FALLOUT: Contamination, Cancer, and Death. Pohlman's 5-year award-winning reporting highlights several aspects of an 80+ year saga:

- people in the town surrounding the Portsmouth Ohio Gaseous Diffusion/PORTS plant are dying from cancers at rates exceeding the norm for the US - the government covers up facts and misreports scientific evidence, substituting questionable reports for unbiased statistics - national security secrets and actions continue to take lives long after the plant has closed - cleaning up the contamination may never happen, passing along genetic and environmental risks and alterations for generations - Recent data (2021–2023) showed that premature death rates (under age 74) were 107% higher than the national average. In a population of just over 27,000, this corresponds to over 750 premature deaths during that period. Some studies indicate nearly 10,000 lives negatively affected by PORTS.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) originally had 107 major nuclear weapons and research sites requiring cleanup, but only 15 sites in 11 states remain active today.

Aside from "Atoms for War," the companion "Atoms for Peace" program gave us radioactive substances which are widely used in medicine — particularly in diagnosis and treatment — and many of them are safe when used properly in controlled clinical environments. "Good" radiation is benign when properly used, and is safely used hundreds of thousands of times per day worldwide.

The "bad" radiation is essentially with us forever. Some radioactive substances are extremely dangerous to human health, especially when inhaled, ingested, or when there is prolonged or high-dose exposure. The most dangerous are Polonium, Plutonium, Cesium, Strontium, Iodine, Radon, Americium, Uranium, Tritium, and Cobalt. Well known accidents include: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. The few deaths caused by commercial accidents pale in comparison to Nagasaki and Hiroshima (>250,000) and nuclear fallout . Atmospheric nuclear testing appears to have killed hundreds of thousands—possibly into the millions—globally. Hundreds of thousands to nearly a million Americans were affected in varying ways. Over 568,000 additional infant deaths probably occurred in U.S., and possibly several million globally.

So, hundreds of thousands had their lives cut short due to nuclear weapons work, and damage continues. What's the relationship to Veterans? And what about the VA is toxic and life threatening, if not radioactive? And how are the parallels significant for a "cure" that these institutions won't provide for casualties?

TreatNOW has feet in both worlds. The author has a long and deep history with the nuclear industry and has been fighting pro bono with a Coalition of Veterans and others for justice and Veteran brain wound healing for seventeen years. Duane Pohlman's expose threw us together again on national issues that affect millions of lives. There can be no justice and return to health and more normal lives for Veterans or civilians while DOE and the VA continue to mask central truths about the damage already done. Facts, science, and a plan for cleanup, treatment, and accountability are what Veterans with brain wounds and citizens suffering from toxins and radioactive contamination need, NOW.

DOE and the VA are two giants in the US Government. The VA is the sixth largest Department in the government with a budget of $369.3 Billion. The DOE is the 12th largest with a budget of $52 Billion. They embody what some see a "the deep state", wielding several central attributes related to power, structure, belief, and control:

- "Priesthoods" operating out of hierarchical structure. - Centralized, culture-dependent decision-making by an ideology espoused by their intellectual elite. - Social control: With little accountability -- augmented by lack of independent oversight -- neither the VA nor the DOE deviate from subtle control and reversion to rules and regulations that effectively prevent challenge. - Common purpose or goals: For the VA, "Veterans come first." For the DOE, "Safety, national security, research and innovation." Any change in leadership doesn't touch the protective shell the bureaucracy has built to fend off disturbing facts and law suits. - A justifying narrative: Each entity operates with a foundational set of ideas, or an ideology, that justifies its structure, authority, and goals. "Trust us" is the mantra to Veterans and citizens alike, despite decades of scandals and mismanagement. - Resistance to change: The narratives from both DOE and the VA are relatively unchanged after decades of increasing deaths, neglect, statistical sleight-of-hand, and ignoring scientific facts and progress. - Commitment and loyalty. This is the closed self-serving network of contractors, researchers, Foundations, academia, Congress, military, and the chain of command. This fosters an in-group versus out-group antagonism. 

Here is the crux of why so many Veterans consider the VA toxic and "radioactive." They stay away or abandon the VA because the culture and practice of the VA -- medicine in general -- is to treat brain wounds like they do mental health symptoms. No brain wound healing is possible in the current system. Pills and talk therapy rule.

The Interventions/Treatments for PTSD/TBI/Concussion supported by the NICoE, Warrior Transition Units, Intrepid Spirit Centers, Defense Veterans Brain Injury Centers, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and across DOD/VA/military medical treatment and contractor facilities are administered without an overall Protocol. The Department of Veterans Affairs claims that the four most impressive and effective interventions are:

· Psychopharmacology

· Prolonged Exposure (PE), AKA Trauma-Focused Psychotherapy

· Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

· Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

The next BLOG will dig deeper into this flawed and unsuccessful approach. We will explore the fundamental misapprehension in current approaches to TBI/PTSD, including why they won't even talk about brain wounds or mention HBOT to Veterans.

Like the citizens around PORTS in Ohio who have been reduced to resignation, depression and anger over being ignored by DOE, Veterans can't get simple truths about what's really behind their symptoms, much less a prescription for the only treatment backed by worldwide peer-reviewed science to heal brain wounds, stop suicidal ideation, and restore Quality of Life.

HBOT. Heal Brains. Stop Suicides. Restore Lives. TreatNOW.

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The TreatNOW Mission is ending service member suicides. Along the way, we have learned that we can end suicidal ideation, help end symptoms of PTSD, get patients off most of their drugs, and heal brain wounds to end the effects of Concussion, BLAST injury, mild TBI, Persistent Post Concussive Syndrome, and polytrauma from AHI, Burn Pits, and COVID. No Veteran or civilian has ever been killed while undergoing HBOT treatment for TBI/PTSD. For a video Summary, see: https://www.youtube.com/@treatnowdotorg/videos  

Information provided by TreatNOW.org does not constitute a medical recommendation. It is intended for informational purposes only, and no claims, either real or implied, are being made.

BRINGING YOU CURRENT INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO HELP TREAT AND HEAL BRAIN WOUNDS: CONCUSSIONS, TBI, PTSD This report brings you information about how service members are being separated from the service with Other Than Honorable (OTH) discharges. One organization, USJAG.org, is succeeding at ensuring that injured, ill, or wounded active-duty service members are separated with benefits, honors, and dignity intact.