The camera zooms in on one of the cadavers. As the energy of the blast moves to the seat pan, the dead man’s pelvis rises, shortening his torso and expanding his paunch. Underbody blast can compress a seated soldier’s spine by as much as two inches.

Played at this speed, there’s grace and beauty to the limbs’ extensions, nothing brutish or violent. In real time, the forces that move the limbs pass too quickly for the tissue to accommodate. Muscles strain, ligaments tear, bones may break.

Imagine pulling apart a wad of Silly Putty. Pull slowly, and it will stretch across the room. Yank it fast and it snaps in two. Likewise, different types of body tissue have different strain rates.

For the forces of any given blast, one type may stretch, say, a fifth of its length without tearing, while another may manage just 5 percent. WIAMan will be calibrated to reflect these differences and predict the consequences.

The long-term quality of a soldier or Marine’s life is a relatively new consideration. In the past, military decision makers concerned themselves more with go/no-go: Do the injuries keep a soldier from completing the mission?

WIAMan will answer that question, but it will answer others, too. Following a vehicle blast, is this soldier likely to have back pain for the rest of his life? Will she limp? Will his heel hurt so much that he’d rather lose the foot?

The answers may or may not affect the decisions that are made in the preparations for war, but at least they’ll be part of the equation for those inclined to do the math.