II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2730 

To establish or integrate an online significant event tracker (SET) system 

for tracking, reporting, and summarizing exposures of members of the 

Armed Forces, including members of the reserve components thereof, 

to traumatic events, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2014 

Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. BLUNT) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To establish or integrate an online significant event tracker 

(SET) system for tracking, reporting, and summarizing 

exposures of members of the Armed Forces, including 

members of the reserve components thereof, to traumatic 

events, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mental Health Expo5 sure Military Official Record Act of 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to implement a significant 

3 event tracker (SET) system to train and enable members 

4 of the Armed Forces, including members of the reserve 

5 components thereof, to track exposures to traumatic 

6 events and address mental health issues during and after 

7 service. 

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) UNIT COMMANDER DEFINED.—The term 

11 ‘‘unit commander’’ means the first individual in the 

12 chain of command with authority over the member 

13 concerned under the Uniform Code of Military Jus14 tice. 

15 (2) REPORTABLE EVENT.—The term ‘‘report16 able event’’ includes— 

17 (A) a kinetic combat patrol; 

18 (B) witnessed loss of life, dismemberment, 

19 or significant physical injury in a combat oper20 ation, expeditionary operation, or peacetime 

21 regular training; 

22 (C) an injury or exposure that may con23 stitute a traumatic brain injury (TBI), includ24 ing a concussive or mechanical event involving 

25 the head that occurs in a combat operation, exVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:28 Aug 13, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2730.IS S2730

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1 peditionary operation, or peacetime regular 

2 training; 

3 (D) victimization or witnessing of a sexual 

4 assault; and 

5 (E) any other event determined by the Sec6 retary of Defense to be potentially traumatic to 

7 an affected individual. 

8 (3) RESERVE COMPONENT.—The term ‘‘reserve 

9 component’’ means a reserve component of the 

10 Armed Forces named in section 10101 of title 10, 

11 United States Code. 

12 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT TO IMPLEMENT SET SYSTEM. 

13 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe 

15 regulations to implement the significant event tracker sys16 tem described under section 5 (in this Act referred to as 

17 the ‘‘SET system’’). 

18 SEC. 5. SIGNIFICANT EVENT TRACKER (SET) SYSTEM. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Defense 

20 shall establish a SET system to track, report, and summa21 rize individual exposures to traumatic events for the pur22 pose of enabling former members of the Armed Forces, 

23 including members of the reserve components thereof, to 

24 show evidence of possible traumatic events incurred during 

25 their service. 


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1 (b) RECORDING OF EVENTS.— 

2 (1) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

3 (A) UNIT COMMANDERS.—A unit com4 mander may enter reportable events that affect 

5 the entire unit and its members or delegate to 

6 a leader of a subunit of the unit commander’s 

7 command the entry of reportable events affect8 ing the subunit. 

9 (B) INDIVIDUAL REPORTING.—A unit com10 mander may choose to delegate event reporting 

11 to the individual members of units who are em12 ployed as short-term, temporary (less than 30 

13 days) detachments and individual augments 

14 which, by the nature of their mission, preclude 

15 the persistent inclusion in one common review16 ing unit. The delegation may be until a pre17 determined date such as the end of a deploy18 ment or on a 30-day basis, as determined by 

19 the unit commander. 

20 (C) MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILITY.—A 

21 medical treatment facility may directly enter a 

22 reportable event affecting a member of the 

23 Armed Forces undergoing treatment at such fa24 cility for an injury identified by a military medVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:28 Aug 13, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2730.IS S2730

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1 ical personnel or as reported by a member of 

2 the Armed Forces to such an individual. 

3 (D) MILITARY LAW ENFORCEMENT.—Mili4 tary law enforcement may directly enter a re5 portable event involving victimization or wit6 nessing of a sexual assault. 

7 (E) REPORTING OF OUTSIDE INCI8 DENTS.—The Secretary of Defense shall issue 

9 guidance regarding the entry of reportable 

10 events involving members of the Armed Forces 

11 that occur while in duty status outside of mili12 tary installations and are initially reported to 

13 local non-military law enforcement or non-mili14 tary medical treatment facilities. 

