美国国家公共电台 NPR Marines Who Fired Rocket Launchers Now Worry About Their Brains

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Now the story of two Marines whose brains may have been injured by the powerful weapons they once fired. Military scientists are investigating whether the blast waves from these shoulder-fired weapons can damage a shooter's brain. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports that the two veterans in this story think they already know what that investigation² will find.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE³: Chris Ferrari was 18 the first time he balanced a rocket launcher on his right shoulder and aimed it at a practice target.

CHRIS FERRARI: Your adrenaline's going, and you're trying to focus on getting that round to hit and listening to your guide to walk you onto the target. And then you go to squeeze that trigger and, you know...

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)

HAMILTON: Chris says feeling the blast wave from that weapon was the biggest rush he'd ever experienced. And his buddy⁴ Daniel, who asked that we not use his last name, had the same reaction.

DANIEL: It's exhilarating. When you feel a concussive wave, it's an awesome⁶ thing. It fills you with awe⁵. I would love to feel that blast today.

HAMILTON: Daniel and Chris spent two years in the late 1990s firing a rocket launcher called the Shoulder-Launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon or SMAW. They were a team. Chris loaded the rockets. Daniel pulled the trigger. And together, they fired hundreds of rounds in training exercises around the world. Chris points to a photo in a scrapbook.

FERRARI: That's me and Daniel at the base of Mount Fuji posing for a picture with our SMAW rocket launchers.

HAMILTON: The SMAW is one of several modern weapons light enough for one person to carry but powerful enough to blow up a tank. These weapons produce an explosion in the barrel that's as powerful as a small bomb. So Daniel and Chris had their brains rattled⁷ every time they fired the SMAW. And they fired it a lot.

DANIEL: Chris and I were incredibly good shots.

FERRARI: We never missed (laughter). We were always selected by our sergeant⁸ and our leaders to do the firing because they wanted to see the explosion. You know, they wanted to see the target get hit.

HAMILTON: But as the two men fired the SMAW again and again, some of the thrill began to fade. Chris says every shot was like taking a punch.

FERRARI: It felt like the world was caving in on you. Like, the pressure just was, like - and the heat and the debris⁹ and the dirt and the things that would, like, kick up around you. And then it was over with.

HAMILTON: The military limits the number of times troops can fire a heavy weapon in a single day. But the limits are based on concern about hearing loss, not brain damage. And Daniel says they weren't taken very seriously.

DANIEL: And I remember they were saying like, you're only allowed to shoot three of these things a day because it's, like, really bad for you. And I just remember someone mentioning three. And then, like, I would shoot three, and then you would shoot three. So...

FERRARI: Six.

DANIEL: ...That's - we're around six. And then the guys 10 feet from us would shoot six. And then the other team would shoot six.

HAMILTON: Chris says he had a lot of headaches and sometimes couldn't think straight after a day on the range.

FERRARI: You feel odd. And you feel out of place. And you feel exhausted¹⁰ and tired. But, you know, you're a Marine¹. And you learn to, you know, put it away.

HAMILTON: Until you can't. For Daniel, that happened during a joint¹¹ training exercise in Malaysia. Chris says their platoon was still setting up.

FERRARI: Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, boom (ph). Nobody was ready for it.

HAMILTON: Malaysian troops just a few feet away had fired an antitank weapon called the AT4. The blast wave hit Daniel like a fist.

DANIEL: I was, like, absolutely dizzy. I was absolutely disjointed. I felt nauseous. Like, I really felt like I needed to throw up.

HAMILTON: So he told his sergeant.

DANIEL: And it was just, shut your face. Like, are you complaining? Like, why is everyone else OK and you're not?

HAMILTON: That was 20 years ago. Back then, the military pretty much assumed your brain was fine unless there was some external sign of injury. Tracie Lattimore, who directs the Army's traumatic brain injury program, says no one really understood how a blast wave could affect the brain.

TRACIE LATTIMORE: The science wasn't up to speed. It just didn't exist.

