Why 200K+ Service Members And Veterans Are Suing 3M
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- Опубліковано 21 бер 2023
- Nathan Frei is one of more than 200,000 military servicemembers and veterans suing 3M claiming its Combat Arms CAEv2 earplugs failed to protect him from loud noises causing hearing loss and tinnitus.
Plaintiffs claim 3M earplugs were “defective” and failed to protect against hearing loss and tinnitus.
“We used [the earplugs] every time that we were around loud noises,” Frei, who lives in Seattle, told CNBC. “And I relied on that hearing protection during that time.”
From 2003 to 2015, Aearo Technologies and its parent company, 3M, manufactured and supplied the U.S. military with the Combat Arms CAEv2 earplugs. The plugs were standard issue for soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq and were designed to protect service members’ hearing in military training and during combat.
Each earplug had two ends: The green end was designed to block out all sound. The yellow end, signaling “whisper mode,” purported to block out loud sound - but allowed the user to hear quieter noises, like conversations.
I don’t look like somebody who probably should have as much hearing loss as I do at my age.
“We were told that by wearing ‘whisper mode’ that we could still protect our hearing,” said Frei, who claims he first noticed issues with his hearing in 2013.
“I was hearing ringing,” Frei recalled. “At first, I thought it was a TV that was on. And so I searched and scoured the house looking for where the noise was coming from before I realized that it was just in my head.”
As the years passed, the 35-year-old said, his hearing issues got worse. Department of Veterans Affairs records shared by Frei with CNBC show he was later diagnosed with tinnitus.
“It’s constant,” he said. “It’s a loud ringing in my ears - very similar to just like a buzz noise.”
He said the ringing is so disruptive it occasionally keeps him awake.
“I don’t look like somebody who probably should have as much hearing loss as I do at my age,” he said.
Eric Rucker, an attorney for 3M, told CNBC the company has great respect for the men and women in the military and that their safety has always been a priority. Read the full story here: cnb.cx/3mSiAyc
Senior Producer: Chris DiLella
Reporter: Seema Mody
Editors: Diana Costantino, Nick Stantzos
Animations: Michael Schwartz
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Why 200K+ Service Members And Veterans Are Suing 3M
I remember them, I remember them failing while I was firing my M4, each round felt like a dagger in my ear. I remember the VA saying hearing loss wasn’t connected to my service. I still hear the ringing decades later.
Apply again, tinnitus and hearing loss are presumptive for many MOS.
Are guns really that loud it hurts that much?
@@Dwight_ You should find out for yourself!
@Dwight penny yes, yes they are.
@@Dwight_ Absolutely. I vividly remember a gunfight we were in and literally the first round that was fired from my team instantly shut my right ear off and it felt like someone stabbed my eardrum. I couldn’t hear out of that ear for 24 hours and couldn’t sleep that night because my right ear was ringing all night. Yes, it’s loud enough to hurt. 160db will do that.
Since the Department of Defense approved these ear plugs then shouldn't they be held accountable as well? If these ear plugs weren't up to standards then you would think they would reject them and had 3M go back to the drawing board. Perhaps 3M is the fall guy.
Exactly.
3m manipulated the testing to get the contract and approval.
Good luck trying a class action against the DOD. Of course they are the fall guy, gov always insulated against fault by using subcontractors. They approved the design, manufacture and use, they are silence about it, or at least CNBC smart enough not to interview them.
@@travisruble6873 DOD did the testing
100% but good luck suing hte government
i have tinnitus from loud exposure during my time in active duty. let me tell you something, this ringing in our ears is no joke, you litterly hear it 24/7 and its difficult to sleep or focus with quiet environment.
You were paid to jeopardize your health.
man up soldier
@@sabin97 you're over here changing the goal post from simple tinnitus to ACTUALLY killing people. WTF is wrong with you. 2 TOTALLY different Things my boy. Pull your head out of your ass
Use brown noise. I am a civilian. But I think I have it
@@Drunken_Master ...your welcome.
It's hard to rebuttal when she says "some of the most highly trained professionals in the world, so you're saying they don't know how to use earplugs?"
This guy's face, bruh....How do even handle this without imploding the company overnight...
Lol
They know how to use it, but if they choose not to use it who's fault is it? How can they prove they actually use them?
