The committee said it has found that brain injury wounds often go undetected until individuals later have memory or behavior problems caused by the brain injury.
"The military was blindsided by the number of blast injury victims in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it is clear that the proper resources were never in place to care for them," Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), co-chairman and founder of the 112-member Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, said according to USA Today.
In the Iraq spending bill, being negotiated between Congress and the White house, Congress included $450 million for brain-injury treatment and research. Lawmakers say the Pentagon has acted too slowly on the issue of brain injuries that have become the signature wound of both the Iraq and Afghan wars.
Official casualty figures stand at 26,000. But Pentagon spokesperson Chuck Dasey said that between 10 percent and 20 percent of returning troops screened at military bases may have sustained brain injuries. Last month the Pentagon began screening all troops who entered a Veterans Affairs hospital after returning from the war, but that is not all the troops returning from war.
From data available to Congress, Pascrell estimates that anywhere from 125,000 to 150,000 U.S. troops may have suffered mild, moderate or severe brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.
