My son just found out he is color blind

[geckolea]

We just got our first letter from our son and he has been told that he is color blind. He passed in MEPS. He said that they told him he could apply for a waiver. Does anybody know anything about all of this?. He did a 6 year enlistment as a Nuke, with a nice contract.

[ChrisAmo]

If they've told him he can apply for a waiver, then he should do so. There are certain rates that would bar him due to color blindness but with others it wouldn't matter so much. Back in the 60's (I know, a long time ago) my air force neighbor was color blind and assigned to photo interpretation (he was one of those who detected the Russian rockets in Cuba). Evidently a color blind person was ideal for that job (the photos were all black and white and shades of gray), so there may be rates open to your son, including nuke.

[EMC (SS)]

Below is the instruction for Navy color vision testing. Ensure that the below instruction was followed to the letter. I was deemed color blind early in my Navy career completely incorrectly. Then had to go through quite a process to correct this issue and this happened while I was at boot camp. Remember that this test is often administered by a Sailor straight out of A-School, since it is normally a non-issue and they may be under the impression that if they aren't all spot on then it is a fail. For some reason I have always had an issue picking out what the number is on the PIP test, I can see the different colored dots, but can't figure out what the number is without tracing it with my finger, but I have no issues with the FALANT test which trumps the PIP test per the below instruction. If he passes the FALANT (up to 1 wrong out of 9 on an average of 3 tests) then his color vision is acceptable for all Navy jobs. Even if your son is color blind there are still some jobs available, but very few of them are technical. I know that Yeoman, Culinary Specialists and Store Keepers all do not require color vision.

COLOR VISION TESTING
The Manual of the Medical Department re-quires that all applicants for entrance into the naval service receive a color vision test. The Navy has two methods of testing color discrimination: the Farnsworth Lantern Test (FALANT), and the pseudoisochromatic plates (PIP). The FALANT is the preferred, and in many cases the only acceptable, method for testing color vision.
Farnsworth Lantern Test
The Farnsworth Lantern Test was devised as a means to pass personnel with normal color vision and those with a mild degree of color blindness. The Farnsworth Lantern is a machine with a light source directed at the examinee. What the examinee sees is two lights in a vertical plane, either red, green, or white, shown in varying combinations, i.e., red and green, red and red, etc. Have the examinee identify the color combinations from top to bottom at a distance of 8 feet; the examiner rotates the drum to provide the different combinations. There are a total of nine different combination that the examinee must identify. On the first run of nine lights, if the examinee correctly identifies all nine, the FALANT is passed. If the examinee incorrectly identifies any of the lights, either top, bottom, or both, do two additional runs of nine lights without interruption. The score is the average number of incorrectly identified lights of the second two runs. If the average score is 1 or less, the FALANT is passed. If the score is 2 or more, the FALANT is failed. If the score is 1.5, repeat the test aftera 5-minute break. Do not retest scores of 2 or more as this will invalidate the test procedure. NOTE: If the examinee wears corrective lenses for distant vision, he or she should wear them during this test.
Pseudoisochromatic Plates
Use pseudoisochromatic plates to determine color vision only if the FALANT is not available. Personnel so tested must be retested with the FALANT at the first activity they report to that has a Farnsworth Lantern. Two sets of plates are available: the 18-plate test and the 15-plate test, each of which has one demonstration plate not used for scoring. When administering the PIP examination, hold the plates 30 inches from the examinee. Allow two seconds for each plate identification, and do not allow the examinee to touch the plates. To pass the 18-plate test, the examinee must identify a minimum of 14 of the 17 test plates; for the 15-plate test, a minimum of 10 of the 14 test plates.

Good luck,
EMC (SS)

[geckolea]

Thank you. We are hoping to get his first phone call this weekend and we wanted to give him good information. I really appreciate this.I think he is probably a lot like you. I even have trouble with the dots myself and women are not suppose to be color blind. I think the FALANT is going to be the answer. I hope!

[Debby]

My son is colorblind too .. he's a Riverine at the moment. He was told at MEPS he was limited on what he could do however he got a waiver for the Riverines and he loves it..

[geckolea]

I appreciate the help. You a least gave me something to tell my son when we get his first phone call. Thanks again!

[Pam]

My son is currently in bootcamp and knew ahead of time that he was color blind. The only thing he told me was he was limited in what he could do. They wanted him to go nuclear because of his test scores but when they found out about his color blindness at MEPS, he decided to be a Corpsman. He was fine with that since he wanted to go into the medical field at the very beginning anyway. We actually found out about Jamie being color blind when he was about twelve. We were told he would lead a normal life, he just wouldn't be able to tell "shades" of green and red. Funny gene and unfortunately passed down from the Mother's side.

[geckolea]

Yeah I know, I am the one who passed it to my son. My brother is really color blind, we have known for years, but my son never showed too many signs of it so we didn't worry about it. He passed at MEPS so I am hoping the second test will give him the chance to keep his contract. He'll be OK though, because he wanted to be Navy more than he wanted to be Nuke. Thanks!

[reneeatlast]

I just got a similar letter from my son, he passed at MEPS and was disqualified at bootcamp from his IS rate. I can't seem to get any information about what he can do, he was really wanting to be Intel.

[B'sNukeMoM⚓️MMN(Vet)]

reneeatlast - this is an old post from 2010 so it's not active.  I'm not 100% sure on how it works (every case can be different) but most likely he will be given the option of another rate since he is already at bootcamp.  It often depends on the needs of the navy.  Hopefully you'll get another letter soon (with him telling you his new rate!) or he'll be able to call.  Hang in there!