NY Times: Rescue Boat Crews Show Signs of Brain Injuries
But the Coast Guard Isn't Looking
Here’s another gift from the New York Times. We have started sharing stories as gifts from our Times account. Most readers reported being able to access the stories. This one was first published on July 30, 2026.
By DAVE PHILIPPS
Brett Bonner saved hundreds of lives during 21 years on rescue boats in the Coast Guard. When he died, his teenage daughter Kayleigh wondered why he couldn’t save his own.
He was a big, gregarious man who seemed able to handle anything. But as Kayleigh grew up, she watched him slowly fall apart. First came headaches. Then sleeplessness. His memory frayed and his moods turned raw.
When he retired from the Coast Guard at age 40 in 2022, things only grew worse. He would rant and scream. One afternoon he dropped her grandfather with one punch. In the months after, he started setting things on fire.
On a winter evening in 2025, with a pile of Coast Guard files burning on the living room floor, he walked out the front door and shot himself dead.
Kayleigh, her mother, her younger sister and her two little brothers all saw it happen.
He left no note. He offered no explanation. His unraveling left his family so perplexed about how to sum up his life that they buried him without a headstone.
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Wait until you read about what happens to artillery crews. That constant shockwave does alot of damage to a human.
CTE / TBI is no joke and has been devastating inside the special operations community that I came out of after medically retiring in 2018 for TBI. It’s a long road, focus on Christ Jesus, natural healing through plant based medicine and herbs, chiropractor that can do cranial adjustments, an environment that encourages healing (another reason I farm in the country). Find a follow on mission & purpose. And live for those who bled out on the battlefield.