1200 troops ‘unable to fight again’

[mohammadkhan70]

1200 troops ‘unable to fight again’​

Almost 1200 British soldiers fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq have suffered battle damage affecting their hearing or eyesight and may never be able to deploy again on frontline operations.

The Herald can reveal they also represent a financial timebomb for the Ministry of Defence in years to come, as veterans claim disability pensions for deafness or sight impairment attributable to military service.

The figures, obtained from the Ministry of Defence, follow a claim by Patrick Mercer, Conservative MP for Newark, that 280 members of 1st Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment, are now partially deaf as a result of their involvement in heavy fighting in Helmand province last year.

Troops are issued with earplugs or ear defenders to reduce the decibel levels from explosions and sustained gunfire, but most routinely discard them as they cannot hear shouted orders or the sound of incoming rounds while wearing them in the heat of battle.

The number with impaired hearing who are now medically downgraded as a result of a single unit's prolonged exposure to battlefield noise represent half a battalion at a time when the Army has just 36 under-strength infantry battalions in total. As many as half of the troops in Afghanistan are said to be reporting tinnitus - permanent, high-pitched ringing in the ears - with many others suffering more serious hearing loss up to the level of shattered eardrums.

Mr Mercer, a former infantry commander, said: "Routine medical checks on the Royal Anglians on their return from Afghanistan showed that 280 had such severe impairment that they will not be able to deploy again. An infantryman who cannot hear orders is a liability both to himself and those around him.

"On paper, the Army has roughly 98,000 soldiers, but only about 50,000 are deployable at any given time. The rest have problems with compassionate issues, are not yet qualified or fully trained, or are sick."

Deafness on the front line has worsened because Army issue ear-protectors are too dangerous to wear in battle as they filter out the sound of incoming rocket-propelled grenades and mortar bombs.

The MoD does not hold central figures on soldiers suffering hearing loss, but military insiders say many troops are reluctant to admit their hearing has been affected as it would result in immediate exclusion from combat operations.

The issue is worse for Afghanistan than Iraq because of the intensity and sustained nature of fighting and repeated concussion on eardrums from mortars, heavy machine-guns, anti-tank missiles and aircraft bombs dropped near friendly positions.

According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, nearly 70,000 of the 1.3 million American troops who have served in both war zones are collecting pensions for tinnitus and another 58,000 are on disability for hearing loss in one or both ears.

The figures seen by The Herald show that 1161 UK soldiers were sent to field hospitals for opthalmic and aural injuries between 2003 and December last year.

Insiders say this is the tip of the iceberg and many hundreds of soldiers involved in the fiercest fighting experienced by the British Army since the Korean War in 2006 and 2007 have also developed various degrees of hearing loss in the meantime.

1200 Troops Unable To Fight Again (from The Herald )

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

All this is nothing new.

Most soldiers of any army that has engaged in war, are deaf in one or both ears.

What is so great about this?

If it is a danger that because a man who is slightly deaf cannot hear the orders, then how does he hear orders if he is wearing ear muffs? Do the non hearing because of the ear muffs also not endanger his colleagues since he cannot hear the orders?

Silly PC stuff.