Former war commander fighting for funds to combat brain injuries.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Soldier Health

More than 244,000 U.S. troops have been diagnosed with some form of brain injury over the past 12 years, according to Pentagon statistics.

They are the most common injuries among combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet little is known about how to treat these wounds or cure the illnesses that result from them, says Peter Chiarelli, retired four-star general and former vice chief of the Army.

For a nation that takes pride in taking care of its wounded soldiers, he laments, it is a shame that the so-called invisible wounds of war get so little attention.

Chiarelli is now the CEO of a nonprofit organization, One Mind for Research, that is hoping to accomplish what the entire civilian and military medical communities have not: Find effective treatments and cures for traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress.

One Mind for Research is seeking to raise $100 million so it can begin enrolling up to 5,000 patients for a two-year study. Chiarelli, who was tapped for the job because of his relentless advocacy for TBI research when he was vice chief of the Army, splits his time between his home in Seattle and his office in the other Washington, where he is honing fundraising efforts on wealthy defense contractors.

He is convinced that private funding can propel research faster than government programs. "Government is too slow," he says in an interview. And even if Congress appropriated $100 million, it would end up dividing up the pie into many pieces in order to satisfy multiple constituencies, which would dilute its benefits, he said.

Private philanthropy is a cutthroat business these days, with hundreds of nonprofits competing for shrinking pools of corporate donations.

Chiarelli believes that he has a. strong case to make for why the nation's top corporations--and especially Pentagon contractors--should step up and provide the bulk of the $100 million he needs to get this project moving. Suppliers of military equipment are "one of the groups that I think should help us," says Chiarelli. "I'm not saying they are responsible" for troops being injured, he adds. "However, many of them made a heck of a lot of money over the past 10 years ... and have a moral obligation to assist these soldiers and make sure we do everything we can to take care of them."

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A hundred million dollars is a lot of money by most standards, but Chiarelli knows first hand what the Army spent on war equipment over the past decade, which is...