Color Vision Waiver

[3NVYBOUND]

If my son's color vision waiver is granted for NROTC is the waiver good also for USNA or is that a separate waiver board?

 

[Capt MJ]

If my son's color vision waiver is granted for NROTC is the waiver good also for USNA or is that a separate waiver board?

All commissioning programs have their own waiver authority and policies.

USNA approves only a handful of color vision deficient appointees a year. Think teens. And - it is made very clear that unrestricted line warfare communities such as aviation, submarines, surface warfare, and some others, will not be open to them. They will have options for restricted line and staff corps communities. There are threads on this every year. Marine ground - no problem.

NROTC - I do not know.

Your son should be very clear on what Navy or Marine officer communities will be open to him.

I believe USAFA does not have color vision restrictions, but he should research all the SA and ROTC programs at primary sources and by calling a unit of interest or SA Admissions.

Your son should also go to the DoDMERB home page and read through the items in the left-side menu, every page, link and drop-down menu, to understand the process.

DoD Website Consent

 

[3NVYBOUND]

All commissioning programs have their own waiver authority and policies.

USNA approves only a handful of color vision deficient appointees a year. Think teens. And - it is made very clear that unrestricted line warfare communities such as aviation, submarines, surface warfare, and some others, will not be open to them. They will have options for restricted line and staff corps communities. There are threads on this every year. Marine ground - no problem.

NROTC - I do not know.

Your son should be very clear on what Navy or Marine officer communities will be open to him.

I believe USAFA does not have color vision restrictions, but he should research all the SA and ROTC programs at primary sources and by calling a unit of interest or SA Admissions.

Your son should also go to the DoDMERB home page and read through the items in the left-side menu, every page, link and drop-down menu, to understand the process.

DoD Website Consent

thank you

 

[SurferGirl]

Back in 1982, DH was granted a waiver for color blindness for AFROTC and USMA but denied for NROTC. Coast Guard does not grant waivers for color blindness. USNA grants very few. Numbers wise you will have the best chance with Army and Air Force

 

[Capt MJ]

USMMA, as another sea-service-maritime oriented academy, typically does not grant waivers either, to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Butter Cup]

There are no color blind waivers granted for NROTC. Our DS received the NROTC 4-year scholarship last September to Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. Two hours after he got the email from NROTC congratulating him on the scholarship he got a notice in his email from DODMERB. Our DS went into his DODMERB portal and he was disqualified from going into the NROTC unit due to his color blindness. I assume the medical part of his application just had to marry up with the scholarship part. The board who chooses which candidate to give the scholarships to don't see DODMERB results. He called the CDR at the NROTC unit at Texas A&M and he told him they can't accept him due to his color blindness b/c they have no where to send him restricted line after he commissioned. They only have unrestricted line orders. Now, if he had checked MO on his NROTC application (Marine Option) which is the last box to check on the entire application he probably would have received the NROTC-MO scholarship but he did not check that box for Marine Option. The Marine Option takes color blind candidates.

He also applied to USNA. That same week he heard about NROTC he received an LOA (Letter of Assurance) from the Naval Academy. September was a big month - HA HA HA! His USNA portal showed immediately that he was under waiver review for color blind deficiency. Meaning if he didn't get a color blind waver from the Naval Academy Medical Admissions Officer he would not get an Appointment (USNA only gives out about 12-15 waivers/year from Color Deficiency). This all happened in September. Our DS had 3 Nominations and had to just wait it out. He asked A&M if he could switch to Marine Option and still have his scholarship and they said no he would have to reapply. So that would be the first thing we would do differently if he got a do-over. Choose NROTC-MO on the scholarship application.

With all that said our DS accepted the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets admissions and was not going NROTC b/c he couldn't. He was just going to be in the Corps and was to reapply for the Marine Option Fall of 2024 for a Fall of 2025 transition. However, in March our DS received a Color Deficiency Waiver from the Naval Academy and is currently in his Plebe Summer "camp" at the Academy. His dream came true! If he did it all over again not knowing if he would get into the Academy with the waiver he would choose the NROTC-MO box! For sure! The stress from September until March was rough. If he had chosen the MO then he would have had at least the scholarship for the Marines.

Hope that helps.

 

[Capt MJ]

Good anecdotal story that touches all kinds of key points. I suspected NROTC doesn’t waive color blindness.

 

[Butter Cup]

Good anecdotal story that touches all kinds of key points. I suspected NROTC doesn’t waive color blindness.

Unfortunately, they do not. If a candidate is good with Marine Option that is the box they need to check if color blind.