Everything the gov provides is from the lowest bidder aka military grade
they don't use the ear plug, and decided to sue the company for easy money lol
"Professionals"? What a joke 😂
I remember these. They were used for a few short years and then quickly dumped after soldiers kept complaining about still hearing loud noises. They were flimsy and often broke one side or the other. And the soft flanges could tear easily against your full battle rattle (Combat gear). We thought they were crap when we got them. And we thought they were still crap when they were taken away.
'Not service related; You must've blown out your eardrums listening to too much rock or something. Def not the thousands of gun shots and explosions' - VA
As a engineer I was given those ear plugs. We were constantly in loud engine rooms on the ships. Not to mention when doing grinding.
And then what?
@@TheBooban he cant hear you... ;)
@@TheBooban right!!! Kind of left out the more important portion.
@@powdermnky007 yo that’s crazy 😭😂
As the youngsters say… bruh…
This is the same company that poisoned the groundwater around Saint Paul, Minnesota with PFAS.
Basically is there's any chemical pollution on our planet there's a 90% chance it was Dupont or 3M.... lol
this company provides awesome safety products
I was alarmed when I first saw this lawsuit, as I'm a ramp agent working around running jet engines all day, and the 3M earplugs my company issued are similar to these. I thought the noise still sounded loud with them in, so I started Googling. When I saw first read about the lawsuit I immediately stopped wearing them and switched to over-the-ear hearing protection that I bought myself, also made by 3M. I'm glad I swapped in time to save my hearing, but it's devastating to hear that we sent the men and women who protect our country out into the battlefield, or even into training, with equipment that failed to protect them.
If you work in an environment that is that loud, you should wear the in ear ones and wear over the ear ones on top of the in ear ones. This will protect your hearing better then just one or the other.
In the ear foam is the best solution. Doubling up over the ear also helps. I’ve basically accepted based on current nrr ratings I’ll have some form of hearing loss by the time I retire.
Use disposable foam earplugs. Flange design earplugs are just subpar.
I do wear earbuds at work, with over ear muffs. I just try to keep up on my muffs by replacing the gel seal when I can. Or just replacing them with new ones. They do wear out/compress and lose their ability to reduce noise.
Good for them my old machine shop I use to work at stopped buying 3M plugs after people complained about losing their hearing.
Almost on a weekly basis I am reminded how thankful I am for never actually going through enrollment in the Air Force like I was going to do. So sorry to all the veterans and current service members who are dealing with things like this because our garbage government doesn’t take care of them.
Lol the Air Force
Made in USA lfmao
@Phillip Banes chair force
You wouldve had a blast in the air force
@Phillip Banes how old r u
I totally understand the pain. was m60 machine gunner in ROK army and have been hearing ringing in my right ear for the last 30 years. was not allowed to wear earplugs for communication with the assistant gunner while shooting.
Well, that sounds like the US govt. is at fault. Risk of hearing loss isn’t acceptable during peacetime.
@TheBooban I think he is from ROK army so the US goverment comment does not apply to him.
… so… you “didn’t wear your earplugs”… because you “weren’t allowed to”… so you “totally understand the service men suing 3M”..??
🧐 Sounds like 3M isn’t at fault here. Whoever told you not to wear the plugs is at fault. How do you justify suing a company for a defect when not even using their product? That’s like you suing your cars seatbelt manufacturer when you never even bucked up in the first place.
If you weren't allowed to use the earplugs, then how is it 3Ms fault
Go to the V.A. it's automatic 10% disability rating.
So I kinda disagree with this. I was in Field Artillery. It isn't an on off. It is a gradual scale. The yellow side was only good for noises like engine noise at the motor pool. Anything louder than that though and it is pretty easy to tell that you needed greater protection so you switch to the other side. If you can hear loud noises then you will be impacted. It doesn't matter what they advertise. You need to be your own judge. If a noise sounds too loud to you it probably is and your should switch sides or use a different ear plug. Even then safety gear only gives you better protection. It can't possibly prevent everything. Seat belts work great in crashes at 35mph and do pretty well at 55mph but at 75mph there is still a chance that just a seat belt isn't going to be enough.
That makes sens, but what they want is to make money of 3M so we all have to ignore logic to get rich doing nothing.
