My oldest son is convinced that he can be a Naval Aviator. He is 25 with a Masters Degree and currently a full time Strength and Conditioning Coach at University Louisiana at Monroe. He went to Pensacola for Spring Break; saw all the jets fly and had beers with several aviators... that's all it took to rekindle something that he has wanted to do since he was a little boy.

He previously was supposed to go to Annapolis out of high school to play football but got nabbed by.....you guessed it..... color blindness.

He seems to think that he can pull it off this time. I told him he had a snow balls chance.

Looking for any advice or knowledge on this topic.

That would certainly make it difficult to "call the ball".

Been there. Considered that 1988 (Class of 93). Red Blind. No good. You can't overcome the genetics. Can't fly with color corrective lens.

Army, however, loves colorblindness, especially for infantry - camouflage doesn't work as well against colorblind folks.
So no Navy scholarship extended, but an Army one was.

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Army, however, loves colorblindness, especially for infantry -

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I don't believe this is the case anymore. When I was joining the Air Force (5 years ago), You couldn't be colorblind and go 11b. I only know this because I'm colorblind, too, and the Air Force only wanted to give me secretary jobs instead of any of the intel jobs I wanted. I checked with the other branches to see what jobs they had that didn't care about being colorblind.

I don't think aviation is going to happen for him. I had to take the DLAB for linguistics in order to do anything that wasn't secretary work. In fact, I couldn't even be an airborne linguist because of it, and that didn't even involve flying, just being in a plane.

I was lucky and at least found something I would enjoy in the military while being colorblind. They were willing to work with me somewhat on it. Unfortunately, they weren't willing to work with me on the Crohn's disease I found out I had the hard way.

I know for a fact colorblindness disqualifies you from flying in the army. Would imagine it's the same way in the navy. As an aviator it's a pretty important part when it comes to flying and your cockpit displays

Pretty much thought so.

Thanks guys.

Understand his desire for a new career. Anything to get out of Monroe...

Went to MEPS after graduation in '02 and discovered I was red/green color blind. For the life of me I could not identify the numbers in the dotted circle.

I was hoping for infantry and OCS for the army and was told none of that would be possible.

I begged and pleaded and they allowed me to see an outside ophthalmologist.

He gave me the same tests but gave me about three more seconds with each circle.

Luckily, I passed and he wrote a letter and they accepted that exam.

The process sucked but was just a minor issue to overcome.

I'm not a recruiter but when I was in Armor, they told me that you couldn't be a Tanker if you were Red/Green colorblind. Which makes sense, since all the gunnery optics are red and green.

I worked for a guy who was a Combat Engineer Officer who was colorblind so that might be a way to go.

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Understand his desire for a new career. Anything to get out of Monroe...

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Yep. However, he went from part time at BYU and Virginia to a full time at Monroe. Full time at 25 is way ahead of the curve. Most of his mentors did not get full time until their 30's.

Irish Man Good On You! I had an FSO who did something similar. Great guy, would have been a shame for the Army to miss out on his talents.

When I was in recruiting and later at the MEPS we never broke the rules on outside exams or executed an exam at anything less than regulation... but there were some folks who probably did not need to be in the military who we were extra thorough with, and some folks (like you probably) we thought the Army would benefit from so we were fairly liberal with our interpretations of the rules. Not a lot of wiggle room but enough to help good people out a little.

Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess

Yep. He didn't pass the eye test.

Yes but where there is a will there is a way!
True Story
1976-1979 there was a glut of pilots in the UASF. Most ROTC pilot candidates lost their pilot slot to enter the USAF. They were given options to not go on active duty or go in a different career path.
I chose aircraft maintenance as did a lot of my peers. However, after initial training, the pilot training flow opened up and we were able to reapply for pilot training.
A Lieutenant friend calls me on a Saturday morning asking if he could come by....he needed my help.
He shows up with a color blind test booklet that has the various numbers shaded in colors. Turns out he is colorblind could only get about half the numbers. Asked me to trace the number for him but still could not get them.
We devised a plan. On the numbers he could not get we focused on the bottom right corner of the page. The numbers were made up of circles of different sizes. We would look down and see a snowman that would be the number 12 or we would see mickey mouse that might be a 10 and so forth. After about an hour of training he was able to get through the booklet. He somehow got the booklet the eye doctors use at our local base. He took the exam passed, got selected to pilot training, graduated with an F-15 assignment! True Story......In the Air Force you are never tested for color blindness once you become a pilot.

