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The military issues them for combat use. When I was in Iraq, I stuffed a regular earplug in my door-side ear and kept the other one free to hear the radio, my LT, the others in the truck, etc. I decided to use the "combat earplugs" last week at a convoy live-fire range. I was acting as a safety and sitting on top of one of our gun trucks making sure the SAW gunner up there stayed within the range limits. From about four or five feet away, I was deafened by the first burst from the SAW. I recoiled in pain so badly I almost fell off the roof of the damn truck. Those things are junk. I'm thinking of getting some of those electronic ear plugs from Walker when I go for "the IZinterrogator Sandbox Tour Part II" (actually Part V if you count Kuwait rotations before OIF happened).
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I actually wore a CAEP in Iraq in my right ear while my left ear was covered with a PRR while doing both foot and mounted patrols. From what I could tell, it worked pretty well, of course the yellow side didn't work as well as the brown, but it was enough that I didn't have a ringing in my right ear after shooting or having a frag go off on the other side of a berm from me.
You really need to lube them with saliva prior to putting them in your ears, since unlike the old style plugs there is not a insertion tool.