@Phillip Banes Yep the foamies were my earplug of choice. We had them everywhere and I always kept a box in my uniform in case. Again they may not have been perfect either and I am sure you probably had to double up with those AND earmuffs working around jets. And even then there is only so much that protective gear is able to protect you from. We wear body armor and expect that it won't protect us in every situation but that for the protection it does provide it is worth it. Same here.
He just need something to do! nothing is a 100% ...he call the news crew and they came running because they needed something to do 😂
So its false advertisement then
@@phillipbanes5484 stop shilling for corpo they won't be giving you a joh
People who have NEVER served in the military have no idea how difficult it is to get disability benefits from the VA. I literally saw a young man who would come to the clinic a young man who went to combat overseas nearly lost his life to an ied had his leg amputated the VA and the VA gave him $400 a month because he got an artificial limb they felt he could still function like normal. It was unbelievable
How would they even prove if they were fitted properly or not?
A human factors study.
exactly… well said. Personally if 90% of those 200k go to medical hearing test and pass it…sorry guys your mental health is wrong for hearing noises, not your hearing aparat
anyone can purchase these product, not use it, fire an AK-47 24/7, and later filed a false claim for money as a form of liability. False claim cases like these, as a result we don't get wonderful product.
in a case like this one it would be 'preponderance of evidence" meaning you don't need to fully prove it, just have suggestive evidence 51 percent in your favor not a 100 percent. so as long as the victims have 51 percent evidence in their favor they can win. it would be unfair they have to prove 100 as companies would get away with harming too many people too often.
3m should of atleast mention to all the military personelle it's not guaranteed to protect hearing just a measure to try to help out. but 3m sounded like they told everyone it guarantees hearing protection which common sense people know that most or all ear plugs don't do that. 3m was making way too bold statements initially. deceptive and fraudulent business practices.
@@dimsi1 Yeah because multinational corporations would never lie about anything especially when it benefits them financially right?
I was in the Army and used those earplugs. They worked great although they made my earwax build up like crazy. But pretty much no one else actually wore them.
3M paid you to say that?
Not the earplugs that worked. It is earwax that did the trick.
Paid by 3M
The soldiers would have to wear them 99% of the time, just 1 gunshot or explosion while not wearing them would give you tinnitus.
I've worked with power tools for 30 years, there's not a single brand of earplug that stops sound moving through your skull and vibrating the eardrum. If you join the military surely you expect to come home missing a leg or suffering PTSD or obviously dead.
Psssh my ears have been ringing my entire life.... Honestly he's 100% right. Constant ringing. Silence is THE LOUDEST sound I could hear. I cannot sleep without at least a fan and phone calls are getting difficult. It doesn't help I work on super loud equipment but I do wear ppe. Idk it is terrible and I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemies.... Edit - I didn't even know that its not normal to have ringing until I was like 14 and I mentioned it to someone and they said what are you talking about only my grandpa has that and I was like.... Uh oh..... 😅
You were destined to be in your prime at a grandparents age! Reincarnation?! Could be!
It's called tinnitus
Totally skipped over the emails discussing the revised model of the earplug. DoD asked for a smaller version, one that will fit into our earplug case on our uniform. 3M did, tested the CAV2 and found that it didn’t work and would back out of the ear. In 3M internal emails (whistle blower showed) they knew they failed test, but remained silent, telling no one that the shorter plugs failed to work, saying profits are to high, laughing in the emails.
Disgusting behavior!! 3M is a war profiteering corporate conglomerate.
If the DoD had a backbone, DoD (joint chiefs) would pull ALL 3M contacts to provide goods and services!! We do it all the time, small businesses outside the gate that take advantage of Joe, restricted business!!! 3M has met that standard, and their refusal to admit that soldiers were injured only serves to further prove the point “profits over ethics”!!!
Assume that it can be demonstrated that the ear plugs work within certain audio ranges. The question is if, during the use of weapons, the sound range was greater than the what the ear plugs are meant to be protect against. In other words, how do those who are suing know that it wasn’t the Army, say, that purposely misused the earplugs?