15 (F) REPORTING OF PREVIOUS INCIDENTS

16 FOR CURRENTLY SERVING SERVICEMEMBERS.— 

17 The Secretary of Defense shall issue guidance 

18 regarding the potential entry of past reportable 

19 events involving currently serving members of 

20 the Armed Forces that occurred earlier in their 

21 career. 

22 (2) INCLUDED INFORMATION.—Each entry for 

23 a reportable event shall include the following infor24 mation: 

25 (A) Name, date, location, and unit. 


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1 (B) Duty status. 

2 (C) Type of event. 

3 (D) Whether a physical injury was sus4 tained as a result, and if so, the extent of such 

5 injury. 

6 (E) Other information as required by the 

7 Secretary of Defense. 

8 (c) VERIFICATION OF EVENTS.— 

9 (1) EVENTS REPORTED BY INDIVIDUALS.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—A reportable event en11 tered by an individual member under subsection 

12 (b)(1)(B) shall be reviewed by the unit com13 mander for purposes of verifying, contesting, or 

14 denying the event. 

15 (B) VERIFICATION TOOLS.—In reviewing 

16 reportable events under subparagraph (A), the 

17 unit commander shall use all available 

18 verification tools, including Department of De19 fense reports, unit logs, reports from creditable 

20 witnesses such as patrol leaders, and any other 

21 evidence deemed appropriate by the unit com22 mander. 

23 (C) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary of Defense 

24 shall issue guidance designed to ensure that en25 tries submitted to a unit commander for review 


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1 are handled accurately with discretion and in a 

2 timely fashion while recognizing the challenges 

3 posed by operational tempo and competing time 

4 demands. 

5 (2) EVENTS REPORTED BY THE UNIT COM6 MANDERS OR DELEGATES.—Reportable events en7 tered by a unit commander or delegate under sub8 section (b)(1)(A), other than reportable events in9 volving victimization or witnessing of a sexual as10 sault, shall be submitted directly to the respective 

11 unit’s commanding officer for review under sub12 section (d). Reportable events involving victimization 

13 or witnessing of a sexual assault shall be submitted 

14 directly to the secure central tracking database 

15 under subsection (e). 

16 (3) EVENTS REPORTED BY MEDICAL TREAT17 MENT FACILITIES.—Reportable events entered by 

18 medical treatment facilities under subsection 

19 (b)(1)(C) shall be submitted directly to the secure 

20 central tracking database under subsection (e). 

21 (4) EVENTS REPORTED BY MILITARY LAW EN22 FORCEMENT.—Reportable events entered by military 

23 law enforcement under subsection (b)(1)(D) shall be 

24 submitted directly to the secure central tracking 

25 database under subsection (e). 


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1 (d) COMMAND REVIEW.— 

2 (1) AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITY.—The 

3 commanding officer shall have responsibility for re4 viewing and determining the disposition of a report5 able event involving the member submitted pursuant 

6 to paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (c), other than 

7 a reportable event involving victimization or wit8 nessing of a sexual assault, and submitting the event 

9 and such determination to the secure central track10 ing database under subsection (e). 

11 (2) DISPOSITION.—The commanding officer 

12 shall, in accordance with guidance issued by the Sec13 retary of Defense, assign to each such reportable 

14 event one of the following designations: 

15 (A) Approved, in the case of clear docu16 mentation and verification of the facts and the 

17 individual’s exposure. 

18 (B) Approved/Contested, in the case of 

19 clear documentation and verification of the oc20 currence of the event, but where the com21 manding officer has reasonable doubt for ap22 proval of the reportable event. 

23 (C) Denied/Contested, in the case of ques24 tionable documentation or verification, but 


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1 where the commanding officer has reasonable 

2 doubt for denial of the reportable event. 

3 (D) Denied, in the case of no clear evi4 dence of the facts or the member’s exposure. 

5 (3) NON-REMOVAL OF DESIGNATION.—Each re6 portable entry reviewed under this subsection shall 

7 be entered into the secure central tracking database 

8 and may not be removed or deleted, regardless of 

9 designation. 

