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FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — The Maneuver Support Center of Excellence began cognitive testing of Fort Leonard Wood’s Soldiers and trainees Sept. 19 as part of the U.S. Army’s Warfighter Brain Health Initiative.
According to Capt. Sabrina Griffin, the initiative’s action officer for support operations at MSCoE, this test will be used to establish a baseline cognitive performance metric for evaluation throughout a Soldier’s career — allowing early detection of cognitive changes.
“Historically, the WBHI program has been deployment-centric and traumatic brain injury focused; however, due to changes in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, the program is shifting to a total force cognitive monitoring program,” Griffin said. “MSCoE began testing trainees attending initial entry training with the intent of ensuring all IET trainees perform an Automatic Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (test) prior to completion of basic combat training, one station unit training or basic officer leader course.”
BOLC students and trainees with the 3rd Chemical Brigade were the first at Fort Leonard Wood to undergo the Automatic Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics cognitive performance test, commonly known as ANAM. The Soldiers were participating in a practice run of the ANAM before the initiative officially kicked off at Fort Leonard Wood.
According to health.mil, the ANAM is a series of computer-based assessments of cognitive domains including attention, concentration, reaction time, memory, processing speed and decision-making.
BOLC Student 2nd Lt. Russell Adams was one of the first Soldiers to take the test.
After completing the ANAM, the Athens, Georgia, native said the test was more thorough than he anticipated, and he is thankful the Army is making brain health a priority.
“I think this is going to be an effective tool. If a Soldier is afraid to speak up about mental difficulties they are having, or if they haven’t even noticed yet, this will allow medical professionals to identify an issue and catch it early,” Adams said. “This means a lot to me, especially as a prior enlisted Soldier. It proves to me that the Army is taking steps to make sure Soldiers are taken care of.”
Maj. Brandon Stanley, deputy chief of the Army Brain Health Program, Office of the Surgeon General, U.S. Army Medical Command, was at Fort Leonard Wood to help launch the initiative.
“This gives us a way to get a baseline and track the cognitive function of service members throughout their careers. It is important because if there is a cognitive deficit we will be able to identify it,” Stanley said. “As of now, this is a cognitive monitoring program. When we start to do reassessments in the future, we will compare the results and address any concerns.”
It is easy to identify when someone has a physical ailment, like a sprained ankle, he said, “but people seem to forget about the mental side of things, brain health and mental cognition and how that can hinder someone from doing their job effectively.”
Stanley said Army leaders “have made it their mission to make sure Soldiers are able to be the best Soldiers they can be. We are taking care of our No. 1 asset — our service members.”
More information about the WBHI can be found at defense.gov.
(Editor’s note: Ryan Thompson, Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office, contributed to this article.)
| Date Taken: | 09.26.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.30.2024 10:47 |
| Story ID: | 482077 |
| Location: | FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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