Military organizations world-wide experience the great majority of the extreme occupational noise exposures. The noise sources range from tanks and armored personnel carriers to fighter jets and shoulder launched missiles. It is a difficult task to protect the men and women who serve their countries and experience these extreme environments where the continuous noise levels can reach 150 dBA and the peak noise levels from firing weapons can reach 195 dBpeak. Stable methods to measure hearing protector attenuation benefit the development and optimization of hearing protection. National and international standards measuring hearing protection attenuation have been the focus of much of Elliott's work during his career and now in semi-retirement. These standards have been the catalysts that have enabled the development of improved hearing protectors that help conserve the hearing of service members in military noise environments. Data will be presented showing ranges of military continuous and impulsive noise exposures, the amount of hearing protection attenuation needed to meet US DoD noise exposure criteria, and the ANSI standards for the measurement of hearing protector attenuation.