As a Navy veteran, the military keeps track of the sound levels that service members are exposed to and monitored our hearing quarterly. These specific ear plugs were designed and sold to the military to work within the sound ranges a service member is expected to encounter and prevent the level of hearing loss that service members are reporting. It wouldn’t be hard for any military branch to demonstrate that their equipment operates within acceptable levels in order to rule this out.
@@ChrisUnltdTV that's all nice and all, but as someone who works in loud environment I can attest that sometimes things get loud even thou no one is at that particular moment recording the noise levels, unless army conducts constant monitoring of sound for each soldier that statement is as good as army certifying those earplugs.
@@avandurion For some jobs the military does constantly monitor but thats not the point. The point is these specific ear buds were designed and rated for the extreme noise range encountered by soldiers. That is why the military bought the contract. 3Ms own tests have shown they that do not operate as advertised. Of course If you want to defend them in the court of law and think you have a case you’re free to do so
So the US Government and 3M are allegedly responsible. Servicemen and women obviously reported their hearing issues when they became known. The military allegedly failed to address the issue in a timely manner. As someone who has worn hundreds of foam ear plugs there are certain environments where I wore in the ear and over hearing protection.
@@ChrisUnltdTV If 3m knew the product doesn't work why did army buy them than?
I'm 31 years old today and I have tinnitus and hearing loss. I served from 2011 to 2019. I was in field artillery. I still have the earplugs. I wore them habitually and they used to slide out my ears all the time. I kept wearing them because they said they were part of our uniform.
If the plugs were sliding out they werent sealing properly. Did they gave out multiple sizes or one fits all?
@@kaeji_namitsua one size fits all supposedly
@@Paperroutemarco No wonder people got tinnitus. One size fits all cant work great on most people. People have widely different sized ear canals. 4 sizes are needed in order to accommodate great fit for everyone.
@@kaeji_namitsua I remember them all being the same size
I guess the earwax also makes it slippery.
How to use the earplug is the most important thing when someone uses it. High chance that they didn’t use it properly.
Yep, I wear 3M earplugs for better quality sleep and insertion is a two hand, 20 second operation (per ear).
@@phillipbanes5484 Reminder that the "McDonalds coffee lady" suffered third degree burns. One of the doctors treating her described her injuries "worst I have ever seen in my career."
Corporate lobbyists took this case, twisted basically everything about it. They attempted to convince public that frivolously suing corporation is too easy. Unfortunately they seem to have succeeded.
And even if it was genuine user error, 3M could still be at fault for not providing instruction on proper use.
@@Xazamas And people like Phillip are falling for it. If the case was truly a farce then nobody would have won it. Courts generally rule in corporations favor
How about if we get that 3M lawyer and CEO to stand next to a Howitzer firing off a few rounds while wearing these defective ear plugs?
I thought that deafening silence was normal at night until the VA audiologist explained that what I was actually hearing was tinnitus. Now I’m just annoyed that I know what I didn’t know before.
@Phillip Banes the ringing is so loud that I used to confuse it as the sound that you heard when everything is silent. It’s a difficult concept to explain to someone that has never experienced it (idk if you have or not). But in my VA tinnitus and hearing loss group, it is a common theme among us vets. Some experience it so bad that they can’t hear anything but the tinnitus. Thankfully, I don’t have it this bad.
@Phillip Banes I’ve had hearing problems for nearly 10 years due to my military service. It’s hard to remember what my hearing was like before that because it was almost a decade ago. It’s not too much different from saying I forgot what it feels like to have a cavity if I haven’t had a cavity since I was 15. I remember having one, but I don’t remember what the feeling is like because I haven’t had one in so long.
@Phillip Banes possibly imagine you are talking to someone who doesn’t have the same experiences as you, and you don’t have the same experiences as them. Then take everything you know about others that you more than likely have not asked the same question and throw that out the window. Then maybe, despite the ringing in your ears, you could imagine that my experiences are not the same as yours.
@Phillip Banes I shall not give it a rest because I am bored. I could have just as easily ignored you, but I decided to respond. Then out of boredom, I took a nap. Now, I am arguing for the sake of argumentative reasoning.
@Phillip Banes you are either a troll or stubborn. I am both a troll and stubborn. Hello
The problem with loyalty to a cause, is that the cause will always betray you.
Almost 3M
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subs, congrats in advance!
