Expert: Cynthia Bedell - 7/11/2008

Question
Colonel,
    To begin, Wednesday I had taken my ASVAB and scored an AFQT of 92, with a GT of 125 and ST of 124. As I am enlisting Army, these scores are far above what I would need to work in Military Intelligence. My only problem is that I am colorblind. I tried to find jobs in MI or some close-related field, but it seems like once you are colorblind your choices go down about 90%. I had heard something about a waiver. I know they are not easy to get, but I wanted to know if it would waive my colorblindness for MI jobs and how do I go about getting one. On another note I have not been to MEPs yet for final processing, but I know I can't pass a Ishihara test.

Answer
Dear Doug --

There are very few jobs that you can do at the enlisted level, if you are color-blind.  You will be excluded from most of the highly technical jobs, because ability to discern fine distinction in shades and colors, wires, electronic components etc. is impossible for you.

However, with your ASVAB scores, I think you should apply for officer candidate school (OCS).  You will be eligible for leadership jobs that will be more interesting and challenging to you, even if you cannot do military intelligence as you desire.

The ability to get a waiver depends on the condition, and the severity of the condition.  If a certain condition precludes your ability to enter a military occupational specialty (MOS), that is generally unwaiverable.

If you are not interested in being an commissioned officer, you should talk to your recruiter about ALL jobs available to someone who is colorblind, whether those jobs are currently available or not.  The Army needs change week to week and a job that you are interested in may come open at a later date.  

Good luck to you.