OCS 03Nov2023 SNA/SNFO Board

[exNavyOffRec]

Hmm. Might want to check with him that he didn’t submit it as SNFO

My thoughts exactly.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I did submit for this board but MEPs screwed up my paperwork and said I have bad depth perception. I know for a fact this is incorrect because I have done and passed an Air Force class 1 flight physical in Ohio and nailed depth perception. To add, the nurse at MEPs said my vision was totally fine the whole time. I got marked down for a low BMI but that got cleared when I gave my paperwork to the Navy at the end of the day. I'm talking with my recruiter with what my options are to fix this but its confusing. Right now they say I am only qualified for NFO because of this, I only applied to SNA. Anyone with experience to speak to this? As I get this problem fixed will it change whether the board sees me as an applicant? When would I have to fix this by? This is such a stupid predicament to be in that I had no control over whatsoever. Any experienced recruiter here that could point me in a direction?

MEPS has enlisted medical personnel that administer those test, not nurses, terminology confusion but I get your point. In my experience I had candidates told the same thing "your vision is fine" but they were referring to actual vision not depth perception as the actual vision is what is important to those enlisting, which is nearly all of what MEPS does, I had people come through MEPS where MEPS forgot to do depth perception some how!

Did your recruiter say if passed A- D or E or whatever level you got to?

Finally the vision requirements are not the same between the services, what may seem like a small difference may be the difference in being qualified for one service and not qualified for another.

 

[jacobsolo]

Also, because this was spoken about recently on this page, visual acuity only really matters at the flight physical after OCS right? I thought the MEPs standards were just if you could be an officer in the Navy. Not any specific job in particular. Just thought I would clarify that as well.

The MEPS standards don’t matter if you’re applying for the officer accession program for a specific disignator (so everyone here basically). In that case it’s SNA officer accession standards that matter which are 20/40 or better for visual acuity. Otherwise they won’t waste time considering you as an applicant.

 

[MotorCookie]

This depth perception talk is getting me a little worried.

When I was at MEPS, the person administering the test practically walked me through it. There were several that I struggled with and they let me guess until I got the right answer lol. I don't remember how many I got right before they started helping me out so I'm not sure if I genuinely passed or not. I'll have to go to a doctor and take the test again to make sure.

Anyway, I read that during the depth perception part of your flight physical, if you fail they let you take another test which is supposedly "easier". Anyone know if this is true or not?

 

[schen0222]

This depth perception talk is getting me a little worried.

When I was at MEPS, the person administering the test practically walked me through it. There were several that I struggled with and they let me guess until I got the right answer lol. I don't remember how many I got right before they started helping me out so I'm not sure if I genuinely passed or not. I'll have to go to a doctor and take the test again to make sure.

Anyway, I read that during the depth perception part of your flight physical, if you fail they let you take another test which is supposedly "easier". Anyone know if this is true or not?

The flight physical depth perception test at OCS was way better than the one at MEPS, at least in my experience

 

[MotorCookie]

The flight physical depth perception test at OCS was way better than the one at MEPS, at least in my experience

That's good to hear. Do you remember what they did to test your depth perception at OCS? When I went to MEPS, they used this booklet and you had to choose the correct circle from a group of 3.

 

[Tumbleweed33]

That's good to hear. Do you remember what they did to test your depth perception at OCS? When I went to MEPS, they used this booklet and you had to choose the correct circle from a group of 3.

They give you the one the AF uses for their enlisted at MEPS. Instead of a book it is a box that you look into. it has 5 dots instead of 3.

Pro Tip: if you blink really fast while taking this test the correct circle will clearly pop out.

 

[schen0222]

That's good to hear. Do you remember what they did to test your depth perception at OCS? When I went to MEPS, they used this booklet and you had to choose the correct circle from a group of 3.

It was a booklet as well, but they REALLY popped out at the OCS flight physical.

 

[pcola478]

Have really gone down a mental rabbit hole over the past couple of weeks since putting in for NFO due to the vision paperwork issue. Gut is screaming at me to withdraw (if possible) or decline NFO, and apply SNA in March after retaking the ASTB and improving my 57 7/7/8.
Called recruiter earlier who gave me the spiel about how I should apply now for SNFO and later I can "easily" transfer to SNA. He also said he can't withdraw my current application and that I should just keep those cool uniforms in mind and think about it some more. ?

 

[68Chev]

Have really gone down a mental rabbit hole over the past couple of weeks since putting in for NFO due to the vision paperwork issue. Gut is screaming at me to withdraw (if possible) or decline NFO, and apply SNA in March after retaking the ASTB and improving my 57 7/7/8.
Called recruiter earlier who gave me the spiel about how I should apply now for SNFO and later I can "easily" transfer to SNA. He also said he can't withdraw my current application and that I should just keep those cool uniforms in mind and think about it some more. ?

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm the first person to support someone that wants something. If you want NA then go for it, do the annoying but necessary steps to apply for that and that only, but my curiosity towards NA has lead me to a bunch of podcasts and interviews about the subject, alot of those that wanted NA, and somehow ended up as NFO said that they didn't regret it one bit, but turning down NFO isn't the end, you can just reapply for SNA later on.

