The National Guard declined to comment on the specifics of Bill "Big Sarge" Hansen's case and allegations but offered a statement defending its overall record of researching and treating traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress:
“The Surgeon of the Army National Guard considers the health and welfare of its 300,000+ members, and their families, the highest priority and works diligently to educate, train, treat and track the health of the Force. IEDs and RPGs are the signature weapons of this War. Service members involved in IED/RPG attacks sustain not only visible physical injuries from the blast but also invisible injuries such as concussion/mild traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress. Army Medicine has a comprehensive TBI treatment system at our hospitals worldwide to include multiple Concussion Care Centers in Theater that have a 98% return to duty rate. Military medicine leads advances in medical practice and manages the world's largest TBI research portfolio, and has invested over $710M to advance TBI diagnostics and treatment. Coupled with the increased efforts in Army Medicine towards concussion/mild TBI and PTSD, the Army National Guard has partnered to ensure our comprehensive medical case management processing system, along with Directors of Psychological Health, are utilized to assess and direct our Guardsman to the care and treatment best suited for each member.This research, awareness, and clinical partnerships continue to help the military better understand how to prevent, detect, and treat TBIs and PTSD."