10 (e) SECURE CENTRAL TRACKING DATABASE.— 

11 (1) STORAGE OF INFORMATION.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—All reportable events 

13 shall be submitted to a secure central tracking 

14 database, either indirectly pursuant to sub15 section (d), or directly pursuant to paragraph 

16 (3) or (4) of subsection (c) or, in the case of 

17 a reportable event involving victimization or 

18 witnessing of a sexual assault, paragraph (2) of 

19 subsection (c). The database shall serve as the 

20 central repository for all reportable events relat21 ing to a member of the Armed Forces, includ22 ing for purposes of preparing the member’s offi23 cial SET record upon separation from service. 

24 (B) TREATMENT OF INFORMATION.— 


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1 (i) CLASSIFIED AND SENSITIVE OPER2 ATIONS.—The secure central tracking 

3 database shall include measures to ensure 

4 that information related to classified and 

5 sensitive operations is coded so as to docu6 ment the event without violating oper7 ational security concerns. 

8 (ii) SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES.—The 

9 secure central tracking database shall in10 clude measures to ensure that information 

11 related to sexual assault cases in the se12 cure central tracking database is coded in 

13 order to protect privacy and to correctly 

14 reflect the status, and protect the integrity, 

15 of ongoing investigations. 

16 (iii) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INDI17 VIDUAL RECORDS.—An individual mem18 ber’s complete SET record and individual 

19 entries may not be reviewed by the mem20 ber’s unit commander or the chain of com21 mand, and may not be used by anyone for 

22 the purpose of evaluating promotion, reen23 listment, or assignment issues. 

24 (C) USE BY MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILI25 TIES.—Medical treatment facilities shall be proVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:28 Aug 13, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2730.IS S2730

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1 vided access to the secure central tracking data2 base for purposes of entering reportable events 

3 under subsection (b)(1)(C) and consulting for 

4 diagnoses. 

5 (D) USE BY MILITARY LAW ENFORCEMENT

6 AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE SERVICES.— 

7 Military law enforcement and criminal inves8 tigative services shall be provided general access 

9 to the secure central tracking database for pur10 poses of entering reportable events under sec11 tion (b)(1)(D) and to a limited summary for 

12 purposes of diagnosing patterns and trends re13 lated to crimes committed inside their jurisdic14 tion. The summary shall not include specific in15 formation about events, evidence, or individual 

16 members, including private personal informa17 tion such as names and social security numbers. 

18 (E) ACCESS TO INDIVIDUAL RECORDS FOR

19 PURPOSES OF MILITARY AND NON-MILITARY

20 DISCIPLINARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.— 

21 (i) IN GENERAL.—An individual mem22 ber’s complete SET record and individual 

23 entries may, with the explicit consent of 

24 the member, be reviewed, evaluated, and 

25 shared with— 


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1 (I) in the case of a military dis2 ciplinary or judicial hearing or pro3 ceeding, the member’s military and ci4 vilian legal representative or rep5 resentatives, unit commander, or mili6 tary judge for the purpose of address7 ing concerns related to such hearing 

8 or proceeding; and 

9 (II) in the case of a non-military 

10 disciplinary or judicial hearing or pro11 ceeding, the member’s civilian legal 

12 representative or representatives for 

13 the purpose of addressing concerns re14 lated to such hearing or proceeding. 

15 (ii) ACCESS IN CASES OF MENTAL IN16 CAPACITY.—The Secretary of Defense shall 

17 provide guidance for questions related to 

18 the accessing a servicemember’s SET 

19 record for servicemembers who have been 

20 determined to be mentally incapable and 

21 thus are unable to provide their own con22 sent or objection to the release of personal 

23 information. 

24 (F) UNIT COMMANDER REVIEW.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

2 in clause (ii), unit commanders may only 

3 view individual pending entries that have 

4 been submitted to them for review and des5 ignation, and may not view previous en6 tries that have already been reviewed and 

7 designated. 

8 (ii) ADMINISTRATIVE ACCESS.—Unit 

9 commanders may only access entries that 

10 have already been reviewed, designated, 

11 and entered into the secure central data12 base by that individual commander in 

13 order to correct roster entries for subunits, 

14 provide additional post-incident docu15 mentation, or take such other administra16 tive actions as may be determined appro17 priate by the Secretary of Defense. In no 

18 instance may such access permit the re19 moval of any entry, regardless of designa20 tion. 