HAMILTON: But Lattimore says since 2007, the Department of Defense¹² has spent about a billion dollars studying traumatic brain injuries, including those caused by blast exposure. At first, the research focused on bomb blasts. But now, Lattimore says, it includes the effects of blasts from weapons like the ones Chris and Daniel shot.

LATTIMORE: If you talk to us in a year from now, I think we're going to have exponential growth in our knowledge coming out of these current studies and our future studies.

HAMILTON: Eventually, that could help the hundreds of thousands of veterans who fired these weapons in the past couple of decades. But right now, people like Daniel and Chris have no way to know whether firing heavy weapons could have affected¹³ their brains. Chris says all those blasts might be the reason he ended up in a military hospital for two weeks. It happened after a weeklong training exercise in the desert near Twentynine Palms, Calif.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

HAMILTON: There were thousands of troops, and Daniel and Chris fired lots and lots of rockets. They also set off explosives. Several days after the exercise ended, Daniel noticed Chris was awake in the middle of the night.

DANIEL: He just got up and started walking out of the room in his stinking¹⁴ underwear. And I was like, hey, Chris, what's going on? And I was, like, looking at him. And he's just kind of looking through me.

FERRARI: I don't remember it. But I know that they put me in the hospital, and they give me spinal¹⁵ taps. And they thought I had...

DANIEL: Spinal meningitis.

FERRARI: ...Spinal meningitis or something.

DANIEL: Which makes no sense.

FERRARI: We - yeah. And we never knew what happened.

HAMILTON: The doctors thought something was wrong with Chris' nervous system, but they never suspected the culprit might be repeated blasts from the weapon he fired. Chris' military career ended when his platoon left on a bus one morning and he didn't get on it. It's been nearly two decades since the two men fired the SMAW. They both settled in Northern California, which is where they grew up. And they both have symptoms that could be from a brain injury or something else. Chris says he has lots of questions.

FERRARI: Why does this hurt on my body, or why do I feel lost, or why can't I concentrate on stuff as long? Or like, my - these fingers - you know, for the last four or five months, it just - there's no feeling no more.

HAMILTON: Chris also has trouble controlling his emotions now. And Daniel says at least one part of his brain just doesn't work as well as it used to.

DANIEL: Memory. I used to be photographic. Now I'm just having simple - you know, just at work, stuff I do all the time I'm, like, forgetful. I'm, you know, 40 (laughter). That's - I don't know, man. Maybe I'm getting old.

HAMILTON: Chris and Daniel also have problems with balance and spatial¹⁶ orientation¹⁷, common symptoms of damage to the brain's vestibular system. What makes their symptoms so puzzling is that they were never blown up by an IED. They were never injured in combat. So both men think maybe it was all those rockets.

FERRARI: (Unintelligible) Really the only thing that could have been a factor. I mean, it's the only thing really, you know, I had gone through.

DANIEL: I truly don't know if it's the case for you, Chris. I just know that it's the only thing that makes sense to me now. So to be honest, I'm looking for answers.

HAMILTON: And so is the U.S. military. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEO CROKER'S "THIS COULD BE (FOR THE TRAVELLING SOUL)")

SHAPIRO: Tomorrow, how the VA's health care system is responding to veterans like Daniel and Chris.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEO CROKER'S "THIS COULD BE (FOR THE TRAVELLING SOUL)")

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

5 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

6 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

7 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

8 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

9 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

10 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

11 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

14 stinking   

adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• I was pushed into a filthy, stinking room. 我被推进一间又脏又臭的屋子里。
• Those lousy, stinking ships. It was them that destroyed us. 是的！就是那些该死的蠢猪似的臭飞船！是它们毁了我们。 来自英汉非文学 - 科幻

15 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

16 spatial   

adj.空间的，占据空间的

参考例句：

• This part of brain judges the spatial relationship between objects.大脑的这部分判断物体间的空间关系。
• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。

17 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。