You are here:
Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/vision question.
Advertisement
Question
I've wanted to join the Marines for the past year. However my vision is less than perfect. An accident left me with out a lense in one eye so my fishing is 20/400 in my left eye but 20/20 in my right. As far as I know the vision in my left eye cannot be improved or not by much. Would this disqualify me? If you could help me that would be wonderful.
T. Shadow
Hi Trista,
Medical standards for joining the U.S. Miltary can be read at: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/intmedstandards.htm
As you can see, under the standards for "vision," (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/l/bleyes2.htm), the standards for enlistment are (corrected with glasses):
(1) 20/40 in one eye and 20/70 in the other eye.
(2) 20/30 in one eye and 20/100 in the other eye.
(3) 20/20 in one eye and 20/400 in the other eye.
So, the real question is what is your vision with glasses?
One more point. The refraction for correction (which pretty much relates to the thickness of your lenses) is also a factor. As you can see in the Article, a refraction of +_ 8.00 is also disqualifying, and would require a waiver. This is primarily because eye glasses inserts in the Chemical Warfare masks (with is mandatory equipment for all military members) is only designed to accept lenses of certain thickness.
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
Related Articles
Answers by Expert:
Rod Powers
Expertise
Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.
Experience
Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.
Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).
©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.