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Originally posted by sigfreund:

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Originally posted by Killer Instincts:
Still pretty deaf, actually. Weird.

Not weird at all, based on my experiences. I was not in the combat arms, but being inside a bunker with an M60 firing a few feet away and other incidents in the days when hearing protection was virtually unknown left me with strong tinnitus for the past 52 years and the deafness has increased markedly in the past 10 years or so. Hopefully that doesn’t happen to you.

Thanks to you and the other posters with real world experience for your observations—not to mention your service.

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Originally posted by Killer Instincts:
I was being facetious

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Originally posted by Killer Instincts:
I was being facetious - I am not at all surprised at my hearing loss. I'm actually surprised it's not worse, what with our trigger-happy M240L gunners. I was also immediately next to and in front of a SMAW-D (think AT-4) being fired, no ears of course. THAT sucked.

The benefits of not wearing ear pro far outweighed the concern of potential hearing loss. Gotta be able to hear. I would have loved to have suppressed weapons for that reason. The Group guys we rolled with had lots of suppressors (as did our scouts and snipers), but not us line infantry types.

My tinnitus is pretty rough as well. I feel for you there. I'm much more careful about wearing hearing protection these days, even though I shoot almost entirely suppressed.

I am grateful for having had the opportunity to serve. Thanks for yours! Also, I always enjoy reading your posts; they are invariably thought provoking and I frequently learn something. Cheers.

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Originally posted by 229DAK:
I'll with you on this one, Killer. I was artillery; 105mm and 155mm, all towed. I was religious about wearing those orange triple-flange ear plugs, but in hindsight, I think they did not work all that well. I have tinnitus 24/7 and it sucks. I would gladly give up that 10% disability to have this high-pitched whine go away.

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Originally posted by sigfreund:
Any comments on how loud the passing bullets are?

There is one YouTube video of someone measuring the sound levels of 5.56 bullets passing by about 25 yards from the meter. When the shots were fired with a suppressor or from far enough away (200 and 400 yards) that the discharge didn’t affect the readings, the measurements were all about 130 dB. That’s actually pretty loud. According to one chart I saw, that’s equivalent to a stock car race and louder than being at a loud concert. A balloon popping is above 120 dB, and with my devastated hearing I find that painful. Plus, 25 yards is a significant distance. What would it be at a couple of feet above a trench or other cover? On the other hand, that “zip” sound a couple of you describe doesn’t seem like too much.

Comments?

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Originally posted by IndianaBoy:
They snap overhead. Similar noise to a firecracker.