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Yes but where there is a will there is a way!
True Story
1976-1979 there was a glut of pilots in the UASF. Most ROTC pilot candidates lost their pilot slot to enter the USAF. They were given options to not go on active duty or go in a different career path.
I chose aircraft maintenance as did a lot of my peers. However, after initial training, the pilot training flow opened up and we were able to reapply for pilot training.
A Lieutenant friend calls me on a Saturday morning asking if he could come by....he needed my help.
He shows up with a color blind test booklet that has the various numbers shaded in colors. Turns out he is colorblind could only get about half the numbers. Asked me to trace the number for him but still could not get them.
We devised a plan. On the numbers he could not get we focused on the bottom right corner of the page. The numbers were made up of circles of different sizes. We would look down and see a snowman that would be the number 12 or we would see mickey mouse that might be a 10 and so forth. After about an hour of training he was able to get through the booklet. He somehow got the booklet the eye doctors use at our local base. He took the exam passed, got selected to pilot training, graduated with an F-15 assignment! True Story......In the Air Force you are never tested for color blindness once you become a pilot.

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Been there, done that, failed miserably.

I have 90% hearing loss in my right ear. I've had it since before grade school. When I got my Marine Corps Scholarship for A&M I had to go take a physical at the induction station in Houston. During the hearing test it was in a room with ten stations all separated by curtains. No one monitoring them. I listened to see which ear was tested first and put the head set on to take both ear test with my good ear. 100% and good to go. Fast forward two years. Was taking my physical to go to Quantico. Sat across from a Navy Corpsman to take the hearing test. Took and failed it 7 times. No go.

Colonel Johnson, Head of NROTC at the time, had previously worked for General P.X. Kelly, Commandant of the Marine Corps. Kelly came to A&M for the commissioning. Johnson took me to meet with him privately to see if we could get a waiver. I stood in front of a Five Star General and he told me " Son, a general can over come a lot of things but the one thing he cannot overcome is a Navy Doctor". And so went my very non-existent military career and all I wanted to be was a tanker.

I think you promoted General Kelly.

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I think you promoted General Kelly.

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He could have had 6 at the time for all I know. I was to busy trying not to crap myself.

when it comes to the military and what is and isn't acceptable, I've learned never to speak in absolutes. I say tell your son to go for it, and make them tell him no in an official capacity.

No way to get around the NAMI whammy...they test color blindness at meps and again when you get to Pensacola to start flight school. They also test for it during annual flight physicals. It is what it is. I had to become a back seater because my depth perception is bad, even after I had prk done.

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when it comes to the military and what is and isn't acceptable, I've learned never to speak in absolutes. I say tell your son to go for it, and make them tell him no in an official capacity.

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Even though it was many decades ago, that's what worked for me.

I was denied, denied, denied. went on active duty, filled a billet in a cubicle, and eventually someone got me to someone and someone else decided I passed my visual. I did become the king of eye waivers for many many years.

Flight surgeons are powerful, but they don't rule.

He will not pass at Lyster for Army even if he manages to get that far. The joke there is their jobs are to look for reasons to ground you.

I.e.: you never have migraines. You have tension headaches. And you've never taken Ambien unless you want a sleep study and a psych eval.

I appreciate everyone's input. The urge has passed. Thank God!

He is back coaching college football at UL-Monroe.

Thank God

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Thank God

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YES....Only in the sense of not thinking of changing career fields on a monthly basis. Not "not joining the military".

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Been there. Considered that 1988 (Class of 93). Red Blind. No good. You can't overcome the genetics. Can't fly with color corrective lens.

Army, however, loves colorblindness, especially for infantry - camouflage doesn't work as well against colorblind folks.
So no Navy scholarship extended, but an Army one was.

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What? I think the cammo vision thing is true but the army wouldn't let me go infantry due to my colorblindness. I had to be a combat medic to get on the front lines.

I posted earlier in this thread about my issues with red/green color vision and how the infantry wasn't an option until I was cleared by an ophthalmologist.


If he couldn't have cleared me I was willing to be a chaplains assistant with the goal of being the chaplain assistant for the chaplain of the ranger regiment. I wanted the ranger tab but I was cleared and didn't have to be a chaplains assistant.