title: Military Occupations Most Affected by Head/Sensory Injuries and the Potential Job Impact of Those Injuries.
abstract: Identifying Department of Defense (DoD) occupations affected by injuries to the head and sensory systems.
  
  
  
  We explored the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database to identify occupations with the highest incidence of injured personnel, then ranked how frequently they occurred in a top 10 list for each of four injury categories (head/brain, visual, auditory, vestibular) encompassing 25 injury codes. Across all four categories, the most affected occupations were identified, among which we chose three Army combat-related military occupational specialties (MOSs) for detailed study. We identified skills needed to perform these MOSs and explored whether MOS-critical deficits could be expected following the injuries.
  
  
  
  Some DoD occupations are more likely to suffer from these injuries, including Infantry, Combat Operations Control, Artillery/Gunnery, Motor Vehicle Operator, Combat Engineering, and Armor/Amphibious. Within these DoD occupations, we explored three Army combatant MOSs: Infantry (11B), Cavalry Scout (19D), and Artillery (13B), confirming that these jobs are likely to be disrupted by injuries within the four categories.
  
  
  
  Head and sensory injuries disproportionately affect certain military occupations. Relatively few injuries disrupt combat-related abilities that are job critical (e.g., firearms operation) and job specific (e.g., Artillery gunnery problems); these should be the focus of efforts to improve rehabilitation and RTD outcomes.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Building 6901, Fort Rucker, AL 36362.
authors.forename: Ben D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of West Florida, Building 41, Pensacola, FL 32514.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kass
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of West Florida, Building 41, Pensacola, FL 32514.
authors.forename: Kieran K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Dhillon
authors.affiliation: U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Building 6901, Fort Rucker, AL 36362.
authors.forename: Lana S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Milam
authors.affiliation: U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Building 6901, Fort Rucker, AL 36362.
authors.forename: Timothy H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Building 6901, Fort Rucker, AL 36362.
authors.forename: Angus H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Rupert
mesh_terms: D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D038801:International Classification of Diseases / Q000145:classification*; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D009790:Occupations; D062707:Return to Work; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D000078329:Workforce