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4/11/2025 10:46:32 PM

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Section 21: Firearms: Law/Politics/Society
Subject: Suppressors and Hearing Protection Msg# 1223539

From:

Allan Tarvid

Joined 10/5/2000

To:

Mark Freburg (Read) Forum Manager

Joined 4/3/2000

I was issued the same ear plugs and still have them. Mine are white in color and the largest they had in size. I still have the green plastic twist-open container they came in. We wore them on the flightline with Mickey Mouse headsets over them. They worked pretty well as long as you didn't have to remove them or there weren't too many aircraft in close proximity. My B-52 wing deployed to Guam joining two other wings already there in the winter of 1966. 12-hour missions started launching before daylight and it took about an hour to get all of the planes up. Trucks from the various field maintenance shops ran up and down the lines of bombers fixing problems as they worked their way to the end of the runway. Each B-52 had 8 engines and the rising and falling scream from them was literally deafening as they ambled down the taxiways to the end of the runway. When your truck got to an aircraft reporting a problem you had to remove your hearing protection and put on a headset plugged into the plane to talk to the pilot. During all this, planes were lined up as far as you could see in front of you and behind you, and one was taking off nearby every minute or so. On takeoff, the engines were at full throttle with water injection added that contributed a definitive crackle to the roar.

For reference, the above message is a reply to a message where:
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.

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