Expert: Rod Powers - 5/31/2007

Question
QUESTION: Mr. Powers,
  I am very sorry to bother you with a few seemingly trivial questions but I cannot seem to find the answers I am looking for- from my recruiter or elsewhere.
  I am 21 and, by the time I enter boot will hold B.A. Does that make me immediately eligible for OCS or any rank?
  Now here is the twist: unfortunately, I am color deficient- not color blind- meaning that I fail those stupid PIP tests.  I am able to see shades and colors, just not in those patterns.  I understand that limits me to a handful of MOS'es.  Do you know which "handful"?  Does being color deficient automatically disbar me from OCS?

Thank You for your time,
Andrew

ANSWER: Hi Andrew,

You'll want to see this page: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/capemay/e-oprograms.htm.

As it mentions on this page, your chances of being selected for Coast Guard OCS as an enlisted member are much lower than your chances of being selected for Coast Guard OCS as a civilian college graduate. So, if your goal is Coast Guard OCS, you may wish to re-think your decision to enlist.

If you do enlist, your college credits will give you the advanced enlistment rank (paygrade) of E-2 (see article at: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/cgadvancedrank.htm).

Don't make the mistake in basic training of calling a Coast Guard Enlisted Job an "MOS" (Military Occupation Specialty). Only the Army and Marine Corps use that term. The Air Force calls their enlisted jobs "AFSCs" (Air Force Specialty Codes), and the Navy and Coast Guard refers to their enlisted jobs as "Ratings."

The Coast Guard only has 20 enlisted ratings (see: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/cgjoin/l/blcgjobs.htm).

In the job descriptions on the pages in the above link, if the rating requires normal color vision, it will either say so, under the heading for "Qualifications," or it will say that you must be able to pass the "Aircrew Candidate Physical" (The ACP requires normal color vision).

I'm afraid, however, according to the Coast Guard Recruiting Website (http://www.gocoastguard.com/faq.html), you must have normal color vision for all Coast Guard commissioned officer programs, including OCS.

For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my U.S. Military information site at: http://usmilitary.about.com.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Do any branches offer commissions to college graduates with less than perfect color vision but otherwise perfect health?

Answer
Hi Andrew,

For Army commisssioning programs, "the inability to distinguish and identify without confusion the color of an object, substance, material, or light that is uniformly colored a vivid red or vivid green is disqualifying." (Reference Army Regulation 40-501).

The Air Force has no specific color vision requirements for their commissioned officer programs, but failing the color vision test will strictly limit officer branch availability. (Reference, Air Force Instruction 48-123, paragraph 16.9)

For the Navy, commission as an unrestricted line officer and/or commission of officers with intended
designators of 611x, 612x, 616x, 621x, 622x, 626x, 648x, 711x, 712x, 717x, 721x, 722x, 727x, 748 requires xnormal color vision (reference Navy Medical Manual, P-117, Chapter 15, Paragraph 15-36(2)). Commission as a restricted line officer. Other than the above restrictions, normal color vision is not required.

Marine Corps commissions do not require normal color vision, but normal color vision is required for many Marine Corps branches (jobs). (Reference (reference Navy Medical Manual, P-117, Chapter 15, Paragraph 15-36(4)).

For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my U.S. Military Information Site at: http://usmilitary.about.com.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com