Combat Veterans, a question

[warthog]

Again, Thank you for what you all did so I could be free.

I wanted to serve in the Armed Forces but I had some problems, poor eye sight and Hep C. They told me no because the blood has to be good to transfuse in emergencies plus my peepers were really bad, legally blind w/o my glasses but 20-10 with them. I wanted to be in theNavy once I knew I couldn't be a pilot. Even with really good ASVAB tests they said no. I still wanted to serve my country though so I joined the Peace Corps and served two hitches.

Again, thank you all for your time and energy, I hope one day they can cure your hearing troubles. Had tinnitus after I was in afire and explosion at work once but it cleared up in time. I worked at Kraft Foods in the non-dairy creamer department and so idiot didn't want to go outside in the cold to smoke. Dust can really go boom!

 

[johntheplinker]

Tanks...M60's run at 186db inside just driving down the road. I fired about 2000 rounds from the 105 before switching to the AF and jet noise. There's only so much you can do even with hearing protection. The tinnitus just keeps on ringing.

They's some noisey bastiges, weren't they? Even sitting still at idle they were loud, and that damn hydraulic accumulator squeal. I used to wear ear plugs under my CVC, helped some but still have some hearing loss.

 

[BE Mike]

As a chopper driver, I always used ear plugs and the helmet headsets helped a lot. The only weapon I fired in combat was the little mini-gun. My hearing is still pretty good. A lot of vets I know and police firearms instructors have little hearing left. I also have heard that gunshot noise impacts the facial bones and is transferred to the inner ear and contributes to hearing loss, but I'm not sure that it does and if so, to what extent.

 

[GIJEW]

Like everybody else here:
You don't have a time-out to put in hearing protection
You have more important things for your mind to focus on, so you kind of ignore the noise
As for high explosives, maybe they shock your ears into briefly not functioning? I recall small arms as just seeming muted but incoming artillery...after the riiip I would only hear a loud 'crack'. Somebody else heard the 'boom'.

Tinnitus is kind of like road noise while living next to the highway, I mostly notice it when it gets quiet. My hearing loss isn't too bad. I don't notice it much until I try to follow a conversation in a noisy place or my son gets in the car and says "Dad turn the radio down!"

I'm sure I'm speaking for the rest of you in saying that seeing brothers lose much more, or everything, that some hearing loss isn't a big deal. It wasn't all about me and I'd go back and do it all over.

 

[Thor]

They's some noisey bastiges, weren't they? Even sitting still at idle they were loud, and that damn hydraulic accumulator squeal. I used to wear ear plugs under my CVC, helped some but still have some hearing loss.

Why yes they were, loved them though. Of course I volunteered for every killing class available to avoid motor pool time. I'm sure the sniper and tunnel rat and M60 gunner courses did wonders for my hearing. There was an Aldo Nova song, Life is just a fantasy IIRC that had an intro that I think was supposed to sound like a helo coming in. There was a high pitched trill like the accumulator squeal that made it always sound like a tank rolling in swinging it's turret to me. Nothing like the sound of a 3000psi high flow hydraulic pump making a 13 ton turret dance. Speaking of hearing loss; I was on a firing line that went hot unexpectedly (for me) once...

 

[Thor]

my son gets in the car and says "Dad turn the radio down!"

I'm sure I'm speaking for the rest of you in saying that seeing brothers lose much more, or everything, that some hearing loss isn't a big deal. It wasn't all about me and I'd go back and do it all over.

A: Tell him he's too old.

B: Yeah, asking for quieter guns to win a battle is kind of like asking for a slower car to win the race. There are prices to pay for every victory. Then again we are working on directed energy weapons...though I expect any amount of violence is going to be associated with a commensurate explosion of some kind.

 

[deo62]

Aldo Nova, wow, haven't heard that in awhile. Thought I was the only one ever listened to that

 

[TheARfan]

Thank you all for your service!

 

[davedolli]

Thank you all for your service!

Thanks for your support!

Dave

 

[rooster]

and now I am acutely aware of my tinnitus again, Never really goes away but it does help to stop thinking about it.

 

[aztec777]

While on foot we just dealt with it. While on the Abrams we had hearing protection built into the comm. helmets. I'm still holding up okay for my age (49). VERY slight tinnitus, but no hearing loss.

 

[actaeon277]

Not a combat vet.
But, hearing protection next to a Fairbanks-Morse was mostly limited to a "Hearing Protection Required" sign.

And, our Kapok floation vests, sank.

 

[amboy49]

As an 81mm mortar gunner (11C) I didn't have it as bad as many of my friends who were 11Boo and got stuck carrying an M60. Regardless, as others have said, tinnitus is a *****. If you haven't experienced, it can't be explained. Just try to think of 10,000 crickets sounding off all at once right next to your ear(s) !

 

[daddyusmaximus]

I'm not gonna add anything new to the conversation, but Here goes...

Nothing you can do. You need to hear the quiet stuff, so you just have to put up with the noisy stuff. Then you go home with ringing ears and poor hearing and spend the rest of your days with the TV up loud getting your wife to tell you to go to the VA and get hearing aids.

 

[CMB69]

I'm not gonna add anything new to the conversation, but Here goes...

Nothing you can do. You need to hear the quiet stuff, so you just have to put up with the noisy stuff. Then you go home with ringing ears and poor hearing and spend the rest of your days with the TV up loud getting your wife to tell you to go to the VA and get hearing aids.

Yep, and now I have the hearing aids and the disability.

 

[Excalibur]

There is a reason why they are pushing to get everyone suppressors for combat

 

[Bsj425]

early on there was nothing you could do, later most of the squad had electronic peltors which helped A LOT.

 

[halfmileharry]

There is a reason why they are pushing to get everyone suppressors for combat

That may help a little on the range and in a rifle squad but there's a lot of noise makers in the military arsenals.

 

[grunt soldier]

My soldiers always told me the only thing they could hear in a firefight besides the gun shots and explosions was me yelling at them lol. I have tinnitus almost constantly. it's very annoying at night. Use a loud fan to help mask it. About half way through my time in afghanistan as an Infantry squad leader they started issuing us the surefire ear pro saying we could still hear the small stuff and it would block out the loud. That wasn't really the case and nobody wore them for that reason. But in Iraq before that it was never even a thought. I did run the foam plugs at night in Iraq so I could some what sleep as we lived right next door to the big counter mortar guns.

 

[Excalibur]

That may help a little on the range and in a rifle squad but there's a lot of noise makers in the military arsenals.

Of course, it would protect them from noise of everything else, but every little bit help.