"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
newsK7Tb.203524$na.334722@attbi_s04...
Basic rule was that you needed 20/20 to get in pilot training.

And what a crap rule that is. It ended my chances for a military career,
and it's now ending my 13 year old son's chances -- despite the fact that
he
is corrected to better than 20/20. (As was I.)

When I tried to enlist (late 70s) they told me they just used the vision
rule as a way to prune the list down, since there were 10 applicants for
every pilot position. Nowadays, with modern optics and/or Lasik surgery,
it
is possible to correct nearly anyone to 20/20 or better.

Oh well. With reenlistment supposedly plummeting, maybe they'll have to
allow lasik before my kid comes of age, just to keep enough pilots?

In the late 60's the Army lowered the vision requirements for helicopter
pilots to something like 20/80 uncorrected if correctable to 20/20. They
also (IIRC) lowered the education requirements to a high school graduate. I
believe this was due to the high attrition rates they were experiencing.

I got there six months too late, with 20/60, the HS diploma, and all the
test scores. :~(