TexasUberAlles 
@Eggonaught
As of last year, The US Army was in the process of putting together a program to widely distribute electronic hearing protection devices known as “Tactical Communication And Protective System”– which function as Bluetooth-type communicators and allow normal hearing until sudden loud noises cause them to act as ear plugs– but as far as I know, at the moment only The Kings Of The Battlefield and aircraft carrier deck crews are specifically (officially) issued ear pro (at least in addition to headsets, like aircrew and Armor crews, etc., which seal out enough ambient noise to count); a huuuge number of combat personnel just provide their own ear pro, especially off-the-shelf commercial electronics that already do what TCAPS does. I don’t think the ones you can get at hunting supply shops are even on the list of devices prohibited by ITAR or USML so they can be mailed to servicemembers by APO or FPO– but I’d want to check first before filling an envelope. Those who don’t have that sort of fancyness tend to just suck it up and take the damage so that they can still hear orders and firefight communication without ear plugs getting in the way; hearing loss and tinnitus are actually the two most common injuries treated by the Veterans’ Administration– even moreso than PTSD– and account for over a billion dollars worth of treatment every year.
average infantry engagement range
It varied widely depending on who you asked, but <200yds was pretty consistent for the US Army and USMC. One of my great uncles and a family friend from the same unit said they usually made contact at around 100yds in France and Germany; another great uncle said he almost never used the sights on his M1 carbine on Iwo Jima because the Japanese soldiers he encountered were all at fistfight range, and artillery or airstrikes took care of any further away than that.
As of last year, The US Army was in the process of putting together a program to widely distribute electronic hearing protection devices known as “Tactical Communication And Protective System”– which function as Bluetooth-type communicators and allow normal hearing until sudden loud noises cause them to act as ear plugs– but as far as I know, at the moment only The Kings Of The Battlefield and aircraft carrier deck crews are specifically (officially) issued ear pro (at least in addition to headsets, like aircrew and Armor crews, etc., which seal out enough ambient noise to count); a huuuge number of combat personnel just provide their own ear pro, especially off-the-shelf commercial electronics that already do what TCAPS does. I don’t think the ones you can get at hunting supply shops are even on the list of devices prohibited by ITAR or USML so they can be mailed to servicemembers by APO or FPO– but I’d want to check first before filling an envelope. Those who don’t have that sort of fancyness tend to just suck it up and take the damage so that they can still hear orders and firefight communication without ear plugs getting in the way; hearing loss and tinnitus are actually the two most common injuries treated by the Veterans’ Administration– even moreso than PTSD– and account for over a billion dollars worth of treatment every year.
average infantry engagement range
It varied widely depending on who you asked, but <200yds was pretty consistent for the US Army and USMC. One of my great uncles and a family friend from the same unit said they usually made contact at around 100yds in France and Germany; another great uncle said he almost never used the sights on his M1 carbine on Iwo Jima because the Japanese soldiers he encountered were all at fistfight range, and artillery or airstrikes took care of any further away than that.
