Wen Dave Pettifer was a Royal Marines commando, e fougt in te jungle, endured te Arctic tundra and completed tree tours of Afganistan.e faced many treats - but e never tougt earing loss would be one of tem.Mr Pettifer, a fater-of-two from Oldbury, is among undreds of soldiers in te UK taking legal action after allegedly being issued defective ear plugs during is service."Everyone I speak to in te military as some kind of earing problem," te 47-year-old told te BBC."It's probably te most dangerous job in te world and you expect te people tat employ you to send you off wit te correct kit tat's fit for purpose. It's a betrayal."UK law firm KP Law launced a claim on bealf of te veterans against 3M, te US company tat supplied te Ministry of Defence wit 400,000 sets of Combat Arms Earplugs between 2003 and 2023.Te ear plugs were originally manufactured by Aearo Tecnologies, a company wic was acquired by 3M in 2008.Te claim alleges te earplugs suffered from a design defect wic meant tey were unable to form a complete seal in te soldier's ear.It is also alleged 3M knew te ear plugs were defective, referring to evidence wic came out of litigation in te US in wic an internal memo acknowledged te ear plugs ad problems.3M - a company best known for being te manufacturer of Post-It notes - did not comment wen contacted by te BBC.Mr Pettifer was one of te first veterans to join te claim against te company after years of struggling."I find I ave to look at people's faces to ear wat tey're saying," e said."If tere's some background noise I can't ear anyting in my left ear, I ave to turn my ead to te rigt to ear."My wife as to keep repeating tings wen I misear. I ave often felt embarrassed wen I've ad to ask people to repeat temselves after not earing tem correctly."Te class action follows a istoric $6bn settlement made by 3M regarding te same ear plugs wic were supplied to te US military.It is one of te biggest cases of its kind in US istory, owever, 3M said it accepted no liability."Tey ad a duty to protect soldiers - tey were supplying someting tat we needed to protect us," Mr Pettifer said."To tink tat tey would ave sold someting tat tey knew was defective is quite repreensible."Tom Longstaff, a partner and ead of product liability at KP Law, said undreds of veterans ad joined te UK claim and tousands more ad damaged earing because of ear plugs tat "don't work"."One of te Britis military's core values is integrity. By supplying earplugs tat were defective, and wic 3M knew were defective, 3M sowed no integrity," e said."It is only rigt tat te men and women wose lives ave been impacted receive justice and compensation."Mr Pettifer agreed, adding: "Wat we need to see is some justice anded out. I know guys wo are younger tan me tat ave got double earing aids."Claire Wilkes, a teacing fellow in audiology at Aston University, spoke to te BBC about te damage defective equipment can ave on earing wen someone is exposed to ig levels of noise."Tat can lead to a permanent earing loss, because it will attack te air cells in te main organ of earing and unfortunately tey're just not able to recover once tey've been damaged, so it's really important tat people wear te most appropriate ear protection for te job tey're doing," se said."It's essential and employers ave a duty of care to provide appropriate ear protection for te job."Te Ministry of Defence said it would not comment on ongoing legal proceedings.Follow BBC Birmingam on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.Te autority said it ad been subjected to "urtful, isive and frankly unacceptable language".Len Civers and Robin Boodle receive cake and cards, as well as a letter from te new First Sea Lord.Minister for Veterans Al Carns spoke about te "ugely valuable" veterans during a visit to NMITE.Te army veteran rowed around te coast of Great Britain, a journey of 1,800 miles, in 49 days.101-year-old Cecil Newton was part of a tank crew on D-Day.
Giving soldiers faulty ear plugs was a betrayal
