• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Bro it’s not just combat…

    This is 100% engineers too.

    Like, if it was just symptoms I’d write it off as coincidence. But the method of damage they go into…

    It 100% is getting people outside of combat, if someone was having to wear hearing protection in their work space constantly, they were likely getting this damage, and it’s not showing up on brain scans or anywhere else.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Yeah Absolutely. I don’t know about heavy equipment operators. Like, I literally don’t know enough about what they do. But the sappers and route clearance teams that worked with us are exposed just as much. And training is as much of a problem as actual combat.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Yeah. I was an engine room, the entire time we were out to sea and working, it was insanely loud in addition to like 130F temps and damn close to 100% humidity.

        We knew it was bad for us, but no one thought about brain damage.

        But like, we had an E8 who had been in engine rooms forever. At the time we joked about him being old but he was early 40s max.

        Dude exhibited all the signs in the article, and so did anyone else who had a couple tours already.

        We just called it “salty” and choked it up to putting up with the Navy for so long.

        But with what this article is talking about…

        It’s just low grade brain damage, which fucking makes way too much sense now.

        Like how the old stereotype of football players being dumb and violent. With what we know now about CTE, those stereotypes are just making fun of brain damaged kids. This isn’t CTE, but it’s still brain damage that’s invisible on scans.