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What if your vision gets worse


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Okay, so I passed my flight physical with no waivers and I'm glad to finally have it finished. It was actually pretty nerve racking because when I did the eye exam, my vision was 20/70 - just barely passing. To be clear, I'm 20/20 with glasses and contacts. I'm so glad that I passed but my day job involves staring at a computer screen all day which just isnt great for your eyes. What is likely to happen if I get selected, get to basic or WOCS and my vision has gotten worse? I'm worried that they could DQ me or reassign me to an enlisted MOS. Has anyone ever heard of this situation? I am street to seat. I think it's hard to not be nervous because its an area of my future that is completely out of my control. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

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Okay, so I passed my flight physical with no waivers and I'm glad to finally have it finished. It was actually pretty nerve racking because when I did the eye exam, my vision was 20/70 - just barely passing. To be clear, I'm 20/20 with glasses and contacts. I'm so glad that I passed but my day job involves staring at a computer screen all day which just isnt great for your eyes. What is likely to happen if I get selected, get to basic or WOCS and my vision has gotten worse? I'm worried that they could DQ me or reassign me to an enlisted MOS. Has anyone ever heard of this situation? I am street to seat. I think it's hard to not be nervous because its an area of my future that is completely out of my control. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I would just drive on and not worry about it. Eyesight deteriorates over time but I doubt it would fluctuate that much between now and flight school. If your eyesight was 20/50 last year and 20/70 this year then yeah maybe you should worry. My guess is that you've had probably the same prescription for years, and are just being paranoid. If you're already done with the flight physical I imagine you're pretty close to submitting and to me that means you would not have too much more time working at that place. Wear sunglasses when you're outside; take regular breaks from the computer screen. It's too easy to take care of your eyes if you're super worried about it. I have heard from the pilots in my unit that once you're selected for Wocs and flight school they're much more willing to work with you on waivers when you redo your flight physical at Rucker. Take it from someone who has had PRK and failed an eye exam afterwords. Second opinion is key, I got a second opinion because I felt the results of my cycloplegic refraction was incorrect, and it was. Went from -2.25 diopters to 0 prescription with a second opinion. Good luck on your packet.

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Here's a relevant article basically saying that you shouldn't be doing actual damage to your eyes just by looking at screens.

https://www.news-medical.net/health/Does-looking-at-a-computer-damage-your-eyes.aspx

Your next flight phys won't be till right after wocs and before you go to wobc a, which will have been a period of time during which you shouldn't have had much time to look at screens anyway.

My main advice would be to stay focused on your 25m target of getting accepted and don't let potential things in the future (esp if they are out of your control) keep you from making the most of the opportunities and goals you have today.

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Initially you mist pass a class 1A flight physical. Which you just did. It is amuch more stringent physical. Meant to make sure that if you startoff with decent eyes/health you should be able to provide a careers worth of longevity after flight school. Once your a rated aviator the standard drops to a class 1. Read the specs for yourself in the regs but i believe eyes goto 20/200 correctable. You will do another physical at rucker to verify everything is good. So just get through that one and dont get hurt until after your a rated aviator and they have put all that money into you.

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NJP & possibly a Court Martial. It is your responsibility as an Army Aviator to maintain seeing proficiency.

Funny that.

 

But OP, tongue in cheek (in the event that created acute stress).

 

Question for those that have gone through in the last couple of years--does Rucker still conduct another Class 1A on you when you arrive to Rucker? They did on me, so I had two (one about a year prior to initially qual be as being eligible and then another when I showed up to Rucker). Suspect the same as kingdoms like to trust, but verify?

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Funny that.

 

But OP, tongue in cheek (in the event that created acute stress).

 

Question for those that have gone through in the last couple of years--does Rucker still conduct another Class 1A on you when you arrive to Rucker? They did on me, so I had two (one about a year prior to initially qual be as being eligible and then another when I showed up to Rucker). Suspect the same as kingdoms like to trust, but verify?

They still do that. We had to do another class 1 after WOCS.

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Class 1W is the initial flight phys. Class 1A is the post entry phys. The requirements are somewhat more "lenient" from W to A.

 

If staring at screens all day was extremely detrimental to a Pilot's vision, then the SWOs must be blind after staring into multiple PFDs & NVGs their entire careers.

 

You'll be fine.

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None of this is accurate. Class 1 is Class 1.

 

Check your facts. I thought the same until I got an ear full from the POC for applicant flight physicals at Rucker's Aeromedical center when I kept referring to my physical as a class 1A instead of a Class 1W.

 

It has to do with the subjective scrutiny Rucker holds over flight physicals for applicants. I.E. conditions that are technically acceptable under class 1A standards, but could be denied a stamp by Rucker if they so please.

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Thanks for the replies on my query too. Had to go pull out the AR 40-501 off apd.army.mil to see what the hell Rucker is doing (1W vs 1A). They don't list a "1W", but then again they don't list a "1A" either. But they are both there. ;)

 

Para 6-8 (and a bit in 4-2):

 

Class 1 validity:

Initial Class 1 FDME (what we all know as "1A" or Class 1 for Accessions).

 

Fort Rucker Class 1 FDME (what Byte referenced--probably local slang for Class 1 for Warrant or WOC...even though Commissioned also go through the same).

 

Thanks for the info / trivia.

Edited by METT-TC
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  • 1 year later...

I would recommend that you take serious precautions for that. Like, you wear sunglasses from good quality sunglasses shop like city sunglass. Take breaks from your work, follow a good diet routine. Splash water on your eyes regularly and just be relaxed. That's all you will need. Just take care and don't worry, your eyesight will be just fine.

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