Eyes?

colorado416

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
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Jan 30, 2009
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I know that there are several disqualifications for having bad eyesight. My eyes are -5.00 and corrected to 20/20. Is there anything I should be worried about? Will I need a waiver for this? :confused:
 
I know that there are several disqualifications for having bad eyesight. My eyes are -5.00 and corrected to 20/20. Is there anything I should be worried about? Will I need a waiver for this? :confused:

You don't mention which academy, but you should be good. USNA is -6.0, USMA is -8.0 USAFA is -8.0.

Please, just contact Mr. Larry Mullen with your questions, his email is in the forums here in this thread. Give him your Full Name and last 4 of SSN.

He's great and he'll do the best that any one can do for you.

I wish you the best and I really hope you don't have to enter into this holding pattern for a waiver. But at -5.0 I don't think you'll have a problem..

JB.
 
colorado416 Standing by...:thumb:
 
Clueless here...

My soon-to-be mid has 20/20 eyes, but his younger brother just started wearing glasses and is VERY interested in going into the military. That being said, what is a -5.0 etc?

Thanks!
 
Clueless here...

My soon-to-be mid has 20/20 eyes, but his younger brother just started wearing glasses and is VERY interested in going into the military. That being said, what is a -5.0 etc?

Thanks!

To help out others who may be interested, the -5.0 that is referenced is the refractive error of the individual eye in diopters. It is basically the strength of the prescription required. It is noted either in a negative number in .25 increments (i.e. -2.75) or in a positive number in .25 increments (i.e. +.75).

Hope this helps the others who may be wondering.
 
RetiredHM is correct about the positive and negative numbers.

I would just add that you'll find that Optometrist usually use the negative numbers and Opthamologist usually use the positive. And often, the Opthamologist will give a positive number that you must deduct the astigmatism from in order to get the actual refractive error.

For example:
OD -7.5 0.25 x165 20/20
OS -7.5 1.5 x180 20/20

and

OD +7.75 -0.25 x 165 20/20
OS +9.0 - 1.5x180 20/20

are the same prescription. The top one from an Optometrist, and the bottom one from an Opthamologist. For the second, you must add the -1.5 to the +9.0.

So for waivers, make sure your civilian doctor provides the accurate information. They need to understand that you're not wanting to purchase a new pair of glasses from them, you need to have an accurate refractive error to give to DoDMERB.

JB
 
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