Thanks, Mike.
I told the Sgt that I did not think I'd qualify for anything but what the heck, a few bucks from Uncle Sam would help my retirement. I know a good bit about hearing loss and it doesn't take extended exposure to cause hearing loss. Several trips into the engine room in CVB during a two year tour to read and report the readings can cause severe damage to your hearing.
Quals for my Pistol ribbon with practice and actual quals would amount to 140-160 db damaging sound on a repeated basis times 1000 rounds of .45 ball is a real damage. Shooting at the trap range with no ear protection at CVB would be about the same.
Three years of exposure to 80-85 db on the ops floor could and would affect everyone differently.
You fellas that worked the watch floor for thirty years and old Sonar guys certainly have a concern as we've discussed years ago..I've changed my outlook in the years since to realize it's a valid issue!
Best to all you old lifers...
Fair winds!
Correct on the engine room readings Tim. Doing them and only using the old mickey mouse ears would result in hearing loss. While the old ears did help the impact noise level would still be high. And I know a few people that went into the engine room without the ears on regularly. The spencer Turbine noise was a higher frequency and causes damage as well. The MM ears from the 70s reduced the volume but that sound still seemed to penetrate the earmuffs. And the 400 cycle MG sets at Dam Neck had a piercing noise when they were running as I recall. I know that Dam Neck had a hearing protection program which included hearing tests for those whose job required them to enter the noise spaces (MG Room, Engine Room, and Spencer Turbine room). I think it was an annual test back in the 80s. It was an OSHA and NIOSH requirement then.
did the VA compare your enlistment and discharge hearing tests ? When I went they looked at them and gave me a hearing test and rated me at 0% initially I believe but then later raised it with tinnitus to 10%. Get a copy of you med record from "evet" website, almost anything you were treated for that you are having problems with now may get you a rating. I went from 30% to 70% service connected mainly from coronary artery disease.
My records went up in smoke some years back in St. Louis.
I also have no recall on using any hearing protection during my hitch.
The 1973 Fire, National Personnel Records Center
The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) Fire: A Study in Disaster
Overview:
On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). The records affected:
Branch Personnel and Period Affected Estimated Loss
Army Personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960 80%
Air Force Personnel discharged September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964
(with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) 75%
No duplicate copies of these records were ever maintained, nor were microfilm copies produced. Neither were any indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. However, in the years following the fire, the NPRC collected numerous series of records (referred to as Auxiliary Records) that are used to reconstruct basic service information.
no Navy records were lost in that fire, check with AMVETS if there is a post around you they say they can get records for any vet
Thanks David, I will look into this further. Last year I requested a notarized original of my DD214 as mine original is lost. I only have copies and thankfully I have several.
Anyway, they were unable to provide a DD214 but sent me a notarized letter that would substitute the DD214. I figured that my records were lost in that fire but clearly they were not.
T
On another note.
I was discharged to the Reserves in Sept 79 from Centerville Beach. I don't believe in the 24 months I was there I saw a physician but one time and certainly not for a discharge physical or auditory exam. I saw a dentist once in two years. Those of you that were there, Randy Scott, Jim Donovan, Sandy Sanborn, et al can testify to that... There are more names hidden back in the recess area but it's on recess and out playing on the monkey bars.. :)
Well, the memory is certainly shot..
I have my records, including a brief discharge physical. By whom? Who knows...we didn't have a physician on staff at CVB.
Either way, no auditory records of any kind upon discharge.
It's quite comical to review my old evals...apparently, I was in need of a haircut for most of my hitch...
Tim, many of us developed tinnitus in the Navy and about 80% of people with tinnitus experience hearing loss. Hunches aren't very scientific but I suspect the vacuum system, with the constant hissing air sound, could be related. High db levels can obviously cause hearing loss but maybe constant exposure to a lower level background noise can to? Too many of us have tinnitus for it to be coincidental.
Thanks to the RACHAP program I was able to get hi-tech hearing devices at government cost and with them in I don't even realize I have tinnitus.
I got out in May of 1974 from Centerville and was sent to Treasure Island, I believe, for separation physical. It was true there was nothing in NAVFACEN other than a HM and Redwood Memorial in Fortuna, a Navy dentist that used to come once a year for treatment and cleaning I believe. I don't know how hearing was, I reenlisted 7 months later and there was no mention of loss
Thanks for sharing, Mike. Folks in the IUSS system started asking about this ever since we started getting old. :older_man: We've looked into it many times and generally always come around to similar conclusions. Tinnitus is common in men, beginning in their 50s and 60s, who smoked and who have cardiovascular issues. Many of us here, myself included, fit that mold. I'm male, 65, smoked from age of 20 until 28 and I have periodic tinnitus; but it doesn't bother me. I personally don't believe SOSUS display rooms were that noisy and I'm more concerned about what we inhaled and ingested for as long as we were exposed to that carbon dust and who knows what else. I always recommend folks with tinnitus who qualify for VA benefits to speak with their doctor about it. A few of us have received compensation but most do not. I asked a VA doctor here in Hampton Roads about it once He said that had I claimed tinnitus while still on active duty, VA would have granted disability of 10% - no questions. I decided to drop it there and not pursue.
I’m not holding out too much hope. The Marine 1st Sgt at my local suggested this. Since I’m a single hitch squid, I don’t qualify for much more.
He said the local VA medical here in central MA is not great! Right now, I make too much money so I’m playing Russian roulette with the health insurance equation!
Sad, my wife’s Medicare is better the VA health care! At least she can see whomever she wants!
When I had my hearing tested for enlistment at Argentia in 1971, the results showed a loss from my original enlistment hearing test. My hearing was checked every two years through 1975 at military bases and it keep decreasing. Upon release from Active Duty, the VA rated me at 0% for hearing and tinnitus, four years later they rated me at 10%. The VA supplied me new hearing aids last June. The base doctor at Argentia had suspect the cause of the loss was cause be the high noise level in the Equipment Rooms where I worked and sleep when on duty watch (both at Argentia & Eleuthera {in room next to the 400 MC Unit & Generators}).
Update...
I was denied, not surprised!
At least I got a trip to Constitution and the tin can docked nearby!
Good kids manning the ship in period garb and Oakley shades...