Hey Everyone, I wanted to share my experience with obtaining a vision waiver, and I hope this can help anyone who might be in the same situation with having uncorrected vision, aiming to become an SWO.
Diagnosis
Basically, I am unable to be corrected to 20/20; I am only correctable to 20/30 nearsighted and 20/40 farsighted, which is 20/400 uncorrected. My prescription for my glasses was also -7.50 and -7.75, and I have mild myopia and astigmatism (just my luck). I got diagnosed with all of this in my early childhood years when I was 11 or 12 years old. When I saw one of the Naval Doctors here in Hampton Roads for medical, he reviewed my paperwork and explained that what I have is not disqualifying and that he would recommend me for a waiver. Wrote the necessary notes down and then sent me on my way. After filling out the rest of the paperwork for my application, my OR sent up my medical documents first. A couple of days later, they notified her to let me know that they needed extra documentation from me.
Documents
I provided a lot of paperwork, a written letter by my eye doctor, explaining why I don't correct to 20/20, all paperwork from my first visit to the most recent. I think the make-or-break was my ophthalmology records; they wanted paperwork or notes from the last 10 years. Humphry's vision field testing results. Any images of my eyeballs, scans, and nerve fibers. I was able to get all of these within 2-3 days.
Outcome
After submitting those records to my OR, the board submission deadline was approaching, so my recruiter submitted an extension request, which they approved (only took a couple of days). Waiting is probably the worst part of the whole thing, but it only took about a week for me until I got notified by my recruiter that the waiver was approved and uploaded into my account.
HOPE THIS HELPS!
Diagnosis
Basically, I am unable to be corrected to 20/20; I am only correctable to 20/30 nearsighted and 20/40 farsighted, which is 20/400 uncorrected. My prescription for my glasses was also -7.50 and -7.75, and I have mild myopia and astigmatism (just my luck). I got diagnosed with all of this in my early childhood years when I was 11 or 12 years old. When I saw one of the Naval Doctors here in Hampton Roads for medical, he reviewed my paperwork and explained that what I have is not disqualifying and that he would recommend me for a waiver. Wrote the necessary notes down and then sent me on my way. After filling out the rest of the paperwork for my application, my OR sent up my medical documents first. A couple of days later, they notified her to let me know that they needed extra documentation from me.
Documents
I provided a lot of paperwork, a written letter by my eye doctor, explaining why I don't correct to 20/20, all paperwork from my first visit to the most recent. I think the make-or-break was my ophthalmology records; they wanted paperwork or notes from the last 10 years. Humphry's vision field testing results. Any images of my eyeballs, scans, and nerve fibers. I was able to get all of these within 2-3 days.
Outcome
After submitting those records to my OR, the board submission deadline was approaching, so my recruiter submitted an extension request, which they approved (only took a couple of days). Waiting is probably the worst part of the whole thing, but it only took about a week for me until I got notified by my recruiter that the waiver was approved and uploaded into my account.
HOPE THIS HELPS!
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