Eyesight for armed forces

[Dagaros]

Ok long shot once again but here goes. I have recently applied for the army, passed the B.A.R.B with a score of 78 (happy about that) and got the medical forms etc. Went to my optician and it seems i will be refused service due to my eyesight perscription 0.25 over the limit. Well as you can guess this has annoyed my greatly and as the careers office is shut today though I would ask you guys. Reckon the army would consider me after laser eye surgery? (not a discussion on the dangers of surgery please, its a risk I am willing to take). Any input would be welcome.
thx
Joe

[daveb916]

I'll ask the missus and PM you she just happens to be an opitician.

Cheers

[Dagaros]

Thanks man, I have been quoted that (rough guide via phone, appointment with them soon) I have a 94.6% chance that I will be able to drive a car without specs (20/20 or better) but its not this that concerns me really. Not sure if the army would want laser eye surgery patients, and dont wanna lie to them, i.e would the eye be weaker after surgery? I mean it shows commitment that I am willing to go through all that just to get in doesnt it?

[Paul.]

Ask at the careers office mate, they will refer it to the MO at the selection centre that you go to, to be honest mate i dont think you will have any dramas.

hth

paul

[Keef]

For most jobs within the Army you were allowed corrected vision ie Specs.

As laser surgery is for short sight and laser treatment will probably allow you to drive without corrected vision I cannot believe that your uncorrected vision would bar you from the Army. You'd have to be almost blind without specs!

Check with the Careers Office tomorrow, it wouldn't be the first time that an optician had cocked up the conversion from the civvy way of notating eye sight standards to the military way. I know I had one at Selection with just that.

[Sam Vimes]

I'd recommend that you check with the carreers office before you spend a lot of money. Serving members of HMF weren't allowed to have laser eye treatment last time I enquired. The powers that be are still concerned as to what the long term effects may be for what is a relatively new procedure.

Chris

[whiteleggHW77K]

Not sure where I saw it, but I think I saw that they were giving laser eye surgery to some pilots to 'improve' their night vision.

So I would have thought if they'll risk some guy flying a Tornado, they'll have no prob with some suaddie in a jeep!

Still best to check with the Army directly, but I though it might put your mind at rest... I fyou're going to get it done, the longer you have to recover before you sign up, the better.

Pete


P.S. I'm considering having it done, 'cos I'm fed up with my galsses steaming up when I'm hunting!!!

[Dagaros]

Not sure where I saw it, but I think I saw that they were giving laser eye surgery to some pilots to 'improve' their night vision.

Was pretty sure it actually affected your night vision as in it gets worse?

Will check with them first thing tomoz just that the form says I cant even go for medical if my eyesight without is that bad, seems unfair but rules are rules. Its also not an infantry post (although you are basic trained and i know all recruits are soldiers first and so forth but pretty much a desk/inspection job after that as far as i know). Unfortunatly without specs i would be pretty much useless (although didnt stop school putting me in a rugby team), hope they will allow the surgery as i have worked my backside off to get this far

[sparky2488]

Follow the advice from all to check with your local recruiting office . . . shouldn't see a problem in your eyesight problem really, they managed to recruit me for the Signals only to find out the reason I couldn't hear the radio was due to a hearing problem I got cleared through a minor op . . . . with gammy eye's you'll be a sniper my son

[Dagaros]

Yeah better get them to get me a number for a military doc i suppose, if i send the form in as its is its a automatic refusal which tbh is really getting to me.
Fit enough + smart enough = failure to eyesight perscription Doesnt seem balanced

[Ray J]

When ar wa a lad

One o mi class mates got turned down fo't pit cos' or is spec's.

Next time a sin im, i wer in karky

Niver mind them civi's, just geron wi' it, thall gerin

If tha dunt know waram talkin abart ask Ken (Bowell Bugle)

Ray

[nforster]

i would discuss with army admissions officer, laser eye correction may have some problems with night glare and at the moment you cant get a UK private pilots licence after laser correction- may change in future.

[Paddy_SP]

At the beginning of WWII, my father applied to join the fighter defence squadron based at Shoreham, Sussex. He passed all the aptitude tests, only to fail because he was red/green colour-blind. This was a big deal because you need to be able to tell if a warning flare is red or green, so into the army he went. Within the first couple of weeks of the Battle of Britain, the whole fighter unit was wiped out, so I owe my existence to his eyesight problem. Darwin's 'natural selection' mechanism clearly works in strange ways!

Funnily enough, his colour-blindness also saved his neck several times later in the war. While he couldn't distinguish between red and green, his sight was much more sensitive in the brown part of the spectrum, so he could see the enemy's camouflaged machine-gun nests that others with 'normal' sight couldn't!

[Dagaros]

Waiting on doc to phone me back *crosses finger*, wish me luck

[max headroom]

you are in the age bracket for laser correction.
if you can afford it, do it.
i missed the guaranteed bracket by 2 years.
20- 40 is guaranteed lifetime succsess.
before 20 cant be guaranteed, might have to be done again.
after 40 is no guarantee on how long it will last.
if only i could have got to that russian ship.
if you can afford it, do it mate.
i know people that did and never looked back.