Expert: MARK A. HOWELL - 9/8/2009

Question
On September 4th, I went to MEPS to take my physical and processing for Air Force Active Duty. Everything went well and I have already sworn in and signed my contract and am now in DEP. But during the physical portion, I failed my depth perception due to the technician making me take the depth perception portion with out my contacts in. As I was taking it, I told him I couldn't distinguish which dots were closer/farther due to me not being able to see properly as I didn't have my contacts in. When it came time for job selection and creating my dream sheet, I was told that I was disqualified for TACP and Aerial Gunner because I failed the depth perception test. I had my hopes set on those jobs but continued on with the process. Am I going to be permanently disqualified for those jobs or in a few years will I be able to retest and try to transfer into either of those career fields?

Answer
Oliver,
The MEPS needs to know what your actual vision is uncorrected.  Anybody can pass it with corrective lenses, they want to know what happens if you lose or damage a contact.  You'll be
disqualified for those jobs for now and be given another career field, but in a few years you can have corrective laser surgery (for free) and cross train into one of these fields if you wish.  Aerial gunner jobs are slowly going away thanks to new technology, but TACPs will likely be around forever.  After 40 years of wearing glasses I had the laser surgery and it was great, probably the best thing I've ever done.
Thanks for joining the AF.
Colonel H