Article  UK soldiers hospitalized again after riding in army's problem-plagued vehicle

Soldiers hospitalised yet again after riding around in army's problem-plagued vehicle
https://news.sky.com/story/soldiers-hosp...e-13465828

INTRO: Soldiers had to go to hospital this summer because of hearing and other issues after trialling the British Army's Ajax armoured vehicle, raising fresh fears about the problem-plagued platform. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that a "small number" of troops had reported noise and vibration concerns following trials on three variants of the 40-tonne, tracked vehicle.

A spokesperson said an investigation was carried out and "no systemic issues were found". However, sources signalled that worries remain over the safety of personnel who are required to operate for long hours inside the army's new war-fighting machine. "Soldiers are still being hurt," one source said.

TThe revelation comes after Luke Pollard, the defence procurement minister, insisted that the platform - which was this week finally declared ready for operations, eight years behind schedule - is safe to use and historical concerns about hearing being harmed were "firmly in the past".

"We would not be putting it in the hands of our armed forces, if it were not safe," he told reporters on Wednesday during a trip to a sprawling factory in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, where the vehicles, made by the US company General Dynamics, are being assembled.

"I've been reassured from the top of the army down to the folks that work on the platform that it is safe, and those lessons have been learned," he said. The UK hopes to export Ajax vehicles - which cost about £10m - to other countries. Any suggestion that the platform is still causing harm to soldiers would be a serious blow to such ambitions.

While a big, tracked vehicle like Ajax - which is as heavy as a Russian tank - is bound to generate noise and vibrations, the army has been criticised in the past for failing to alert ministers to concerns about the impact on troops of exposure to such sounds and jolts.

An internal review published in 2021 found that senior soldiers and Ministry of Defence officials had known for up to two years that earlier faults with the Ajax vehicle had been putting troops at risk of harm, but they failed to act.

The health and safety report revealed that issues such as potential hearing damage had first been raised in December 2018, but trials were not suspended until November 2020. At that time, more than 300 soldiers were offered hearing tests, with 17 still under specialist care as of December 2021.

The scandal put a spotlight on the programme when trials resumed two years later. By then, mitigations had been put in place to protect the troops that have to operate the machine, including additional ear protection and more cushioning on the seating.

However, Francis Tusa, a leading defence journalist who writes for the specialist online publication Defence Eye, said he does not believe that the fundamental issue of too much noise and vibration was ever resolved. "They are making the best out of a bad job," he told Sky News... (MORE - details)

Man, the UK has some fragile soldiers nowadays.

Assuming that the interior noise truly is excessive, it shouldn't be too hard to issue ear protection to the soldiers who ride these vehicles. The crews that work the decks on aircraft carriers all wear ear protection due to proximity to loud jet engines. Artillery gunfire can be hard on the ears. It's nothing new in the military. Even construction workers often do noisy things that require ear protection.

I don't think that it rises to the level of a "scandal". It is something that the engineers should perhaps take another look at, though.

(Yesterday 02:49 AM)Yazata Wrote: Assuming that the interior noise truly is excessive, it shouldn't be too hard to issue ear protection to the soldiers who ride these vehicles. The crews that work the decks on aircraft carriers all wear ear protection due to proximity to loud jet engines. Artillery gunfire can be hard on the ears. It's nothing new in the military. Even construction workers often do noisy things that require ear protection.

I don't think that it rises to the level of a "scandal". It is something that the engineers should perhaps take another look at, though.

If the vibrations are as bad as a heavy-duty jackhammer or being tossed around inside a cement mixer, then I could understand them being incredibly sore and stomach upset after a ride.

But the hearing issues are a puzzle, since, as you say, there are earmuffs or earplugs or something available. Surely there's not a regulation obstructing their use, since if an _X_ is that loud or noisy, I don't know how one could hear an enemy approaching with unprotected ears, anyway.

Are identifiably female soldiers more susceptible to being shaken about and loud noises? Locally I've noticed they are sensitive to several things that I would regard as trivial.

(Yesterday 11:49 AM)confused2 Wrote: Are identifiably female soldiers more susceptible to being shaken about and loud noises? Locally I've noticed they are sensitive to several things that I would regard as trivial.

That's one possibility. Especially since both government departments and mainstream news agencies are evasive when it comes to specifying sex, ethnicity, religious affiliation, etc when the applicable situation is crouched in a potentially negative, controversial, or litigious context.

Even alternative and conservative outlets can do that when they're either echoing a circulating press release or restricted to poaching from the contents of other sources. (Arguably the kind of territory that non-legacy social media profits from, when they're the very last nook with the gonads to reveal, focus on, or exploit _X_ sensitive and politically incorrect information.)

I'd suggest they have a can of expanding foam onboard. If the noise gets too great they can look to see where they can cover in foam to either stop rattling or just handle noise reduction. It allows the tank crew to make the adjustments they want, although it should be noted that such foam isn't usually in camo green.