Editorial: Protect grunts’ hearing

[unhappycamper]

Editorial: Protect grunts’ hearing

Ask anyone with significant hearing loss how they feel and they’ll probably ask you to repeat the question.

Such is the fate for thousands of former Marines who leave the service, many of them after just a few years, with some form of hearing damage. Hearing loss and chronic ringing in the ears, a condition known as tinnitus, were at the top of the list for new disability claims in 2005, with more than 80,000 cases added, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Hearing damage is the fastest growing disability, second overall only to musculoskeletal issues such as back pain and worn joints, according to VA data.

Ringing ears is the most common disability among Iraq and Afghanistan vets, and the cost of treating the condition for military vets is expected to exceed $1 billion each year by 2011.

Despite the obvious trends, most Marines spend more time washing their cars than worrying about their ears. Hearing damage creeps in slowly and builds over time, so warnings of the dangers often fall on, pun intended, deaf ears.

Kudos to the Marine Corps for taking the situation seriously, recently approving a contract to spend $27 million on new electronic earplugs for infantrymen. Designed to work in concert with the squad radio system, the new gizmo should alleviate some longstanding fears that protecting your hearing — by shutting out the world around you — means risking your life.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/community/opinion/marine_editorial_hearing_030308/