A BETTER BUNKER
on this research and have received interest on implementing its recommendations.
“Our main goal is always to protect the warfighter.”
core competency in blast and weapons effects on structures. It also benefitted from the research organization’s cross-laboratory environment. For example, ERDC used its 3D printing capa- bilities to quickly produce unique instrumentation mounts that simulated a human head for field testing. Meanwhile, ERDC’s work in invasive species and fish migration allowed the team to pull in a biologist with enough knowledge of brain injuries to better interface with the experts at the Medical Research and Development Command.
CENTCOM commander, Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., recognized this effort by thanking the ERDC team for its “extraordinary work on the Personnel Bunker Study.”
“Te recent attack on U.S. personnel at Al Asad Air Base served as a reminder of the very real dangers our military members face carrying out their daily missions,” McKenzie wrote. “I am confident that your study findings will reduce the risks posed to our military and will ultimately save lives. ERDC and the Army Corps of Engineers continue to be valuable members of the (CENTCOM) team and combat multipliers across my area of responsibility.”
Te team that completed the Personnel Bunker Study was also recognized with a 2022 Innovation of the Year award from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
CONCLUSION Because the USACE Transatlantic Division supports engineering activities across the joint forces in CENTCOM’s area of respon- sibility, this solution was applied broadly.
Te U.S. Air Force has begun implementation of these specific designs and configurations for their applications as well.
ERDC and the USACE Transatlantic Division have briefed lead- ers within the U.S. Africa and U.S. Indo-Pacific Commands
86 Army AL&T Magazine Fall 2022
Additionally, the knowledge gained regarding protection from traumatic brain injury has driven additional efforts from the USACE Protective Design Center and assisted in the understand- ing and development of new training and safety concerns being addressed by the U.S. Army Counter Explosive Hazards Center.
Te blast data also will be provided to the medical community for future traumatic brain injury research.
“Tis project was very different from others I have worked on in that it was a very specific but very challenging problem where we had to find a deployable solution with very limited time,” said Catie Stephens, Ph.D., the director of ERDC’s International Research Office. “Tis project could have required hundreds of experiments to better understand the problem, but we were able to do a very small set of large experiments that allowed us to solve the main request, a retrofit to bunkers that decreases the risk of traumatic brain injury, while also gathering data that is valuable for solving the problem—how and why blast-induced traumatic brain injuries occur. All of that data was shared with the Medi- cal Research and Development Command in order for them to make progress on the bigger problem.”
For more information, email
ERDCInfo@usace.army.mil or go to
https://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/Locations/GSL.aspx.
TIM REEVES is a communications specialist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center. Prior to joining ERDC’s
corporate communications team, Reeves spent nearly
three decades in journalism working as a photographer, reporter and editor at newspapers throughout the southeast United States.
CHRIS KIEFFER is a communications specialist with ERDC. He spent more than a decade as a reporter and editor with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and Oxford (Mississippi) Eagle newspapers. Kieffer holds an M.A. in journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. in journalism from the University of Mississippi.
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