That Soldier May Be Deaf, Charlie
Monday August 4, 2008
USAToday reports that
one in four soldiers in combat may have hearing loss. Not only that, apparently soldiers who have known hearing losses are being redeployed in combat. If you read the reader comments, you will see that some readers are pointing out the irony that while the military does not allow people with hearing loss to enlist, apparently once someone in the army acquires a hearing loss, they are allowed to continue to serve.
Related on About.com
Deafness and Bombing
About.com US Military Site
Comments
Not to minimize what our American soldiers are going through, but this should be one of those facts that are so obvious that to state it is thisclose to being silly.
Gunfire, bombs, etc. - I’m more surprised that this issue hasn’t received more attention PRIOR to the current conflict.
It’s also an example of how silly it is to keep deaf people out of the armed forces - obviously we have a lot to teach people about dealing with sound
Great! so I could find a deaf guy more easily and get married sooner!
they shouldn’t use bombs or weapons. Just use super sprays of so much bubble-gum. Cover and flood an entire City in Bubble-Gum, and it will be so hard to clean up and so intense, and would even take maybe several decades to clean up and planes and weapons wouldn’t work. They would never attack America again, afraid of the bubble-gum bomb.
The same applies to those who want to become officers, firemen, and other careers demanding that a person must have hearing in order to perform at a job. It seems to be a double standard in politics. When it seems to benefit them somehow, its ok. When it would benefit someone else, then its not ok. You cant set double standards like that and expect not to have some kind of outrage eventually. Its a matter of the deaf community and others taking a stand on the issue.
Why is this such a surprise? When I did my internship 20+years ago at the VA they did not want to acknowledge noise induced hearing loss in those military who served in VietNam etc. was related to what they were exposed to. I’m not surprised that they will send our soldiers out with less then optimal hearing–
they (the government) continues to have a misconception about the importance of normal hearing–especially in life and death situations like war. My heart goes out to all of them.
I remember that some years ago I was in a ARMY recruitment website chat. I openly asked if I could qualify despite being hard of hearing. Nobody did answer me. I created and anonymous web mail based account and wrote to the recruiter email address (which was published in the chat window) and asked againg if I would qualify. He answered that I do not qualify because of my disability. He didn’t want to comment it on a open chat.