The physical and mental scars of war are well-documented, but only now are medical researchers starting to understand the grave neurological risks to soldiers with TBI. One of the major concerns is the brain injuries seen in troops repeatedly exposed to blasts from their own weapons — even in training — and the alarming links to suicide.
The ABC interviewed more than two dozen veterans and current ADF personnel, including special forces soldiers, who’ve had high degrees of blast exposure. Some have never seen combat, but have had repeated exposure in training operations. This is the first in a series of stories reflecting their own experiences.
In the fog of grief, Gwen Cherne didn’t think to donate her late husband’s brain to science. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Gwen Cherne is a woman with few regrets.
But she does have one: that she didn’t save her husband’s brain after he took his own life.
Before Peter Cafe died in 2017, things were difficult. The decorated commando had become angry and distant, and was growing anxious that his career was ending.
He was recovering from a stroke nine months earlier and had the symptoms of PTSD.
If you or anyone you know needs help:
- Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN on 13 92 76
- Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
- Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636
- Headspace on 1800 650 890
- ReachOut at au.reachout.com
- MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
- QLife 1800 184 527
But, she says, he thought something else was happening inside his brain.
“We knew that something was wrong with his cognition,” she said.
Peter suffered crippling headaches, memory loss, ringing in his ears, insomnia and trouble controlling his temper.
“He had headaches all the time, so significant and so bad … I think that was probably why he just disconnected.”
His personal history, too, was complex.
“He was a child of trauma. He inflicted trauma. He was both a victim and a perpetrator of family and domestic violence,” Gwen Cherne explained.
“After one episode of him being really impatient with the kids, I asked him to get help and he got violent with me.
“I left with the kids.
“That was on Friday. Monday, he died by suicide.”
She now suspects her husband, a highly regarded special forces explosives trainer, was suffering from a newly recognised type of brain injury caused by exposure to blasts.
Peter Cafe served in the ADF for almost three decades before he died in 2017. (Supplied: Gwen Cherne)
Scientists have discovered the invisible blast waves repeatedly buffeting soldiers’ brains in routine training are causing new kinds of visible physical brain injury, inflammation and scarring.
The debilitating symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can look a lot like PTSD and other psychological conditions experienced by many veterans.
Soldiers are most exposed to blast waves during repetitive heavy weapon training exercises — meaning even those who never see active combat are at risk.
Data from the US Pentagon now shows veterans who routinely trained and worked around weapons blasts had the highest rates of suicide in the armed forces.
And it’s trainers like Peter Cafe, running those courses day in and day out, who are among the most exposed.
‘Someone needs his brain’
For most of his long career with the Australian Defence Force, Peter Cafe was an elite soldier, busting down doors and putting his life at risk to get into hard-to-reach places.
“Pete was an explosives and method-of-entry expert, which meant he was really good at blowing things up and breaching doors and entry ways,” she said.
But it was his time as a trainer, teaching others the art of explosives, that she believes left the former commando struggling to function.
“He would have been [at the training facility] all day, every day, for so many of those charges, unlike everyone else who would rotate through that, for safety reasons,” she said.
Gwen says Peter doted on their daughter Emily. (Supplied: Gwen Cherne)
Blast damage can only be confirmed after death, when the delicate brain tissue is sliced open and studied under a microscope.
“I wish in that moment I had had clarity to say, ‘Someone needs his brain. We need to see what’s in it, what’s going on, and actually analyse it and help other people.'”
In the years since, Gwen Cherne has watched some of her husband’s special forces colleagues struggle with a disturbingly familiar set of symptoms.
Content retrieved from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-20/elite-adf-soldiers-concern-blasts-from-own-weapons-brain-injury/104154038?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other.
