Uncorrected Vision

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NJcandidate2024

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Looking through a USNA admissions brochure, I noticed this line under their medical qualification section:

“Visual acuity: 20/40, correctable to 20/20”

Does this mean that uncorrected vision worse than 20/40 is disqualifying at USNA? I’ve never heard this before and considering how many mids have glasses, it doesn’t make sense to me. The medical considerations document on the USNA website also doesn’t mention uncorrected vision. So does USNA have an uncorrected vision standard? Similarly, can anybody answer for the other service academies? Thanks.
 
The standard in MANMED (there’s a paragraph in there for vision requirements for officer accessions) is in line with the Appendix A: Medical Considerations on the USNA website.

Uncorrected doesn’t matter so long as you’re correctable to 20/20 for near and far vision.

However, visual acuity isn’t the only thing they’re looking for. They’re also looking for refractive error and degree of astigmatism.
 
This is what they say on USNA website:

Eyes and Vision Disqualifications

Below is a listing of those eye and vision disqualifications that are the most prevalent. This listing, while comprehensive, does not contain all possible disqualifications for eyes and vision.

• Vision not correctable to 20/20 in both eyes is disqualifying. Refractive error exceeding + or – 8.00 diopters and astigmatism exceeding 3.00 diopters is disqualifying.
• Substandard color vision is disqualifying. Color vision is retested on Induction Day.
• Many chronic eye diseases/conditions such as keratoconus, glaucoma, optic atrophy, uveitis and retinal degenerations are disqualifying.
• Procedures to change the refraction (Corneal Refractive Surgery) performed with the excimer laser, including but not limited to photorefractive keratectomy, laser epithelial keratomileusis, and laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis are disqualifying if any of the following conditions are met: the pre-surgical refractive error in either eye exceeded a spherical equivalent of +8.00 or -8.00 diopters, pre-surgical astigmatism exceeded 3.00 diopters, at least six-month recovery period has not occurred between last refractive surgery or augmenting procedure and accession medical exam, there have been complications and/or medications or ophthalmologic solutions required and post-surgical refraction in each eye is not stable. Additionally, history of any incisional corneal surgery, including but not limited to partial or full thickness corneal transplant, radial keratotomy, astigmatic keratotomy, or corneal transplants are disqualifying.

So, uncorrected vision of worse than 20/40 is not by itself necessarily disqualifying
 
20/40 corrected to 20/20, with depth perception is the requirement to select 1390 (Student Naval Aviator), so that's where you might have gotten the number from.

For commissioning in general, correcting to 20/20 is the big hurdle for eyesight, along with colorblindness ("the kiss of death" for URL designators).
 
NJcandidate2024 said:
Looking through a USNA admissions brochure, I noticed this line under their medical qualification section:

“Visual acuity: 20/40, correctable to 20/20”

Does this mean that uncorrected vision worse than 20/40 is disqualifying at USNA? I’ve never heard this before and considering how many mids have glasses, it doesn’t make sense to me. The medical considerations document on the USNA website also doesn’t mention uncorrected vision. So does USNA have an uncorrected vision standard? Similarly, can anybody answer for the other service academies? Thanks.
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My DS is 20/350 without correction, but he is corrected 20/20. They told him he could have lasik once in the Navy (I think summer of junior year.) He is in his plebe year, Class of 2023. Best of luck to you!
 
Hey there again! Just as a follow up, I recently was given a qualified status by DoDMERB for USMA. However, in the same document, this following paragraph was included:

"For the U.S. Naval Academy Program you are medically qualified to enter the Naval Academy. However, if your uncorrected visual acuity is worse than 20/40 the Naval Academy is limited by the Chief of Naval Operations in the number of candidates that can be accepted who require correction of their vision in order to meet the commissioning visual requirements for specialized duties. The admissions board will automatically review your record in a supplemental selection process; you need not request this review."

So does this mean that although uncorrected vision worse than 20/40 is not disqualifying, it does make it harder to get into USNA since there is a limit on the number of candidates accepted with uncorrected vision worse than 20/40? Since this is no longer a DoDMERB decision, I figured the USNA forum would be the proper place to ask this, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks again everybody for all your help.
 
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Yes, you are correct. My DD (class of 2021) was in the group you seem to be part of. The vision standards vary quite a bit among different academies, with USNA being the most strict in our experience. My DD, whose vision is worse than yours, ended up getting an appointment to USNA after going through the waiver process with a very long wait to be selected from the group of those with poor uncorrected visual acuity. USAFA deemed her qualified as long as correctable to 20/20 and she did not even need a waiver, as did USMMA where she is currently a 2/C Midshipman. I would recommend not putting all your eggs in one basket with USNA if you have vision issues. Good luck.
 
Kind of off topic, but it's sort of fascinating to consider the underlying reasons for the various standards. Wouldn't soldiers aiming a rifle need better sight than sailors aiming a ship? But the logic pops right out at you once you think about it: Air Force and Coast Guard are usually not more than days or weeks away from a base visit, whereas sailors could be at sea for months.
 
StPaulDad said:
Kind of off topic, but it's sort of fascinating to consider the underlying reasons for the various standards. Wouldn't soldiers aiming a rifle need better sight than sailors aiming a ship? But the logic pops right out at you once you think about it: Air Force and Coast Guard are usually not more than days or weeks away from a base visit, whereas sailors could be at sea for months.
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Navy and Air Force standards are driven by the need for pilots with qualifying vision. They also take into consideration the fact that some who enter the academy with qualifying vision won't have qualifying vision by graduation.

Of course PRK/Lasik affects that calculation much more today. Prior to PRK/Lasik USNA had much stricter admissions standards for those needing glasses - if memory serves, at one time no more than 25% of the class could have uncorrected vision below 20/20.
 
NJcandidate2024 said:
Hey there again! Just as a follow up, I recently was given a qualified status by DoDMERB for USMA. However, in the same document, this following paragraph was included:

"For the U.S. Naval Academy Program you are medically qualified to enter the Naval Academy. However, if your uncorrected visual acuity is worse than 20/40 the Naval Academy is limited by the Chief of Naval Operations in the number of candidates that can be accepted who require correction of their vision in order to meet the commissioning visual requirements for specialized duties. The admissions board will automatically review your record in a supplemental selection process; you need not request this review."

So does this mean that although uncorrected vision worse than 20/40 is not disqualifying, it does make it harder to get into USNA since there is a limit on the number of candidates accepted with uncorrected vision worse than 20/40? Since this is no longer a DoDMERB decision, I figured the USNA forum would be the proper place to ask this, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks again everybody for all your help.
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I was quite surprised by that statement when I first saw it on the back of a DoDMERB report. It seems to indicate that there is a limit, but does not state a specific number. At one time that number was specifically stated by admissions in the catalogue (pre-internet days).

I would guess it is not as much of a concern today as before PRK/Lasik. However, as a non-scientific observation if you look at an Army-Navy game or pictures of I Day/R Day, there appears to be a lot more Cadets wearing glasses than Midshipmen.🤓
 
@jl123 123 Maybe, but there are usually separate standards for aviation (really high) and everyone else (Coasties only require correctable to 20/20, for example.)
 
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