I remember using 3M goggles in woodshop at school. They always felt flimsier than the other goggles but fit the face well. I think 3M products design is alright but use cheap materials. It's like the cheap basic gear you use in a pinch. It's better than nothing.
I’ve used ear protection that didn’t work, so I used other ear pro. Did they not have this option? Were they required to wear that particular 3M product?
Why isn’t the army/military suing them ?! Instead the soldiers have to do it outside
They did, and 3M settled with the military
Soldiers fight for the government, the government rarely fights for the soldiers imo.
In other news Dow & Monsanto insist Agent Orange is harmless...film at 11...
I never received any training on how to fit to earplugs. I have tinnitus from only three years of service.
3M isn't at fault in my opinion. They sell both earplugs and earmuffs. Earplugs don't block nearly enough noise like over the ear muffs. Blame the military for not providing them or solders for not buying their own. I work in construction and am around loud noises all day I saw the pads did an inadequate job so I bought the muffs
Yeah those ear muffs like tier 1 or 2 units use won't fly in regular units.
But they were specifically told that they should protect, that's the issue here. It would be fine if they said the yellow side was only for quieter noises like engine noise, not firing weapons
Muffs don't fit under a standard issue Kevlar helmet.
As a old 12B Combat Engineer that served in Iraq....my hearing is FUBAR. Tinnitus ring will drive you insane after a bit...
Good for you, protecting your hearing is your job, not somebody else's.
@@arcuz7862 written like someone who has never been in theater.
@@ElectroOverlord Written like somebody that works in a 138 dB environment for 10 hours everyday since 2009 and hasn't lost or damaged his hearing. Because unlike the typical 70 IQ murican soldier he doesn't stick his earplugs into his nose.
This is a hard case to win, especially it involves how and when the users chose to wear it.
This is a tough one. 3M has some great products and the earplugs do look workable. However, US commerce is not exactly lie detector proof.
@Phillip Banes agreed. I've never used a 3M product that wasn't exceptional. Not saying these guys are lying but it seems like you'd notice right away if these weren't working right.
I'm learning more about the importance of hearing recently and hoping not to get tinnitus (especially loud noise and me riding motorcycles)
If you are exposed to loud noises all the time for years, do you expect your ears to be perfectly fine? Im not saying that the earplugs are not faulty, but there are so many factors that come into play.
Some hearing loss is expected in the military yes but these specific ear plugs were designed and sold to the military to prevent the level of hearing loss that service members are reporting. Service members were under the impression that this product would do what they advertised, and apparently it didn’t.
the problem is that 3m were selling earplugs their own studies showed were defective....
@@tomthomas7643 well, 3M also got suckered. These earplugs were made by another company that 3M bought. If this lawsuit happened before 3M bought that company, it would just go bankrupt and the soldiers wouldn’t get alot of money.
At a certain point you'd wonder if the literal air pressure being blasted out of rocket launchers and tanks would probably do a little damage as well, not just the audible expolsion of sound that they create. I feel like 3M will win this court case.
Just because you plug out the noise it doesn't mean hearing loss won't occur. Hearing loss is caused by reverberation that damages the cillia inside the eardrums. These earplugs will still transmit the kinetic energy that damages the cillia despite reducing volume heard by the user.
Are there other earbuds that protect hearing better?
We should definitely see some type of noise canceling tech or adaptive transparency tech for our soldiers. Ear plugs are out of date.
Way too expensive, contracts probably go to the lowest costing supplier.
@@SuperGGnoRE actually these contractors always rip us off. That’s why our budget is 950 billion a year.
@@SuperGGnoRElowest costing supplier that meets the needs and expectations of the DoD. You make it sound like we wouldn't spend billions on a single plane!
Special forces use active hearing protection, they are normal over the ear muffs that have small speakers in them that play the sound of the outside world back up until 80db, above that they shut off to protect hearing.
each unit however is about 800 USD
@@PhiLLyPhiLLz Yep, there is absolutely no way a missile like the AIM9 would cost 500k to make. I bet it barely costs them 10k. One of the biggest reasons other militaries spend way less than we do
I was in the Army, people cant use basic equipment properly. Dont assume these people are super competent like in the commercials
It's gone be hard to find a compact ear plug to suppress not just noise but explosive energy within two feet of ones ear ,it's kinda hard because noise is one thing BB it explosive energy ,(bullets ),that's gone he hard,because energy affects the body and hearing in many different ways than just noise
What a shameless attorney, accusing 200k serviceman of not wearing it properly. Soldiers getting treated worse then enemies.
