Stealth you know I respect you to the moon and back, but....
Your DS was at USAFA and just my guess it was the AF docs that determined this decision, with no cost to the cadet. ROTC cadets are on their parents insurance. They do not see ADAF docs. They can search out a doctor that knows the AF requirements for pilots, but they are not a dime a dozen impo.
I agree with you that it can be done younger, but this is a totally different scenario for !any reasons....starting with as a USAFA cadet they have access to docs that know the ins and outs for FC1 physical.
The OP is going up for SFT/EA. If selected he will have to be able to attend FT anywhere from May to Aug. School will restart in the fall, and their rated board meets Feb of their junior year (6 months before USAFA). If they go to Max 5 or 6 and their school starts in August, it can impact when they can have the surgery because their eyes may not be healed. If they go Max 1,2,3 or 4thwn it is different.
~ However, they will not know their Max date until maybe May.Thus, even if they get 2, the doc might not get them in until Aug. 1. and that means when they put up for the board is still less than 6 months out from the surgery.
As I stated earlier, our DSs friend had the surgery. He used the same doctor that Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods used. He was DQd for pilot because of the timing. He was sent CSO.
Our DS pleaded with us to let him do it, but Bullet being a retired 15E WSO told him point blank....you don't screw with your eyes unless you have too!
~ When he was sent to WPAFB we were on pins and needles worrying if he would get an FC1 due to his eyes. He did, no problem. We, however, didn't expect him to have an issue where they required him to take an EKG(maybe it was an EEG or ECG...can't recall) 25% of the AFROTC cadets with him failed the first exama and had to do the higher level exam.
Evers,
You will be sent to WPAFB if selected for UPT. It is a 3 day TDY.the exam is not like DoDMERB...45 minutes. It is 8-4 with every doctor you can think of. It will end with meeting a flight surgeon.
Once ADAF, every year you will have a physical. One year it is called the short...think DoDMERB 30-45 minutes. The other year is the long physical and it is about 3 hours.
~ DS (2012) grad, pilot now, just did his 2 year and it included them dilating his eyes.