About 97 percent of Soldiers have completed the Neurocognitive Assessment Tool baseline test. The Army is using the data to monitor blast-related brain health and is preparing a servicewide overpressure directive that includes exposure tracking and cognitive monitoring.
The NCAT is mandatory for certain high-risk career fields at entry, pre-deployment, post-injury, annually for high-risk specialties, and every three years for all Soldiers.
The Army will publish a servicewide overpressure program that includes hazard and risk assessment, exposure tracking, risk mitigation, cognitive monitoring, reporting, and training.
# What happened
About 97 percent of Soldiers have completed the Neurocognitive Assessment Tool (NCAT) baseline assessment, the Army's lead official for safety and occupational health said. The NCAT program began in 2024 for active-duty Soldiers, the National Guard, and the Army Reserve.
# Who is required to test
Soldiers in career fields identified as high risk for blast overpressure exposure must take the NCAT at entry, before deployment, and after any injury or suspected concussion. Those high-risk specialties include personnel who operate heavy weapons systems such as field artillery, combat engineers, and explosive ordnance disposal technicians.
Soldiers in high-risk military occupational specialties. All Soldiers must complete the NCAT at least once every three years.
# Why the Army is doing this
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment Jordan Gillis, who also serves as the Army's Designated Agency Safety and Health Official (DASHO), framed the NCAT as part of the Army's effort to manage cognitive health and medical readiness. Gillis said the assessment "demonstrates our commitment to cognitive safety, medical readiness and warfighting capability." He took the NCAT himself at the Pentagon Special Missions Auxiliary Clinic on Sept. 18.
# What the broader program will include
Army will publish as a servicewide directive. Gillis described the program's core tenets as:
The Army has identified blast overpressure and low-level blast exposure as critical occupational safety and health hazards that "affect everyone differently," and the new directive aims to provide consistent processes across the force.
# Leadership context and credibility
# What this means for Soldiers and units
Units identified with higher blast exposure will face more frequent cognitive testing and more rigorous tracking of exposures. The baseline data allow medical teams to compare later test results to a Soldier's own standard rather than to population norms, improving the ability to detect subtle changes after blast incidents or repeated low-level exposures.
# What to watch next
Look for the Army's formal overpressure directive to be published. That directive should define reporting requirements, how exposure tracking will be implemented across units and training ranges, and how NCAT results will feed into medical decisions and mitigation measures.
The Army's next steps will determine how blast events are logged, how cumulative exposure is quantified for treatment decisions, and how training or equipment changes may reduce risk in high-exposure specialties.
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