This is insane… I’ll never understand giving your life away to a Corporation (that’s right, I said Corporation) like the US Military… the way they treat their Veterans
Most of them are kids basically and propaganda
Don’t get me wrong I feel the same way you do too, but understand These corporations target specific audiences. Those who aren’t able to afford college, those who are unsure what to do with their life and these are usually young adults. Why do you think they go to high school to recruit? Usually, when you don’t have much options, that’s seems like the only option.
@@Beautiful_Jay Funny how we're supposed to just coddle veterans, but college students who got preyed on by financial institutions with student loans, no, THEY'RE responsible. It's literally the same thing.
@@draneym2003 most college students are selfish they can drown in student debt. Most hate their own nations anyways. Want the perks? Go join the military
they chose to be thugs......
Hearing protection only protects against so many decibels. For very load noises like gun fire, cannon, and explosions double hearing protection is probably required. I have used proper hearing protection in the military and in my occupation, many times double hearing protection. I am now 64 and my hearing is still very good for my age. In my occupation I had hearing tests annually for 35 years. I also new many people in the military and the civilian world who wouldn’t wear their hearing protection consistently or properly.
Which country, which branch?
I guess the trial will show if those earplugs are technically defective or not.
The trial will likely find a way to appease the veterans while letting 3M off the hook
@@ehanoldaccount5893 Maybe Republican veterans should take some responsibility for their own choices. You know, practice what they preach.
@@draneym2003 what does republican have to do with this ?
I work in mining and we all get hearing fit testing every 2yrs by a specialist, still I'm yet to see a single person wear ear plugs properly every time. I highly doubt military person wear them properly either. It like wearing mask very few ppl actually wear them properly either. Hardly think it manufacturers fault, even then if ppl have concern wear additional over the ear earmuffs as an adult you should be primarily concern for you safety, don't leave it to others.
Well said 👍
But those ear plugs were certified to isolate certain sound waves which should prevent hearing damage, but that sound waves found its way to the ear drums and did the damage. Not all sounds you can hear is good! Human has a range to hear safely, you should know that!
@@analienfromouterspaceYes, a lot of PPE is certified for a certain level of protection if used and fitted properly. It's up to the user to accually fit them correctly. With ear plugs you actually have to to pull up and back your ear to better line up the ear canal and then push in the ear plug to form a good seal. If you not doing that step you not fitting them correctly, it's a 2 hand procedure. How many ppl you know actually do that?
I deal with this in manufacturing plants every day. People don't wear it properly so it doesn't work. Companies are held accountable for making sure employees wear it right and as a result they get the lawsuits and recordable injuries not the manufacturer.
I want all of our veterans to get the protection they need to have good lives after they leave the service. Going after 3M is not the solution. The Armed services should have gotten our men better protection from the onset.
Those earplugs impede communication with your team or squad during range day and deployments. Those earplugs are good if you are just going to the range by yourself.
LOL! That young man was reading Catch-22. Just *chef's kiss* 😂
Thank you for your service! Hearing loss is a price to pay fro freedom and democracy.
Given how different every ear is, this style of earplug strikes me as a bad choice. Do over the ear muffs work more consistently?
2011-2015... Damn, I'm 36... Got out of AD in 2011. I feel so old.
1:36 Nice book choice. 😄
I had the old earplugs in the green plastic holder.
i got 10 % disability for tinnitus. i remember when they issued those in basic. i didn't think anyone would actually win a suit against them so i didn't take it any further than that lol
My husband has severe hearing problems and ringing in his ears. He is a very smart man and it is incredibly frustrating that this company is going to try to blame the individual instead of taking accountable for their own actions. They are absolutely responsible for this, they are cowards trying to protect their company that caused thousands of people damage that will be there for the rest of there lives. If that doesn't scream that big corporations and our government will use and abuse you then I don't know what is.
I've been having tinnitus since 2008.
Parents plz plz plz teach your children to protect their hearing.
