Photos

His crusade spanned two years. He travelled to triages and hospitals across Anbar in 2006. He worked tirelessly with his stateside colleagues in 2007. Two years of toiling, all to gather enough evidence, or ?data? as he calls it, to make his case. Now, back in Iraq, Navy Capt. Michael H. Hoffer feels he has won a significant victory against arguably the military?s most serious and common casualty: Traumatic Brain Injury. Traumatic Brain Injuries, or TBI?s, occur when an individual experiences shock waves from a blast, acceleration-deceleration (collision), or an impact or penetration directly to the skull. Doctors divide TBI into severe, moderate or mild. ?Right now, 92 percent of all battlefield injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan are classified as (mild) TBI,? said Hoffer, the Otolaryngologist (ears, nose and throat doctor), Surgical Company, 1st Maintenance Battalion (-) (Reinforced), 1st Marine Logistics Group. The Theater TBI Center of Excellence, a result of Hoffer?s two-year initiative, is the first of its kind here in Anbar. It was established initially in September and finalized as the province?s hub of TBI treatment in December. With the cooperation of corpsmen on the ground and company commanders, the center now administers to every casualty who experienced events associated with causing TBI.