 

[CaptainPattio]

For the usefuleness for everyone else applying I'm going to respond on this thread to give an update. Talked to my recruiter today and I did get put up for SNA, but my visual acuity did not meet the standards at NAMI so they immediately rejected me. According to recruiter now they will not look at me for this board. My recruiter initially thought they would not care if I did LASIK or PRK during the application process but that was very wrong. I didn't realize the eyesight standards were different from Air Force to Navy, and was confident I could apply while getting LASIK because I've already passed an Air Force class 1 flight physical in Ohio for their incoming pilots. Either way I'm off to get eye surgery after talking to the recruiter in the next month or so. I'll apply for the next board. The point is, you could totally pass MEPs and not meet the NAMI standards. Do some research first if you think you have eye problems, because just getting through MEPs isn't the end all. Thanks for all the experienced people who helped answer my initial question!

 

[exNavyOffRec]

that I should just keep those cool uniforms in mind and think about it some more. ?

This sounds like something a shady enlisted recruiter would say, not a real officer recruiter.

 

[MotorCookie]

Have really gone down a mental rabbit hole over the past couple of weeks since putting in for NFO due to the vision paperwork issue. Gut is screaming at me to withdraw (if possible) or decline NFO, and apply SNA in March after retaking the ASTB and improving my 57 7/7/8.
Called recruiter earlier who gave me the spiel about how I should apply now for SNFO and later I can "easily" transfer to SNA. He also said he can't withdraw my current application and that I should just keep those cool uniforms in mind and think about it some more. ?

There are a few stories somewhere around this site about other applicants denying NFO and later getting selected as SNA, so it is definitely possible. Not sure how much denying a chance to commission will hurt you though.

If you really want pilot then I'd say go for it. Is your end goal ultimately to be a pilot or to be an officer in aviation? If I were in your position, I would be fine with NFO since my main goal is to be an officer, but you probably have different goals than me.

There is also another story I read here about how one guy was NFO and applied to switch to pilot. If I remember correctly, he said that like 6 NFOs applied and 4 of them were accepted, or something like that. So perhaps it's not as "rare" as people make it out to be? Also, a year or 2 ago I think I had a conversation with a user named TwoScoops who mentioned that he was originally NFO and switched to pilot.

 

[jacobsolo]

Have really gone down a mental rabbit hole over the past couple of weeks since putting in for NFO due to the vision paperwork issue. Gut is screaming at me to withdraw (if possible) or decline NFO, and apply SNA in March after retaking the ASTB and improving my 57 7/7/8.
Called recruiter earlier who gave me the spiel about how I should apply now for SNFO and later I can "easily" transfer to SNA. He also said he can't withdraw my current application and that I should just keep those cool uniforms in mind and think about it some more. ?

When I went down the same mental rabbit hold I used my ASTB retake as the deciding factor. Of course I knew deep down all I wanted was pilot but I didn’t want to turn down NFO and get LASIK unless I could get an 8 or 9 PFAR, ideally a 9.

If you’re unable to retest before you make your choice then my best advise would be to absolutely follow your heart - especially since you still have a couple years before you age out which is plenty of time to get picked up for pilot. But only do so if you’re confident you can get a 9 PFAR (assuming you’re selected for NFO and have to turn it down).

In the off chance you’re not picked up for NFO then that will make your life a lot easier and an 8 PFAR should do.

What’s also nice about your case is that if it was only a paperwork issue that put you in this position then that’s easy to explain if you have to decline NFO and shouldn’t make you look bad. In my case my vision disqualified me so had I done my own research from the beginning and not listened to my recruiter then that entire charade could’ve been avoided.

Just know that if you have to decline NFO you’ll have to write a formal letter explaining yourself and it’s expected you greatly improve your application the next time around. For me that was better ASTB scores, a PPL, and a couple more letters of rec. But let’s be honest a 9 PFAR is likely all the convincing they need.

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[exNavyOffRec]

When I went down the same mental rabbit hold I used my ASTB retake as the deciding factor. Of course I knew deep down all I wanted was pilot but I didn’t want to turn down NFO and get LASIK unless I could get an 8 or 9 PFAR, ideally a 9.

If you’re unable to retest before you make your choice then my best advise would be to absolutely follow your heart - especially since you still have a couple years before you age out which is plenty of time to get picked up for pilot. But only do so if you’re confident you can get a 9 PFAR (assuming you’re selected for NFO and have to turn it down).

In the off chance you’re not picked up for NFO then that will make your life a lot easier and an 8 PFAR should do.

What’s also nice about your case is that if it was only a paperwork issue that put you in this position then that’s easy to explain if you have to decline NFO and shouldn’t make you look bad. In my case my vision disqualified me so had I done my own research from the beginning and not listened to my recruiter then that entire charade could’ve been avoided.

Just know that if you have to decline NFO you’ll have to write a formal letter explaining yourself and it’s expected you greatly improve your application the next time around. For me that was better ASTB scores, a PPL, and a couple more letters of rec. But let’s be honest a 9 PFAR is likely all the convincing they need.

Let me know if you have any questions!

If you have a pro Y and then take the ASTB again that invalidates your previous scores which then is supposed to invalidate any pro recs you currently have as the data that you were selected on has changed. If you hadn't received a score that you felt comfortable declining and NRC found out you retook the ASTB they would have had to invalidate your selection.