21 (G) STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND EVALUA22 TION OF UNIT COMMANDERS.— 

23 (i) INFORMATION SHARING.—The Sec24 retary of Defense shall issue guidance gov25 erning the sharing of SET entry statistics 


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1 among unit commands and other Depart2 ment of Defense individuals, offices, activi3 ties, and agencies for purposes of ana4 lyzing the number and types of entries 

5 generated over time. Information so shared 

6 may not include specific information about 

7 events, evidence, or individual members, in8 cluding private personal information such 

9 as names and social security numbers. 

10 (ii) EVALUATION ON UNIT COM11 MANDERS.—Unit commanders may not be 

12 evaluated by their superiors for the num13 ber and types of entries generated by their 

14 command, but may be evaluated by their 

15 superior officer in the chain of command 

16 for the speed and accuracy of their entries, 

17 and the review of their entries. 

18 (H) ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS ON AC19 CESS.—No non-Department of Defense agen20 cies, organizations, or individuals, such as vet21 erans’ service organizations, local law enforce22 ment, judicial courts, or civilian medical treat23 ment facilities, shall be granted access to the 

24 secure central tracking database. Department 

25 of Defense medical officers may only review an 


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1 individual member’s entire SET record for the 

2 medical purposes set forth in subsection 

3 (e)(2)(A) and such other purposes as may be 

4 determined appropriate by the Secretary of De5 fense. 

6 (2) DISTRIBUTION AND CONTROL.— 

7 (A) PRE-DISCHARGE.— 

8 (i) MEDICAL RETIREMENTS.—In the 

9 case of a member of the Armed Services 

10 preparing for medical retirement due to in11 jury or other conditions, the official SET 

12 record shall be provided to and used by the 

13 Medical Evaluation Board or Physical 

14 Evaluation Board. 

15 (ii) NON-MEDICAL DISCHARGES AND

16 RETIREMENTS.—In the case of a member 

17 of the Armed Services preparing for a non18 medical discharge or retirement, the offi19 cial SET record shall be reviewed by the 

20 medical officer of the member’s parent unit 

21 and serve as the basis for any follow-on ac22 tions as determined by the medical officer. 

23 (iii) BENEFITS DELIVERY AT DIS24 CHARGE CLAIMS.—In the case of a member 

25 of the Armed Services initiating a Benefits 


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1 Delivery at Discharge (BDD) claim, the 

2 BDD Specialist shall be provided with the 

3 official SET record in order to file a fully 

4 developed claim for the member. 

5 (B) UPON DISCHARGE.—Upon a member’s 

6 separation from service in the Armed Forces, 

7 including a member of a reserve component 

8 thereof, copies of the member’s official SET 

9 record, including a compilation of all reported 

10 events and a summary prepared by an author11 izing agent with cleared access to the secure 

12 central tracking database, shall be distributed 

13 in accordance with the procedures of the mili14 tary service in which the individual served, in15 cluding copies to the following recipients: 

16 (i) The separating member. 

17 (ii) The separating member’s Service 

18 Personnel and Medical File, or other rel19 evant record as determined under the Sec20 retary of Defense’s guidance. 

21 (iii) The Department of Veterans Af22 fairs, and if specifically designated by the 

23 member, the veteran affairs agency of the 

24 State that is the separating member’s rel25 evant home of record or intended new resiVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:28 Aug 13, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2730.IS S2730

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1 dence and such other veterans service or2 ganization as may be designated by the 

3 member. 

4 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 There are authorized to be appropriated out of funds 

6 available to the Department of Defense such sums as may 

7 be necessary for fiscal year 2015 and fiscal years there8 after to carry out activities under this Act. 

9 SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

10 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as limiting the 

11 ability of current and former members of the Armed 

12 Forces to provide documentation other than the SET 

13 record, including handwritten statements, for purposes of 

14 appealing, documenting, or presenting evidence related to 

15 post traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury 

16 claims. 

Æ 


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