Hearing-Impaired Veterans Fume at 3M’s Tactics on Earplug Suits

John Schrock was waiting to get paper cups and plates at a military store in Baghdad when the rockets hit.

The lights went off. Fixtures dropped from the ceiling. Shelves collapsed all around him. One soldier died while 20 others, including contract workers and Iraqis, were injured. Schrock said he couldn’t hear anything for hours after the incident.

“They hit so hard, your feet go out from underneath you. I just remember falling to the ground,” said Schrock, who was part of the Louisiana Army National Guard’s 256th Infantry Brigade.

Schrock was wearing his military-issued earplugs, made by Aearo ...