Just curious: ear protection in the military?

[0reo]

I'm sitting here watching a military channel program that piqued a question, just out of curiosity.

Do soldiers engaged in combat wear ear-pro? What kind? I mean, bad enough shooting indoors but add in use of explosives, the need to communicate, and anything else... just makes me wonder. I can't imagine not having ear-pro in that environment but it would have to be pretty good active electronic muffs or something.

Sorry if this is the wrong section. I don't have access to the general forum yet.

[Shokr21]

During my tour in Afghanistan I was on top of a M-ATV in the turret with either my m2 in the main mount with a 240b in a swing mount we fab'd up, or the mk19 with the 240b in the swing mount.

The only earpro I used were the Bose (spelling not sure, the popular stereo equip company) headset with microphone. These were hooked up to our Vix system that allowed us to talk to each other in the vehicle and by flipping a toggle to the convoy or to higher depending on the freq selected.

It didn't provide much in the way of hearing protection, but my ears typically did not ring after firing rounds.

I didn't do any dismount work, but the boys who did ran the same headset, hooked to a mobile Harris radio.

That is my experience and knowledge on the use of earpro while overseas.

[Deuce]

Earpro is issued. Most often it's either the ribbed plug type or the foam plugs. That doesn't mean they're in when lead starts flying. Being on the ground you need to be able to pick up audible cues and these muffle those out.

In Iraq we also used the Bose headsets when doing mounted ops but not dismounted. Some nice ergonomic active hearing devices would be fantastic. Especially the type that amplify low freq sounds but stop high decibels.

There have been times I even shoved cigarette filters in as improvised earplugs. You do what you have to.


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[J8127]

Not a lot. All the vehicles have intercom headset systems that guys generally have on, guys with shit to do on a radio usually have Peltors or Liberators, but I never saw your standard rifleman with any kind of ear-pro in. They had plugs issued, but needed to be able to have a conversation more than they needed ear-pro.

[a0cake]

When Dismounted

There is an earpiece in my left ear for comms. Usually carry one that blocks noise that actually gets inserted into the ear canal and another that sits on the outside earbud style that is plastic and foam covered like a regular earbud. Even the best ear pieces take a shit on a fairly regular basis so it's good to have two. When you have rotary wing working in close proximity it's hell on comms, so for air assaults I'll generally use the rubber noise blocking ear piece. Otherwise I use the earbud for better SA.

On the right side I rig a regular earplug to my helmet with a piece of 550 gut and secure it with velcro. If the noise gets to be too much I put it in. But it's out until needed.

I've used Peltors and Liberators for comms but as much as I want to like them I just can't. Good ear pieces work just as well for my purposes and are not nearly as constricting.

When Mounted

I always wear a full noise canceling headset like the Bose ones that come with the VIC-3 system found in most modern military vehicles. You don't want to hit an IED with no ear protection. Not worth the risk.

[0reo]

Thanks for your replies & your service guys.

Sounds like ear-pro is a bit of an afterthought. There must be a lot of hearing loss as a result of military service. My grandfather is a ww2 & Korean war vet with almost total hearing loss due to a grenade that went off nearby. Must be pretty common even still.

[Frailer]

Thanks for your replies & your service guys.

Sounds like ear-pro is a bit of an afterthought. There must be a lot of hearing loss as a result of military service. My grandfather is a ww2 & Korean war vet with almost total hearing loss due to a grenade that went off nearby. Must be pretty common even still.

Most of us who made the military a career--even those with extensive door-kicking experience--probably suffered more hearing loss from peacetime training activities than combat.

[Wake27]

I've seen lots of photos of guys wearing Peltors, but they're almost all SOF...

[TehLlama]

Because of our job and certain equipment systems, we get TCI Liberator-II's for comms and other uses - they're good, but still underused for how valuable they should be.

Running PRC-153's limited options significantly, and unless you're job is something like the JTAC, running peltors or TCis on foot was a bit much.

[mkmckinley]

If they're smart they do. There are guys in their 30s in my company that are walking around with hearing aides. A lot of people will argue that ear pro hurts SA but with newer designs I haven't found this to be an issue. For walking around I like the Surefire ear plugs or the standard issue green and yellow ones work pretty good too. In one ear I'll run an ear bud for the radio. In Vehicles Peltors are the way to go.