Final select in a predicament

[batteryguy4]

I received my "final select" notice last week with an OCS class date of March 4th. Although I should be very excited, I have a problem that is causing me a lot of worry. Its come to my attention that my visual acuity in my left eye may not meet standards. With both eyes I am 20/20-. My right eye is 20/20- as well, however its not clear what my left eye is. I have had 4 eye exams in the past few months and each one rates my left eye DVA between 20/30 and 20/30--. For this reason, I always believed that I was ok. The problem (which I only recently realized) is that I'm not always getting the 20/40 line with zero misses. My difficulty is in distinguishing between O's, C's, and D's --all other letters are pretty easy. A typical test for me goes like this: I get say, 3 out of 5 letters on the 20/30 line, and 4 out of 5 letters on the 20/40 line (the one I miss is always an O or a C or a D).

I am set on going pilot, and pilot only. If anyone with experience in this matter can offer advice, it would be much appreciated. Also, if anyone is able to provide a way of contacting a doctor at NAMI or OCS, that would be awesome. I'm planning on taking this up with my recruiter next week, but he has a very busy schedule so I'm not sure when I'll be able to meet with him.

some of the questions I have are:
-is my situation disqualifying? (it would seem so if you're rated at the smallest line with no misses)
-if my situation is disqualifying, how do I go about telling the Navy that I need to get PRK and so cannot make my OCS date
-if I get PRK, how long do I have to wait to get medically re-cleared? (I have no myopia/hyperopia, but astigmatism at -1.0 cylinder). Based on the NAMI waiver guide, I can't really tell if its 3 or 6 months.
-if I get PRK, do I have to go through the application process again? I would hope that I could hang onto my pro-req status.

thanks for any help.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

1) it is my understanding you can miss either 1 or 2 as long as you do not exceed 20/40 in the worse eye
2) they can submit the eye doctor results to N3M and they and NOMI can decide
3) 6 months
4) yes you would have to re-apply

 

[Diesel Fox]

-No, as long as you can read 20/40 with exceptions. These exceptions include finding your refractive error. If your eyes are worse than what the NAMI waiver guide permits for applicant flight physical you will be switched to NFO, or released depending on the needs of the Navy.
-Tell them you want the PRK and reapply after 6 months and successful surgery results.
-It is 6 months from the date of the surgery to apply for the waiver to apply for OCS. You will need all your pre and post-op paperwork especially your 6 month write up.
-Yes, you would have to reapply.

You said your refractive error for astigmatism is -1.0 diopters, which is in fact the NAMI limit, last time I checked. Also your civilian script may be different from your military script. If you are worse than -1.0 astigmatism in either eye there may be some leniency, but don't bet your career on that.

With that being said you should know that nothing is guaranteed; Not your flight slot or even graduation. There are plenty of things that can exclude you from pilot training that you may not even know about. And there are plenty of things that can happen at OCS (Rhabdo, Cellulitis, and injuries) that can exclude you from graduating on time or at all.