PRK in ROTC

Dial the gate

5-Year Member
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Jan 29, 2013
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I know PRK and lasik are a DoDMERB DQ if you have the procedure done on your own; however, it is done at the SA's. At some point is it authorized for ROTC midshipman and cadets (paying for it ourselves, I would assume)?

Thanks!
 
You are allowed to pay to have it done yourself, but it should be done once a cadet is contracted and if a person is having it done then they need to speak to their cadre first and get approval if I remember correctly. There's forms that will need to be filled out during each checkup also. I had it done after I went to field training between my sophomore and junior year.
 
Talk to your cadre about the timeline. Yes, you can get it done in ROTC, but after you contract. You will get a sheet from your cadre that you'll need to bring in for every appointment: pre-op measurements, 1 month post-op, 2 months post-op, 3 months post-op, 6 months post-op, and a year post-op. I believe you need to have this done a year before a FC1 or six months before FT. (If between 6-12 months, you can get a waiver for FT; if under 6 months, you cannot.)

You will take the sheet with you to your pre-op appointment and get that filled out, but BEFORE you have the surgery, you need to return that sheet to your cadre. They will send it up the chain to HQ AETC/SG, and they need to approve that you can have the surgery. Only then can you move forward.

This is up to date as of December 2013, but could change at any point so the bottom line is, talk to your cadre and double or triple check everything you do. The last thing you want to do is medically disqualify yourself!

(I'm a contracted AS200 who just had PRK surgery in November.)
 
Be very careful about the timing if you are in AFROTC and want to go rated.
His friend that was on the cusp, got it done by the same doc as Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods, landed up getting a CSO slot because his eyes were not healed enough by the time the rated board met. AFROTC rated boards meet Feb. C300 yr.

The big reason for the AF wanting you to wait is the shape of your eyes will change until you are about 20/21. Our DS was on the cusp and when it came time, his eyes were better than when he took his DoDMERB as a 17 yo., and was nowhere near the min.

Even for the AFA when they do it for the cadets, it is not until they are a rising C2C, aka C300 AFROTC. This goes back to the timing because if you get Max 6., than the timing is going to be tight for the rated board since the last check up for clearance is many months after the operation.
 
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