Expert: Cynthia Bedell - 9/13/2007

Question
QUESTION: My son has applied for an Air Force ROTC and Navy ROTC scholarship.  He has also applied to the Air Force Academy and Coast Guard Academy.  He took his physical earlier this summer.  We received a letter today that he did not meet the standards for the Air Force Academy because of "myopia - refractive error greater than -8.00 diopters (spherical equivalent)."

Is a waiver possible for this?  What are the odds of success.  He's always known he'll never be a pilot but he wants to be a commissioned officer and work with computers.

ANSWER: Dear Jay --

Yes, there should be a vision waiver if your son's eyesight is correctable to 20/20.  If his eyesight cannot be corrected that well, then there is still a possible waiver up to about 20/35 depending on the service needs at the time.

Right now the Air Force and the Coast Guard have sufficient applicants, so they will award fewer waivers.  The Army and the Navy need more people, so they award more waivers.  Waivers for ROTC will be easier to get than waivers for academies.  However, leave the academy applications in play.  Much can change up until the last minute.

Apply for the vision waiver as soon as you can.  Be sure he has glasses and contacts (if he wears them) that correct his vision to 20/20 when he goes for any follow-up screening.

Good luck to him.


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

QUESTION: Thanks.  His exam came in at -9.75 in one eye and -8.00 in the other.  Is there any hope for a waiver with that kind of vision?

Answer
Yes, but only if his eyesight is correctable to near 20/20.  He will never qualify for flight or for sniper training, but he can qualify for other specialties.  

My husband received a waiver for Navy service with eyesight that was that bad.  However he is correctable to better than 20/20 with glasses, and was going to be a nuclear officer teaching submariners about their equipment.

Don't give up now.  Keep pressing and try the other services, they all need officers that understand information technology.