This is a tragic situation, and we don't have enough information yet to determine who is to blame. My initial question is in regards to the yellow end "whisper mode". It must offer a different level of protection than the other green end (i.e. less protection) and is it possible that soldiers were confusing it with the green end and wearing it during their loudest situations?
So your whole explanation is that our soldiers, some of the highest trained professionals in the world, don't know how to use earplugs.
Edit: and they can't tell green from yellow. And those incompetencies extend to 200,000 people that are suing and countless others that haven't taken legal action.
Does anyone ever think critically at all before posting something?
@@StealthyDead Wow, notice that I posed a question. It was not an explanation like your dismal reading comprehension suggests. And I work with lots of veterans, they are only human. No, I am not claiming that 200,000 soldiers all confused green from yellow, but in stressful situations it would be very easy to just shove the ear plugs in while not paying attention to the colors.
And I guarantee you that not all 200,000 claims are of the same extent of severity. It is very possible that most of those claims are from soldiers that have experienced mild to moderate hearing damage, and that could have easily occurred from even just one instance where the wrong end of the plug was inserted.
Like I said, this video does not give us all the information needed to form a legitimate opinion on the situation. Obviously something has gone wrong here (tragic!) but if you think you can pass ultimate judgement based on this video then you're the one with critical thinking impairment.
@Phillip Banes you must not know many infantrymen then. We took great pains to minimize hearing damage because we spent lots of time around loud noises and hearing loss is permanent. Ear plugs were not optional, you could get an article 15 for not wearing them, possibly even a court martial if you continually refused to wear them. The ear plug is part of your uniform starting in basic training and they made sure we knew how to use them. This is a product failure.
Practically every MOS are routinely exposed to absurdly loud noises from weapons and machinery, and budget cuts mean hearing protection is often not available or limited available. 3M will settle.
Tinnitus is a real problem. I also suffer from tinnitus. Ask your doctor or pharmacists about :
- The effect of stress and mental health on tinnitus (there are many solutions)
- The effect of the lack of sunlight on stress and mental illness (especially in the North, where the sun goes down early)
- The effect of vitamin D3 on people who are lacking sunlight
- The effect of the Ginkgo Biloba plant on tinnitus
- The effect of clogged ears on tinnitus
- The solutions to clogged ears
Take your time and ask your doctor and your pharmacist about those things, it made a huge difference to me, I live much better now. Ask your healthcare professional first.
They can't help, use white noise is what I was told
I was in a career field that was for shooting specifically however I didn't shoot enough to justify joining in on this lawsuit with integrity. Now if you were overseas, actually in a combat zone, regularly shooting, then by all means put a claim in. You don't know how bad it really is sometimes and it could become worse at an older age as a result of this even if you don't currently experience it.
Yea i mean that’s nice and all and I could even see myself thinking like that but no these guys deserve every claim and lawsuit if it didn’t do it’s job
I use the same earplugs working in factory and i have ringing in ears, it did not go away after i was 2 weeks off from my work. When i use foam tips then i can't hear what people are talking. Now i will go back to foam tips.
This is one of the things I love America, you can sue anyone. Here in India, we just have to live with whatever we are served.
Sounds are solitons waves, plug aren't made to avoid ear damage, they are made to mitigate the damage.
I think I vaguely recall seeing this in my local PX. Tho I just use the basic issued ones tbh. Tbf, my MOS is a desk job type so i prob wouldnt have needed these anyways lol
Frankly, I'd bet over half of the 200K plus litigious scum are REMF that only wore them once or at best seen them on a table.
awww the "when it is used properly fitted"
I thought any reasonable person seeing that small earplug would know it has limited effect on noise protection.
People actively avoided wearing them
Spending billions on military and veterans can't even sleep without assistance. 3M needs to pay but until the case is pending, some of the military budget needs to go to help the veterans recover. 3M shouldn't be allowed to do a Micheal Scott, they have to pay in full.
Wonder if this has effected my hearing not a combat vet but a construction worker and have used 3M plugs for work
Don't the US have contacts? (The headphones or whatever you call it in English)
always supplement passive hearing protection with electronic ear muffs to completely cover the ear
Don't fit under a standard issue combat helmet. Some of us used this crap in the sandbox, the rest are litigious scum trying to get a free buck.
