Vision questions about Navy HSPS

[Ponger]

I'm applying to Navy HSPS next year and hope to do a DMO tour but I'm wondering if my bad vision will impair me from getting the scholarship or doing DMO. My right eye is -7.25 and the left is -6.75. Otherwise I'm in great shape. I run 6-10 miles regularly and besides the need for a little upperbody bulk could handle most of what the Navy could give me.

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[inflamesdjk02]

correct me if i'm wrong, but i think if you are within +/- 8.00, then you're gold.

 

[Ponger]

awesome, thanks. I heard that after 8 years the Air Force would cover LASIK or some other surgical procedure, would the Navy do the same thing?

 

[notdeadyet]

awesome, thanks. I heard that after 8 years the Air Force would cover LASIK or some other surgical procedure, would the Navy do the same thing?

LASIK currently runs about $1,500 for both eyes. In 8 years it'll cost next to nothing. I wouldn't worry about it...

 

[BKK]

Take this for what it is worth (I am active duty Air Force Optometrist talking about Navy stuff...). You should be fine vision-wise for commissioning. There may be more stringent vision regulations for dive duty. The best way to find out would be to talk with a navy Flight surgeon or DMO to get the answer straight from the regs. If you are still over the refractive error limit, then refractive surgery may be an option. You just need to make sure that you follow the appropriate waiver/pre-op criteria to make sure that you are not DQed after having the procedure (LASIK waivers not allowed for AF flyers, PRK is waiverable after 12 months. Wavefront-LASIK is allowed for aviators in certain airframes, not for student aircrew. Confused?? It is not a clear cut answer....)


Good luck,


BK

 

[Kawen]

Take this for what it is worth (I am active duty Air Force Optometrist talking about Navy stuff...). You should be fine vision-wise for commissioning. There may be more stringent vision regulations for dive duty. The best way to find out would be to talk with a navy Flight surgeon or DMO to get the answer straight from the regs. If you are still over the refractive error limit, then refractive surgery may be an option. You just need to make sure that you follow the appropriate waiver/pre-op criteria to make sure that you are not DQed after having the procedure (LASIK waivers not allowed for AF flyers, PRK is waiverable after 12 months. Wavefront-LASIK is allowed for aviators in certain airframes, not for student aircrew. Confused?? It is not a clear cut answer....)


Good luck,


BK

As an Air Force optometrist, perhaps you can help me with this. I'm interested in joining the AF as a pharmacist (one of the fields they desperately need people in right now from what I understand). I just had my vision checked about a week ago and found out that my prescription is now as follows:

OD: -9.50 -0.25 x 068
OS: -10.25 -0.75 x 155

I know I'm beyond the -8.00 and I'd need a waiver if I were to commission. My question is would they (in your opinion) waiver vision as bad as mine? I have been hesitant about getting any sort of corrective surgery b/c my father had cataracts quite young (in his 30's) and knowing the way genetics has fallen, I'm sure in a decade or so, that will probably be me. I am corrected with contacts to 20/15, if that makes any difference.

 

[shaocc]

Hello!

I've asked several Navy recruiters about this problem and I have yet to receive a direct answer to my questions. I did the summer program at the Naval Academy and was fine doing the obstacle course and other activities. Afterwards, I applied to the Naval Academy and was rejected because of a history of asthma and was not able to receive a waiver for my vision, which is about -9.00 in both eyes. From my understanding, if I were to enroll in the Naval Academy I would need to be fully physically capable because I don't know what career I will end up having.

However, I am currently a pre-medical student expecting to go to medical school, hopefully with the help of the HSPS scholarship. In that case, being a doctor would be under the 'restricted' line of work, which means that technically I don't need to be medically qualified, since people who have been injured seriously are also under the category of 'restricted'. Does that mean that I still have a chance at the HPSP scholarship even though my waiver for my vision has been rejected in the past?

Thank you for your help - I appreciate any additional information/perspectives.

 

[244913]

All this stuff is waiverable for the HSPS, I wouldn't worry about it. The cool thing about the HSPS compared to HPSP is that the monthly stipend is almost doubled, and you are commissioned as an O3 rather than O1 during medical school. Not only that, but dignitaries and congressman have to salute you even when you're walking around in mufti, similar to the reg concerning medal of honor winners. I'm also told that you are "assigned" a harem of blondes and brunettes from the communities surrounding Dallas TX, who have all been to at least two years of college, wear makeup while working out, and can count to 4 without prompting.

If you go to one of the newer DO schools like "RVU-COM" or the one they are trying to open which is being financed with tobacco money you come in as an O4 and get a signed picture of yourself flanked by the SECDEF and CENTCOM commander. They do not have to salute you but instead must give you a handjob (if you so desire).

The HPSP on the other hand, is a little more stringent in its standards. No blondes, no brunettes, IRR during med school and great likelihood of spending 4 years in purgatory as a DMO, Flight Surgeon or GMO before your sins are exculpated and you are able to escape to the civilian world. I'm told that the day you sign out on terminal leave you ascend a staircase flanked by heavenly light much like Tim Robbins did at the end of Jacob's Ladder.

 

[backrow]

For the above poster - no, the physical standards are the same across the Navy. If the Navy rejected you, they rejected you. Good luck with your civilian career.

Not exactly true. Yes, the standards as written in the MANMED are the same for all commissioning sources; however, the waiver authorities are very different and may have their own interpretation on things.

For example: color blindness - big no, no for most commissioning sources, but I've seen it waived for medical corps. One will never know for sure what the waiver authorities will say until they apply. My general advice for things that are out of standards is to not get your hopes up, but apply if you really want it and see what happens.

 

[backrow]

You may not realize this, but USNA is authorized a certain number of, let's call them, color blind waivers for simplicity per year. Those who are very strong canfidates, or maybe recruited athletes, are usually given one, but they are limited to basically USMC upon graduation.

Although BUMED has set the standards as outlined in ManMed they are not the waiver authority for all sources. For USNA they(usna, not BUMED) are the waiver authority, for USUHS the President of the school is the waiver authority, for ROTC I believe it is Naval Education (I don't have ManMed in front of me right now to confirm). Because of the different waiver authorities there can be a different "waiver standard" although as you and I both note the commissioning standards are the same across all sources.

Someone being denied for a commission as a line officer and later being cleared for restricted line or staff corps is not unheard of.
Now for the OP's particular situation you can't know until he actually applies and goes through the waiver process again.

I speak as someone who has dealt with commissioning medical standards for almost ten years now through my close relationship with DoDMerb and service academy recruitment.

 

[backrow]

As an aside a history of asthma after the age of 13 is rarely waived for any commissioning source in my experience.

 

[backrow]

Is there any particular reference that outlines waiver standards, and explains the differences for different waiver authorities? I'm guessing not, right?

ManMed outlines who the waiver authority is; however, you are correct as far as I have seen that there is no published "waiver guide".

Also, at the risk of sounding like a jerk: last year you were a USUHS student, if I recall correctly. Now your title says attending, which I don't fully understand. Is your "decade of experience" with this process simply you going to the Academy and then USUHS?

Your assumption of my grad date is incorrect. And my knowledge on this subject has much less to do with my position as a Navy physician and much more to do with my work in service academy recruitment

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