Corrective Lenses and the Infantry.

[dennis]

Hi guys!

I've got a question about joining the army, actually more of a question of whether I can be accepted into the specific field I'm interested in... Decided to ask it here first instead of wasting revruiters' valuable time, any replies and comments will be greatly appreciated...

Welp, long story short, I'm 19, Canadian citizen, don't have any prior convictions, no mental disabilities (that I know of at least    ) and have a high school diploma. Now, I've dropped out of college after 1 semester because it wasn't what I wanted to do (took Social Science) and all the 'civvie' jobs that I currently have access to aren't really exciting, I mean who likes flipping burgers in McDie's or doing night shifts in a convenience store... Don't really feel like going back to college since I've partially botched my marks in some of the subjects in grade 11 (I've completed high school in Quebec before moving to Ontario) and now I don't really have a chance to get accepted into the courses I'd like to attend... With all the being said, I'm at a crossroad right now and am trying to decide what to do with myself...

I'm particularly interested in becoming an ***infantry soldier*** in the Canadian Armed Forces, preferably in a combat unit... Mostly because I don't want to do cooking or paperwork in the army, as I can do it outside of it too    I'm no superman, but I exercice regularly in order to keep myself in good shape and even have some muscles. I do not have *any* medical problems, well except for one... My only problem is fairly bad vision, I've got a -7 on one eye and -8 on the other one. However, I do wear contact lenses and *with them* I have a 20/20 or close to it vision.

So my question is: can the fact that I need to wear corrective lenses "botch" my plans of getting into combat infantry? Thanks for reading this and for your replies...

Peace  

Dennis S.

 

[Korus]

There‘s actually a recent topic on the subject.. It‘s a question that pops up fairly often.

Corrective Lenses

 

[Gelan]

I was in same situation last year. I went to a recruiting center and started the paperwork and I can honestly say that this has been the best choice I‘ve ever made. You get good pay and benefits as well as 20 working days of vacation a year! What‘s better than that? You get paid to shoot rifles, Throw grenades, rappell off of 30 foot towers, and generally do all sorts of cool stuff. I‘m 19 as well and am having the time of my life. I‘m currently in the RCR infantry training and it‘s tough, but not impossible. as long as you have a willing attitude and are able to take orders, you‘ll do fine! I highly recommend you join the forces if you really want to change the course of your life!

 

[Gelan]

also on the glasses/contacts thing. It‘s absolutely no problem for you. There‘s a guy on my course right now that is blind as a bat without his glasses, but can see perfect with them and he‘s had absolutely no problems in the trade so far. Good luck!

 

[Korus]

Actually, for the combat arms (i.e. Infantry) vision like that is likely to be a problem. For other trades, they probably won‘t be. Once again, the best thing is to talk to the recruiters about it.

 

[Gelan]

I‘m telling you. The guy in my platoon has absolutely terrible vision without glasses but with them he‘s fine. He hasn‘t had ANY problems.

 

[Korus]

Just how bad?
I didn‘t get into the infantry because of my eyes, yet can see perfectly fine with glasses, and haven‘t had any problems on course or in the field. I know of a few others in the same predicament.

 

[ninty9]

I had to get a form filled out by my optimitrist and he said I just slid under their requirments. My vision is -3.25 and -3.5. I‘m sure you‘ll have a tough time with anything above -6 because thats getting pretty clsoe to legally blind, isn‘t it?

 

[Tyler]

Eyesight shouldn‘t be a problem at all. So long as you can see 20/20 corrected you will be fine. The only thing that they might turn you away for WRT eyesight is colour blindness, they do test you for that.

My vision is horrible (-5.25, both eyes) but I got in with no problem. I have a pair of huge black-plastic rims that I wear in the field to give me good eyesight, and I always carry spares in a hard case. On range days I wear contacts.

Maybe I should get that laser eye thingie?

Tyler

 

[Illucigen]

In Defective Unsafe (a 3) for CV (colour vision) and am fully medically qualified for the combat arms.

 

[dennis]

Thanks for all your positive answers guys! Our local recruiting center (Kitchener) just had the grand opening today, I guess I‘ll drop by there on Monday and will have a chat with one of the recruiters if they ain‘t too busy. Thanks a lot once again, and g‘luck to all of you.

 

[Oryx]

Hello everyone. I‘am new here. I‘am going to sign up for the LSSR army reserve very soon. I also wear glasses. wih out them I can still see, but not far away. So from what ive read, I‘am ok?

 

[Gunner109]

This is a very interesting question. Especially when the DND has a policy not to discriminate with regard to disabilities. Hmmm makes ya wanna think about this whole universality of service thing. The DND right now has several policies that contradict each other. It will take some time to sort out i guess.

 

[Bert]

J.Shortt>
In the papers "universality of service" and "maintaining the operational status" of the Canadian Armed Forces, the CF is able to discriminate between disabilities and the degree of the particular disability. The Force is exempt from portions of the Charter of Rights to maintain an operational and effective force. The
Disabilities Advisory Group primarily relates to the civilian employees of DND.

Given my limited experience in the recruitment process, its seems the CF knows what they are looking for in a recruit and whether the recruit meets the criteria for the MOC.

The way it was explained to me [and this may be an oversimplification] was that members of the Army are soldiers first, MOC duties are secondary.
Yet, some other things are considered. As an example, for infantry, generally the young, extremely fit individual/recruit excelling in the the combat arts is desired. Ask him to fix a radio and well... he probably can‘t. An individual/recruit with less desirable physical qualities in another MOC with less tight criteria who can fix a radio can be equally useful to the military.

Oryx>
During the application process, the CF will test your eyes and get you to go to a civilian eye doctor. A form and an eyeglass prescription will have to be filled out. This info gets sent to CFB Borden for assessment. If your assessed vision category is less than the requirments for the MOC, then the recruiting centre will get back to you with the information. I don‘t know what the vision requirement is for your MOC, but I‘ve seen various army personnel with eye glasses.

 

[Gelan]

Hey Sergeant Shortt, are you staff on SQ 0301?

I‘m on WO Vanveen‘s BIQ course upstairs, Hindenburg Line. I think I‘ve seen you around the base a few times. Interesting to see you here.

 

[erikkusiak]

I am in practically the identical situation as Dennis... but I have an extremely weak prescription so I doubt it will affect any path I choose to follow in the Army.


The ONLY thing I was worried about was vision requirements for special forces types. Anyone have any info on that because I have no idea about it, and I dont think it was mentioned in previous posts. Thanks.

 

[Gunner109]

Bert: True, I think a person needs to be at least a V4 catagory minimum but Im not sure. But then agin, as long as you can pass your PWT (Infantry) and hit a tgt at 300m You will pass, glasses or not.

Gelan: Yes I am