Is my eyesight hopeless?

[laurieballard]

Hello

I posted a while back about eyesight requirements for a specific job.

I spoke to my local AFCO and they said I had no chance of getting into any of the forces

My prescription is :

Right - +4.25
Left - +6

My left eye is the issue, the +6 simply balances the vision, I can barely see out of it. I would estimate that the vision in the left eye is about 20-25% and I can just about make out the large letter on the top of the optitions chart with my left eye.

Right eye, I can read most of the chart.

Is it really hopeless?

My left eye is lazy and will never get better and cannot be fixed by laser eye surgery

 

[snowball1]

Aye pretty hopeless, to be blunt!

 

[TrickyTree]

Oh I don't know. Take my specs or contact lenses away from me and I cannot see a goddamned thing, especially out of my right eye, and I've been in the mob for donkeys years now.

 

[grumpyoldb]

Is it really hopeless?

My left eye is lazy and will never get better and cannot be fixed by laser eye surgery

The situation has probably moved on by miles in this day and age....................but!

When I first applied to the RAF I went for radio/radar, as I had already completed an apprenticeship as a TV engineer. I was sent for an eyetest and found to have a lazy left eye. I got knocked back. A month later the AFCO contacted me to say that they were struggling for aircraft electricians and had relaxed the eyetest standards for that trade.
6 weeks later I was at Swinderby doing what is now called phase one.
Ask if a med relax is possible, if not for your chosen trade but possibly others.

Good luck with it. DT_Xtremez_14:

 

[True Blue Jack]

The problem is that the Armed Forces can afford to be picky at the moment. A friend of mine was recently kicked back because he had one abnormal peak-flow meter reading 10 years ago. It was the same when I joined (a long time ago) but in between all kinds of medical exemptions have been permitted. Indeed, there is still every chance that a few months from now an amputee will graduate from Cranwell.

If an RAF career is so important to you, then be patient. We've been round this buoy a few times and the chances are that, in time, poor eyesight will be less of a barrier.

 

[Teh Wal]

Oh I don't know. Take my specs or contact lenses away from me and I cannot see a goddamned thing, especially out of my right eye, and I've been in the mob for donkeys years now.

Aye, but would you get in nowadays?
In this day and age (or the future anyway) when everyone is going to be deployable, and reading between the lines that means being an active fighting person, how much use would you be if you'd left your specs on your bedside table when the bad guys come over the wire (so to speak)? Maybe a bit of an extreme take on things but there you go.

The problem is that the Armed Forces can afford to be picky at the moment. A friend of mine was recently kicked back because he had one abnormal peak-flow meter reading 10 years ago.

Very picky. Last year my youngest son (who is 20 this month) applied to join the Green Jobs (Army, for the confused). When he was 7 he was diagnosed with asthma; he used an inhaler (puffer) for a couple of years and had no further problems from about age 10 onwards. When he was 16 he had a bit of a cough and went to see the doctor; the doc looked at his records and prescribed him with a puffer "...to use if he felt he needed it...", which he didn't. So, the Army decided that because he'd been prescribed an inhaler within the past 4 years he was an unsuitable recruit... and this was despite the fact that he was/is extremely fit - he did gymnastics for about 3 years or so and has done parkour/free running for about 5 years including doing a few half-marathons. He appealed the Army Med Board decision; his doctor wrote a letter explaining the puffer reasoning as well as the fact there was no evidence of asthma at the time and even spoke with someone relatively high up who stated that the army would probably carry out their own lung function tests however his appeal failed and he was invited to re-apply 12 months later.

 

[I'm a liar]

There is a great story of chap that went through the AFCO with a glass eye. 'Read the chart with your right eye'. Up goes the chaps left hand to cover his glass eye. 'Now read the chart with your left eye'. Up goes his right hand to cover his glass eye. Got all the way to phase 2.

Then again I am a liar. (true though). Advice is go to the AFCO and let the Doc decide!

 

[Joe_90]

Aye, but would you get in nowadays?
In this day and age (or the future anyway) when everyone is going to be deployable, and reading between the lines that means being an active fighting person, how much use would you be if you'd left your specs on your bedside table when the bad guys come over the wire (so to speak)? Maybe a bit of an extreme take on things but there you go.



Very picky. Last year my youngest son (who is 20 this month) applied to join the Green Jobs (Army, for the confused). When he was 7 he was diagnosed with asthma; he used an inhaler (puffer) for a couple of years and had no further problems from about age 10 onwards. When he was 16 he had a bit of a cough and went to see the doctor; the doc looked at his records and prescribed him with a puffer "...to use if he felt he needed it...", which he didn't. So, the Army decided that because he'd been prescribed an inhaler within the past 4 years he was an unsuitable recruit... and this was despite the fact that he was/is extremely fit - he did gymnastics for about 3 years or so and has done parkour/free running for about 5 years including doing a few half-marathons. He appealed the Army Med Board decision; his doctor wrote a letter explaining the puffer reasoning as well as the fact there was no evidence of asthma at the time and even spoke with someone relatively high up who stated that the army would probably carry out their own lung function tests however his appeal failed and he was invited to re-apply 12 months later.

The RAF have an identical standard mate, AFCOs are always turning people away for the same reason.

 

[tacadmin]

The RAF have an identical standard mate, AFCOs are always turning people away for the same reason.

Standards aren't identical actually. The AFCO5 is a tri-service document, but eyesight requirements vary between the 3 services dependent on the job etc.

If you are below the minimum eyesight requirement now, and laser eye surgery can't fix it, then I doubt you'd ever get in. Minimum eyesight requirements haven't changed much over the years, and are unlikely to change for many of the reasons above.

 

[Joe_90]

Standards aren't identical actually. The AFCO5 is a tri-service document, but eyesight requirements vary between the 3 services dependent on the job etc.

If you are below the minimum eyesight requirement now, and laser eye surgery can't fix it, then I doubt you'd ever get in. Minimum eyesight requirements haven't changed much over the years, and are unlikely to change for many of the reasons above.

I was talking about the inhaler issue, if you've been prescribed an inhaler in the last 5 years, whether you've used it or not, you wont get in the RAF at the moment. Unless things have changed in the last couple of months, which is very likely I suppose.

Perhaps almost identical would have been a better phrase?