Saturday, July 5, 2025

The Hidden Toll of Military Fast Boat Operators: A Crisis of Repetitive Head Injury

By Michael Anthony Smith

Former SWCC Operator

Special Warfare Combat Crewmen (SWCC), USCG, US Navy Riverine, USMC Boat Teams, some US Navy SEALs and other military fast boat professionals across the globe experience a biomechanical assault on the human body that no other profession endures.

They are exposed to thousands—and over a career, millions—of high-speed wave slamming impacts that produce repetitive head trauma exceeding all known thresholds of brain tissue tolerance. The result may be the most unique and underrecognized form of brain injury in any occupational group.

The Physics of Brain Trauma in Fast Boat Operations

The U.S. Navy’s SWCC Teams operate high-speed craft reaching speeds over 60 mph (50+ knots). These boats often slam into waves every 1–2 seconds—amounting to 3,600 impacts per hour. Multiple Naval Special Warfare studies (Roesch, 1994; Gollwitzer, 1995; Haupt, 1996; Kearns, 2001) have documented vertical impact forces of 2–15 Gs, with occasional spikes up to 28 Gs.

However, rotational forces—which are more damaging to brain tissue—are even more alarming. Research by Zaman et al. (2024) found that rotational accelerations during lateral impacts are 4.75 times greater than linear impacts. This indicates a 25 g impact can cause rotational forces over 120 g's. Smaller boats such as the 11 Meter Rib or similiar, are subjected to these forces routinely. These forces impose shear strain on brain tissue far exceeding the injury thresholds observed in contact sports.

The Scope of the Problem: Not Just SWCC

  • U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) personnel operating 11-meter RIBs experience identical impacts and resulting injuries.

  • US Navy Riverine Units, often overlooked, also log thousands of high-speed hours and suffer the same fate.

  • Newly formed USMC Maritime Units.

  • LCAC Operators (Landing Craft Air-Cushion)

  • International counterparts—from the UK’s SBS and Royal Marines to Australian Special Forces and Swedish fast boat units—report identical trauma patterns.

All these operators share a common trajectory: repeated sub-concussive and concussive blows, followed by chronic pain, neurological symptoms, and psychiatric decline.

The Human Cost: From Hidden Injury to Suicide

Through my four years of independent research, I’ve spoken directly with hundreds of fast boat veterans via surveys, interviews, private messages, emails, and phone calls. The findings are staggering:

  • 500+ operators surveyed: All exhibit TBI symptoms, with an average of 30 co-morbid conditions linked to brain injury.

  • 100% of interviewees report concussion-like symptoms directly tied to wave slamming.

  • YouTube Interviews with SWCC operators now public: www.youtube.com/@antnymichael

  • Multiple suicides linked to undiagnosed, untreated brain injury among SWCC, USCG, and Riverine veterans.

  • In my recent survey of 300 SWCC operators, 28% had thoughts of suicide.

  • A recent autopsy (Premier et al., 2025) of a deceased 44-year-old SWCC operator who died by suicide revealed severe CTE, comparable to that of an NFL player in their 60s.

The “So What?”

  • Cumulative exposure in just five years can exceed millions of wave slams, each at 2–15 Gs, often with rotational shear exceeding brain tissue strain limits.

  • These exposures far surpass what professional athletes experience, but receive no recognition by the VA or formal medical acknowledgment.

  • SWCC, USCG, and Riverine operators are not receiving TBI ratings, despite nearly universal symptomology.

  • CTE may be widespread in this community, yet underdiagnosed and undocumented.

  • There is no presumptive condition status, despite overwhelming occupational exposure and physiological damage.

Conclusion: A Call to Action

Military fast boat operators represent an invisible casualty of modern warfare. Their injuries are not typically from bullets or blasts, but from physics repeated thousands of times daily. These are brain and spine injuries in slow motion—insidious, cumulative, and devastating.

We must act:

  • Recognize wave slamming as a legitimate mechanism of TBI.

  • Advocate for presumptive VA status for fast boat operator TBI. 

  • Fund autopsies and research on living and deceased operators.

  • Educate clinicians, policymakers, and veterans about the unique dangers of this occupational hazard.

  • Treat retired fast boat operators with 60-80 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), with Transcranial Magnetic Stumulation (TMS) and other modalities of treatment.

  • Treat active duty operators annually with 40 hours of HBOT for regenerative support to brain tissue. 

  • Advocate for Ketamine and other similiar treatments to be available and cost free for fast boat operators.

  • Provide free access to fast boat operators for Specialized Pro-resolve Mediators (SPM), EPA/DHA Omega 3s, and Peptide and Hormone Replacement Therapy, DHEA. 

  • Provide free access to fast boat operators for red-light therapy, and high quality vagas nerve stimulators.

  • Provide free access to researched and proven non-narcotic neuroinflammation protocols.

  • Diagnose retired fast boat operators at Avalon Action Aliance TBI clinics Get Care | Avalon

  • Claim submittal help with DAV. Free Services for Veterans | DAV

This is not anecdotal. It is measurable, observable, and—without intervention—deadly.

References

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