34 troops diagnosed with brain injuries days after Trump dismissed them as 'headaches'

Source: Politico | January 24, 2020 | Connor O’Brien

President Donald Trump initially said no one was harmed during the Jan. 8 Iranian ballistic missile attack on bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops.

The Pentagon on Friday said 34 U.S. troops have been diagnosed with concussions or traumatic brain injury following an Iranian missile attack this month, more than triple the number originally reported and coming just days after President Donald Trump downplayed the injuries as “headaches.”

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman also told reporters that Defense Secretary Mark Esper had ordered the Pentagon’s acting personnel chief, Matt Donovan, to review the department’s procedures for tracking and reporting injuries.

Trump initially said no one was harmed during the Jan. 8 Iranian ballistic missile attack on bases in Iraq that house U.S. troops, which followed the U.S. killing of a top Iranian military commander.

The military last week said it had conducted follow-on screenings and that the number of troops who were pulled out of Iraq for brain injury treatment was 11. On Friday, Hoffman told reporters that, of the 34 troops diagnosed with brain injuries, 17 have returned to duty, including one service member who was transferred to Kuwait for treatment.

Eight service members have been transferred to the U.S. for treatment after initially being sent to Germany. Nine are still undergoing treatment and evaluation in Germany.

Hoffman attributed a change in numbers to symptoms that “are late-developing” and “manifest over a period of time.”

“What we saw was a number of people who were initially screened for concussion-like symptoms … saw their conditions improve rapidly, and then others, we saw their conditions didn’t improve,” Hoffman said. “Some got worse and some had severe enough symptoms that they were transported on for further treatment.”

Trump on Wednesday played down the initial reports of injuries.

“I heard that they had headaches, and a couple of other things,” Trump told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “But I would say, and I can report, it is not very serious. Not very serious.”

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