When I left the Army, a friend insisted I file a VA claim for my high frequency hearing loss. I said I could live with it, but he browbeat me into applying. He really was a good friend, because applying before leaving saved me a lot of trouble over the years in justifying the claim. In those days, we went to the rifle range and were not even issued ear plugs ( cigarette filters work pretty well and we had them in C rations at least).
By the time I retired from the Corps of Engineers, they required wearing of ear muffs( maybe + plugs) to mow grass or drive a Humvee, much less operate a dozer.
Mike
