color blindness - Army ROTC/Air Force ROTC

brandons

5-Year Member
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Jul 7, 2013
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Hi. My son is completing his Army and Air Force ROTC scholarship applications. He is color blind - red/green. I was just reading that this could disqualify him from consideration from either one. Has anyone ever heard of a color blind applicant successfully obtaining a waiver on this? He is in excellent health, and his vision is very good. He simply has the red/green issue.

We knew in advance that he could not be a pilot but for some reason up until now we did not realize it could affect everything else, too.
 
I know a couple people that are in Air Force ROTC with me that are color blind so I'm assuming that it doesn't disqualify the person completely. However, it does narrow down the jobs that they are able to do quite a bit if I remember correctly.
 
Ask the mods to move this to DoDMERB, or on your own repost the question there. There are a ton of color blind issues threads. I recall Navy is the strictest, but AF and Army waive.

Good luck, and remember there is 0% chance for a waiver if he doesn't try. At least he will have a definitive answer, and no what ifs!
 
+1 to Reaper.

I know someone in AFROTC that's colorblind, it just limits his job choices
 
I'm color blind - to an extent. My issues are distinguishing blues/purples/blacks - in certain lighting. I was DoDMERB qualified, but my deficiency isn't as bad as yours. I know for Army at least - your MOS's are greatly reduced to just a hand full of them.
 
I know that one of my prospects was DQ'd/waiver denied for vivid red/green color blindness. Total surprise to me, but that was the Army standard a couple summers ago (I was trying to get him to LTC). Just want to prepare you for the worst. I know mild color blindness is waiverable, but not all colorblindness. The only way you are going to know for sure is to win a scholarship or enroll in ROTC and take the DODMERB physical. Then when you are DQ'd for colorblindness the service will get the waiver request. You might also want to work with a ROO to see if she/he can get an answer from the Cadet Command surgeon (in the case of Army) before you go through the whole process.
 
My DS was remedial-ed (sp?) red/green color deficient at his Wright Pat pilot physical in May. Summer 2009, he passed the DODMERB for the AFA and AFROTC scholarship. He has yet to receive any notification with a final DODMERB/AETC decision (not sure which entity). The optometrist said something to the effect "it's possible, but unlikely" that you will be able to fly. Not the same situation as the OP DS though.

When I know something more...I will post it here and the DODMERB board.
 
DoDMERB DQs, and the branches waive. The thing to also put into the equation is supply and demand. Waivers one yr. can be easier to get than another yr. One reason is if the candidates are all equal, and one needs a waiver, while another doesn't, they must decide whether it is worth giving them a waiver if they can fill their quota without giving waivers.

homewith4's DS is a different case since they were already in the system(ROTC cadet rising 400) and when he was sent to WPAFB, he was going for his FAA Class I flight physical. His was just not AF requirements, but FAA requirements too. That physical is a 3 day exam, not the 45 min. exam for a scholarship.

All you can do is complete the exam, and wait. AF may say yes for a waiver, Army may say no. They may both say yes.
 
DS is color blind, specifically red/green. the Air Force did not care as long as he wasn't ever trying to become a pilot. He failed the color blind test completely at the MEDBOARD physical, but as he is going for Electronic/Electrical Engineering he was excepted without any waiver.
Prior to even applying for AFROTC, I talked with the MedBoard after reading the Air Force instruction because all the instruction mentions is being disqualified for being color blind on a pilot application but nothing else. They verified my interpretation of the USAF instruction that non-pilots can be color blind. this does differ from other branches, each one seems to have a different way of handling it.
 
When's the last time you saw wires in a piece of electronic equipment, other than the power hookup?
Don't electrical engineers have to deal with them? Or is that more so electricians?
 
Thanks to all of you for the information. My son is in the process of completing both the Army and Air Force ROTC application. Sounds like the only way to know for sure is to go for it, hope to get a physical, and then hope and pray for passing the physical or receiving a waiver. Thank you again.
 
Thanks to all of you for the information. My son is in the process of completing both the Army and Air Force ROTC application. Sounds like the only way to know for sure is to go for it, hope to get a physical, and then hope and pray for passing the physical or receiving a waiver. Thank you again.

It seems as though AFROTC has waived for colorblindness. Has Army ROTC waived recently as well?
 
The results are in, my DS was DQd for pilot because of his color vision. He will now meet the unrated board that convenes in the next few weeks.
 
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