I thank all the service members and I hope justice will be served
I used skittles as earplugs once before going into mosul.
I forgot mine and we could hear gunfire before entering the city.
Best ear plugs ever
Wait how can join in on this suing????
Isn't there a branch in the military that conducts tests before the product are distributed ? How come they let this product being used ?
Corruption? Collision between.......?
You know what I was told… that one side(I don’t remember the color) was for training and the other for life fire…is that what 3m said or the army?
I used Peltar proper ear defends (not buds) and my hearing is fine.
Let's be realistic here. The ones who will get paid are the lawyers...those that used 3M's ear protection, they will get a pittance...
Smh i remember these
Sad you cant put your trust in the equipment
I got tinnitus while serving in the Corps from 2010-2015. Those earplugs indeed sucked.
@Phillip Banes we really didn’t have any other alternatives on base or provided on the range. I have tinnitus, but I’m not going to sue 3M. It’s tolerable. Annoying and random, but not the end of the world
@Phillip Banes Lazyness and/or not giving a damn about his hearing. Only to complain now. At least he's not suing them, YET.
The graphite dynamic use to be loud with the operation minder you could ear for miles this often causes saw ear roles 🤣
Didn’t they read the term and conditions of joint the military
As a combat veteran with documented hearing loss how can one join this law suit? I really really want payback for my tinnitus
What did you say? Back in my day in the 60’s we didn’t have any stinkin ear plugs. I was 11E20, and spent a year as a tanker in Vietnam.
On one occasion the bottom of my tank was blown out when I hit a mine. The VA says that my hearing loss is not service connected.
I “hear” ya brother…
lol, when /I worked 4 3M Medical div., Riker Phjarmaceuticals, we had a defective stethoscope come back. One of the ear tubes was plugged with a "blob" of adhesive. It was from a funeral home, so I repaired it and sent it back, I wonder how many live people were declared dead!
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Just run a search on her name, and you would see all you need.
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There has to be a positive control in this comparison. Gunfire and explosions are extremely loud and you can't expect perfect dampening from mere earplugs. What hearing protection _has been proven_ to work before, and did 3M _directly claim_ to be as good or better than this pre-existing solution? I have no idea which side is right here but these are critical details that have to be discussed.
How many used it correctly and how should they prove it?! 🤔
Exactly. A veteran in the comments section says he has constant ringing 30 years later.. but never wore plugs “because he wasn’t allowed to”… yet somehow still blames 3M for the ringing.
Another guy said he wore the plugs and they were great, but not many other service members ever wore them.
Chances are, most of these guys with hearing issues, have it because they didn’t wear the plugs or wore them improperly.
I still have my set . No plug fits perfectly everyone’s canal is different
👏🏾 i really hope they win the suit. I'm so sick of these corporations.
And yet, you vote Republican I guarantee.
Its much easier to sue a private company, vs the government.
What’s the potential payoff per service member after the lawyers take most of the money?
How do I apply
I have same issue, not as bad as others but, if nothings on I can hear a ringing noise. I'm still active duty.
The first 30 seconds made me laugh... My homie you indeed were subject to the most intense training the Army had to offer..
It's those scummy douches that are slowing the system down. Those of us that actually wore them down range and not some REMF that wore them once should be on the suit, period.
i think plugs are not updated as like modern weapons making loud noise
Question: Now that 3M’s polyurethane earplugs have been obsoleted by Howard Leight’s new sustainable earplugs, Final Fit Safety, will 3M leave the earplug business?
that's an ad
@Phillip Banes The yellow cylinders? They were awesome for their time. They were the first ones. They’re PVC, not polyurethane. They’re obsolete now, too, but, like fax machines, they’re still useful if nothing else is available.
I feel like a double sided ear plug is dumb it should just be 1 sided and protect from all loud sounds.
Why not just test a sample of the ear plugs to see if they are defective?
its already been proven their defective....thats why veterans were winning the bellwether cases
im astonished they didnt use the foam ones!, those multi-ring "rubber" ones, just dont cut it, really!
This is a dumb lawsuit; they are suing over earplugs when earmuffs exist. Like earplugs are okay for medium noise but 3M sells earmuffs why did they not wear those.