We are here today to hear from veterans and the Department of Veterans Affairs about a very serious problem for the care of wounded service members that has been overlooked for too long.  Traumatic brain injury – TBI – is one of the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I am afraid that vision problems are becoming the unrecognized result of that injury.

Research being conducted by physicians, psychologists, and blind rehabilitation specialists at the VA Palo Alto Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center and the VA Western Blind Rehabilitation Center shows that TBI causes serious vision disturbances in a large number of cases even when the veteran retains 20/20 vision and without any obvious injury to the eye.  We will be hearing today from Staff Sergeant Brian Pearce and Petty Officer Glenn Minney, Iraq veterans who are legally blind as a result of TBI.

Staff Sgt. Pearce and Petty Officer Minney do not have happy stories to tell us about their experience after they were injured.  We owe these two a great debt for their service.  Both of their TBI-related vision issues went unrecognized and untreated for a long time.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have forced us to deal with unexpected and often unpleasant realities.  But we now know that military and VA health care providers must be especially alert to vision deficits resulting from TBI -- even when there is no obvious physical injury to the eye.

This is not only critical so that these vision deficits can be addressed, but also because undiagnosed vision problems can seriously interfere with TBI rehabilitation and also rehabilitation for other injuries that often occur along with TBI.

Following our first panel, we will be hearing from several companies that are working with the VA to provide innovative treatment for TBI-related vision deficits.  Our third panel consists of witnesses are from both DoD and VA.

Two of the researchers from the Palo Alto VA are leading efforts to better identify and diagnose vision deficits in TBI patients.  They are to be commended for their cutting edge work.  In the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress directed DoD and VA to create a cooperative program specifically to address TBI-related vision issues.  We are looking forward to hear exactly what it is that the Departments are doing, how they are directing funds for their efforts, and when they expect to have a fully-functioning program.

I am also very interested to see whether DoD and VA are currently doing all they can to identify and track these patients, not just at Palo Alto but everywhere.  Because the seriousness and extent of vision problems resulting from TBI are just now becoming better known, we would like to hear from the Departments what they are doing to identify and contact TBI patients whose vision issues may have been overlooked.

Our veterans served honorably to protect our nation. We have a responsibility to take care of them when they come back home.