During the Cast Lead war – a man came to my office for a meeting and during the conversation, told me he was a former artillery soldier. We talked about where Elie was, what was happening, and then the man said, “you know it damages their hearing, right?”

I was torn between wanting to say, “What?” as a joke and looking at him and asking him why he thought that was what he should be telling me at that moment, when I had enough on my mind without worrying about Elie’s long-term hearing abilities.

Whenever I mention this concern to Elie, he responds in one of two ways – either he tells me that this is why the IDF gives him very powerful ear protection, to lessen this impact of years ago…or he pulls the same joke and says, “What?”

An article in today’s Israel National News brings welcome news to artillery moms:

The IDF has recently purchased hundreds of Selective Smart Earplugs for combat soldiers. The new earplugs are miniscule electronic devices capable of reducing ambient noise, detecting and completely neutralizing noise over 80 decibels within one-hundredth of a second, and simultaneously interfacing with constantly active radio transmissions to make audible any human speech for command relay.

From one artillery mom to the Israel Defense Forces – I thank you….

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