It’s hard to explain the sound standing behind artillery when it fires, a roar no movie can ever match that will temporarily render you deaf without proper ear protection.
Then there’s the sight: The gun jerks violently, smoke billows from the tube, and dust blocks your eyes. And an explosion feels like getting punched all over your body at the same time, Daniel Johnson writes.
Artillery personnel, combat engineers, tankers, special forces troops, and mortar personnel make up the military occupations most at risk to exposure to repeated, low-level blasts. A growing body of research suggests that this exposure plays a role in health issues that thousands of service members have reported in recent years.
With almost 90,000 active-duty service members stationed at Fort Liberty and Camp Lejeune and over 640,000 veterans, North Carolina is at the center of this burgeoning health crisis.
The War Inside
Some of the worst brain injuries soldiers face come from their own weapons, and North Carolina is at the epicenter of this growing crisis.
Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.
An Assembly Update
Big news: The Assembly and CityView recently signed a letter of intent to begin transitioning ownership of the Fayetteville-based magazine.
CityView, a monthly lifestyle magazine with a strong online news readership, represents our first foray into the region. But we’ve already been working with them on stories for the better part of a year–including not just today’s on brain injuries among U.S. troops but last month’s on the abrupt closure of a state veterans home. You’ll see even more of that in the coming months.
“This change will result in even more resources and reporting in our community,” CityView publisher Tony Chavonne wrote over the weekend. “I am convinced it represents the best option for a sustainable news operation in Fayetteville.”
Chavonne will still chair the nonprofit CityView News Fund, which raises money for the magazine and has its own board of directors that will provide fiscal oversight.
CityView will join our growing network of local news hubs, which includes our partnership with INDY in the Triangle and our bureaus in Greensboro and Wilmington. These relationships help us deliver news closest to where it matters, while also elevating the local stories that resonate statewide.
What We’re Reading
Is He Moving to Greenville?: MrBeast Industries has hired venture capitalist and former Shutterfly CEO Jeffrey Housenbold as president and chief operating officer, per BusinessNC.
Verbatim: One of Josh Stein’s first TV ads highlights Mark Robinson’s views on abortion, NBC News writes. In the clip, Robinson says abortion “is about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”
While We’re on the Topic: A federal judge on Monday struck down North Carolina restrictions on abortion pills, The N&O reports. Among other things, the ruling means mifepristone can be taken at home.
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Is the Long Reign of UNC Women’s Soccer Over?
A parade of players left this year, and the university investigated a coach. Some athletes say those are just two signs of trouble in Anson Dorrance’s famed program.
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