message board home
Next
4/11/2025 4:27:43 PM
 
Reply
or ReplyNewSubject
Section 21: Firearms: Law/Politics/Society Subject: Suppressors and Hearing Protection Msg# 1223526
|
||||||
|
Your military experience echoes my father's, because they had nothing in his day--not even rather useless cotton batting. I believe he told me that became available late in his career, nearing his retirement (he served from about 1950 until 1968, between his active duty, reserve, and National Guard duty). His hearing suffered immensely, too. He not only was infantry for most of his career but switched to armor for his last few years in the National Guard, so I suspect his experience was not dissimilar to yours. I sympathize with all you who served before real hearing protection became a thing.
And you're right about the military now. Even by my time in the 70s, we were issued ear plugs. They were flexible rubber, but a type with baffles in them, and I always felt they worked better than even the foam crap often sold today. The Air Force at least even "fitted" the plugs to the airman--a bit casually perhaps, but nonetheless, one didn't end up shoving a plug the diameter of either a pencil lead nor a trash can into his medium-sized ear canal. I do have to suspect the military has kept up on this and if anything is even more progressive in this regard, but I have no current information. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
For reference, the above message is a reply to a message where: I think it's legitimate. When I was in Basic, we shot M1s with no ear protection, although there was a roll of cotton batting to stuff your ears if you were sissy enough to ask for it. In tank training, we did use the cotton for firing the 90mm gun and machine guns but it was woefully inadequate. When I hired into GM a few years later, a hearing evaluation was part of the process and I was discovered to already be down 40dB in my right ear! Was that due to the unprotected shooting? I have to think so. I think, but don't know, that today's military is much more concerned with protecting the ears of its troops. Does anyone here really know what current policies are in this regard? Stu |
