Veterans Brain Wound Awakening: Part 2
Veterans Day, 2025.
24 years since 9/11. Over 158,000 Veteran suicides since then, over twenty times the number of US service members killed in combat [7,053] during that time. [NOTE: an estimated 8,189 contractors for the U.S. military died during the post-9/11 wars, equally due our respect and remembrance.] Billions spent on Suicide Prevention programs and still the numbers of Veterans dying by suicide climb upward.
Over 66,000 Veteran Service Organizations have sprung up since 9/11. No one can doubt the overwhelming resilience of most Veterans and the goodwill shown by foundations and volunteers, and billions of dollars of donated monies spent to restore normalcy to Veterans injured in war. No doubt the intentions of investigators on the DOD Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee meant well with their Report that encouraged “caring contacts” but said not a word about healing brain wounds. The entire tenor of the Report ignores any discussion about the physiological underpinnings of suicidal ideation. Suicide continues to be viewed as a problem fixable by more human contact, mental health programs, and psychiatric and drug interventions, not as a physiological condition brought about in any way by an untreated brain wound.
And, as one member of the Review Committee put it: “If there are 66,000 VSOs doing all this work, where is the VA in all this?” And what are any of them doing to get at healing brain wounds?
Part 1 contained a request to the Veterans Administration and DOD to restart a dialogue with the medical community about recent science and advances in brain wound diagnoses and healing. On this Veterans Day as the government reopens, it seems particularly appropriate that a collaborative effort by interested parties could lead to progress for Veterans suffering and dying from untreated brain wounds, TBI, PTSD, Blast, and Concussion.
It could also serve as the springboard to passing legislation [S.2737, S.862, H.R.1336, H.R.72] that would fund treatments for TBI/PTSD.
The concept of “Brain Wounds” goes back centuries. Hippocrates and the Treatise On Wounds in the Head represents the first written work in medical history dealing exclusively with cranial trauma. Another history, the ancient Egyptian Edwin Smith Papyrus, (c. 17th century BCE), contains descriptions of head trauma and cranial injuries. Surely in over 3,725 years we know more than the ancients?
Suicide Prevention remains the VA’s and DoD’s #1 clinical priority. Despite a rise in the suicide rate, and absolute numbers, both the VA and DOD continue to resist facing and solving a central fact in the suicide epidemic: TBI/PTSD/Concussion/Blast/polytrauma are markers for suicide ideation and can, particularly in the case of combat veterans, be strongly correlated with brain wounding. And trying to “solve” the suicide epidemic with new video efforts on top of the failed standards of care is a fool’s errand.
Consider: both the VA and DOD are hard over on lethal means safety (especially firearms), data-driven prevention, and community/peer outreach. The VA initiated PSAs, some created by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow. They created the REACH program and annually sponsor and fund Suicide Prevention strategy sessions. No one wants to argue with proven therapies or organizational solutions, but Veterans are not seeing progress. More and more avoid the VA except for services and benefits demanded by law and proven by recorded success. But what we find are not successes but increased deaths by suicide and continued VA repetition of outdated claims and hiding behind disproved “science.”
Strong emphasis is being put on Community/Peer Outreach. Recall in Part 1 of Brain Wound Awakening, we talked about formulas for dealing with seemingly intractable conflict. Effective negotiators unite empathy and principle. They expand the conversation and the possibilities. To create peace and make progress, it is imperative to uncover deeper human needs and uphold shared values. Shared Values lead to shared ideas about reality, and how to change it.
Veterans of combat, active and retired, share common traits and needs with respect to brain wounds. Active duty tend to ignore and hide debilitating injuries like “invisible wounds.” Thus, their medical records show no injuries. As recent reporting shows, disability claims are rising. Lost in the paperwork are combat veterans who hid their injuries until after retirement. Lacking documentation in their medical records, they can game the system on the margins when treatment is refused. But in our experience, the vast majority of brain wounded Veterans don’t cheat, but they are treated as “mental health” patients and their protocols are palliative. That is, they never are properly diagnosed, and they cannot receive a proven treatment for their brain wounds. Frustration exacerbates their symptoms. Neglect means they never hear about the help available outside the VA.
What a growing number of “alternative therapy” researchers and practitioners are seeking is a level playing field, an opportunity to have an honest conversation with DOD and the VA about proven science. Also, trained and medically certified experts in Integrated and Functional Medicine practitioners, in concert with the growing field of alternative medicine, are intent on an open discussion about the slow-rolling going on with respect to current standards of care that ignore science and worldwide proofs about the use of hyperbaric medicine and other therapies to virtually eliminate suicide ideation while healing the wound to the brain.
Congress is going to come back into session, and we need to be ready with positive and negotiated answers to questions that will reduce suicides and transform medical practice regarding brain wound healing. Secretary Collins can turn his Department into heroes for the 870,000 pus Veterans suffering from brain wounds, as well as the millions of other Americans afflicted with brain wounds from falls, sports accidents, assaults, car accidents, stroke, and neurological disorders. Thirteen states have already registered their intent to do the job that the VA is chartered but unwilling to do: heal the wounds of war. One would think that the new Department of War would take a lesson from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians about their responsibility toward casualties of war.
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Administration officials have an opportunity on Tuesday, November 18th at the National Press Club in Washington to view a compelling award-winning film and engage in dialogue with experts on the science and practice of healing brain wounds.
Award-Winning Documentary Calls for Policy Change – “It’s deadlier for a soldier to come home from war than it is to go to combat.”
WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Hyperbaric Institute announces an award-winning documentary screening at the National Press Club in Washington, DC next week. Using evidence-based storytelling, the film exposes a preventable crisis: why hyperbaric oxygen therapy—despite showing promising results in published research—remains unavailable to veterans through VA coverage.
Undeniable Evidence: Clean Medicine. Dirty Politics won Best Documentary at the Syracuse International Film Festival and is nominated for Best Documentary at the MV Shorts LA Film Festival. The film documents the gap between clinical research and Department of Defense policy on HBOT for the conditions underlying the veteran suicide epidemic.
EVENT DETAILS:
National Press Club
529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20045
November 18, 2025 | Doors open 6:00 PM | Screening 7:00 PM
RSVP: HBOTFILMS@gmail.com
Contact: The Hyperbaric Institute | John Salcedo | HBOTFILMS@gmail.com
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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.