As our courageous servicemen and women continue to fight two wars abroad, Senator Bayh is working diligently to provide them with the equipment they need to stay safe and accomplish their missions in the field while giving military families the financial support they deserve until our troops come home. Additionally, Senator Bayh has spearheaded efforts to improve our military health care system to ensure that our wounded warriors have access to first-rate care when they return stateside to nurse the wounds of war.

Protective Equipment for Combat Troops

Senator Bayh is committed to ensuring all U.S. troops and intelligence operatives in harm’s way have the both the protective equipment necessary for their safety as well as state-of-the-art technology available for decisive success in the field. Senator Bayh has worked to secure $750 million in funding for the latest in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology for forces deployed to the field. His efforts ensured our troops maintain the ultimate combat advantage and can find, track, and immediately strike an enemy threat without putting a single American soldier’s life at risk.
 
Senator Bayh continues the fight to make sure our servicemen and women have the armored vehicles needed to keep them safe. Over the past two years, he helped secure more than $2.1 billion for additional heavily armored Humvees as well as $26.2 billion for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the 2008 and 2009 Defense Appropriations bills.

Toxic Exposure

In 2003, soldiers from the Indiana Army National Guard were needlessly exposed to the carcinogenic toxin hexavalent chromium at the Qarmat Ali water injection facility in southern Iraq. When Senator Bayh learned of this tragic exposure, he demanded that the Army investigate its own response to the situation. That investigation showed the Army had “low” to “medium” confidence in its own environmental testing at Qarmat Ali, which was conducted after the private contractor had remediated—or cleaned— the site. It is uncertain how long the contractor knew of the potential health threat before notifying U.S. military leadership. In addition, Senator Bayh sent a letter to the Department of Defense Inspector General demanding a formal investigation into the exposure of U.S. soldiers exposed to toxins at Qarmat Ali.

To ensure that those who were exposed are given the health care they need, Senator Bayh introduced legislation that would establish a medical registry modeled after our government’s response to Agent Orange. The Bayh legislation would establish a registry that aggressively tracks soldiers exposed to industrial toxins during wartime service, guaranteeing them access to priority status care at VA facilities. It would also authorize a scientific review of the evidence linking exposure to adverse health effects. There have been at least seven reported cases of possible exposure at contaminated industrial sites, including Qarmat Ali.

Financial Support for Military Families

Senator Bayh has worked to alleviate financial burdens placed on our military men and women due to their service overseas. To support our National Guard and Reserve members on active duty, he fought to eliminate the Patriot Penalty, a pay cut many National Guard and Reserve members face when they are called to duty and lose their civilian salaries. The Senate passed his legislation to provide reservists with a direct payment of up to $3,000 per month to make up for the difference between their civilian and military salaries. Senator Bayh also passed a law to protect military families who are facing foreclosure, eviction or loan default due to financial hardship imposed by their service. His Servicemembers’ Home Protection Act of 2005 levies fines against financial institutions that ignore their responsibilities to educate our service members about their rights, while penalizing lenders for foreclosing on military homes. Senator Bayh also introduced the Interest Relief Act last year to suspend accrual of interest on federal student loans for active duty soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and their spouses for up to five years while on active duty.

Treating Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has been called the “signature injury” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of American service members have returned from battle with a TBI, which can be caused by shrapnel that penetrates the skull or by shockwaves from IEDs and mortars that leave no visible signs of injury. Unfortunately, bureaucratic red tape has made it difficult for many wounded members to obtain the specialized care they need to recover properly. Most problems have occurred when soldiers with TBI have been transferred from active duty status to retired, where they can no longer access private care centers. Senator Bayh authored and passed legislation allowing severely wounded soldiers to retain their active duty medical benefits for up to three years from the date of their injury. By retaining these benefits, service men and women will have the option of receiving treatment at either military or private facilities that specialize in cutting-edge cognitive therapies. With the goal of increasing the usage and availability of these treatments, Senator Bayh wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Gates with then-Senator Barack Obama pushing for the treatments to be covered under the military health plan. To further take advantage of these important medical advances, Senator Bayh authored an amendment requiring large-scale study of cognitive rehabilitation research.

Ensuring Timely, Quality Care

The September 2007 death of Indiana National Guardsman Sgt. Gerald Cassidy illustrated the tragic shortcomings of our military health care system that were initially exposed at Walter Reed Medical Center earlier in the year. Sgt. Cassidy returned from Iraq with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), only to receive substandard care while stationed at an Army medical recovery unit in Fort Knox, Ky. He waited weeks between medical appointments and five months for approval of a transfer order to a private care facility in Indianapolis. At a hearing last November, Senator Bayh pressed Army Secretary Pete Geren to explain why “the enemy could not kill him but our own government did.” Geren admitted that the system had failed Sgt. Cassidy and that his treatment was “unacceptable.” A month later, Senator Bayh passed legislation in direct response to the circumstances surrounding Sgt. Cassidy’s death. The Bayh provisions require the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration to establish maximum waiting times for soldiers seeking specialty care, diagnostic referrals and medically necessary surgery. They also create a new referral standard to ensure that wounded soldiers are sent to the facility most appropriate for their injury, including universities, rehabilitation hospitals, and private care centers. As an original cosponsor of the COMBAT PTSD Act (S. 1452), Senator Bayh is fighting to make it easier for soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan to receive treatment for PTSD.