Since I have received so much great information from AirWarriors these past six months prior to coming to OCS, I feel compelled to return the favor and give some advice to those who are following in my footsteps.
I was selected as a Pilot for the 3OCT2010 OCS class. I was NPQ'd for both Pilot and NFO on the Tuesday after the Sunday I arrived. I was NPQ'd because of a previously unknown eye and heart condition. I chose not to redesignate because I made the mistake of wanting to become a pilot first and Naval Officer second. You must want to be a Naval Officer first and pilot second. I made that mistake and take full responsibility for that. The main goal of this post is give some advice to those of you who are worried the same thing might happen to you.
If you are worried, I would get the NAMI physical standards PDF off of their website and bring it to a doctor/cardiologist/opthamologist and get your eyes thoroughly checked and take an EKG, etc. Check off all the boxes and make sure you are physically qualified. I wish I did this before coming to OCS. It might be a little expensive, but it will save you a lot of time being trapped in Student Pool, especially if you have a family at home or you have other plans you would like to pursue. MEPS is not a full flight physical. It is just an initial screening.
To put it in perspective, the majority of people in Student Pool are NPQ'd pilots and NFOs. The vast minority are DORs. I've heard countless horror stories while at OCS. One guy's recruiter fudged his anthros on his application, and he was NPQ'd immediately for being too short for both pilot and NFO. Another guy was NPQ'd for both pilot and NFO the day he was supposed to graduate and another was NPQ'd two days after becoming a candio. Some things you can't avoid, but my advice is to do anything to mitigate your risk.
That sums up most of what I wanted to say, but I know many of you are curious about the flight physical at OCS, so I will describe that a little. You will go to the Navy clinic off base on either the first Monday or Tuesday. It will be a LONG day. We arrived at 6am and didn't leave until about 4pm, all the while sitting at attention and being locked on. The flight docs are in constant communication with the flight docs at NAMI in Pensacola.
For the visual acuity test, they will have three charts at 20 feet away, one 20/20, one 20/30, and one 20/40. They use the Goodlite chart everyone talks about. It has 5 letters across and 10 down, so 50 total letters. In order to pass, you must get 100% of the letters correct on the 20/40 chart. They check the lighting with a light meter to conform to NAMI standards. If you fail any exam, they will retest you twice at later dates. The docs want you to pass, so they will do everything in their power to find a way to pass you, but they will still be realistic with you. Every other eye test has multiple variations, so they will try every test to see if you get better results and they will use the best results. They are pretty knowledgeable and cool guys.
I hope this helps some people. It was my dream to be a Naval Aviator, but it was just not meant to be. I followed my dream to its logical conclusion and that's all that you can ask for.
JONNY
I was selected as a Pilot for the 3OCT2010 OCS class. I was NPQ'd for both Pilot and NFO on the Tuesday after the Sunday I arrived. I was NPQ'd because of a previously unknown eye and heart condition. I chose not to redesignate because I made the mistake of wanting to become a pilot first and Naval Officer second. You must want to be a Naval Officer first and pilot second. I made that mistake and take full responsibility for that. The main goal of this post is give some advice to those of you who are worried the same thing might happen to you.
If you are worried, I would get the NAMI physical standards PDF off of their website and bring it to a doctor/cardiologist/opthamologist and get your eyes thoroughly checked and take an EKG, etc. Check off all the boxes and make sure you are physically qualified. I wish I did this before coming to OCS. It might be a little expensive, but it will save you a lot of time being trapped in Student Pool, especially if you have a family at home or you have other plans you would like to pursue. MEPS is not a full flight physical. It is just an initial screening.
To put it in perspective, the majority of people in Student Pool are NPQ'd pilots and NFOs. The vast minority are DORs. I've heard countless horror stories while at OCS. One guy's recruiter fudged his anthros on his application, and he was NPQ'd immediately for being too short for both pilot and NFO. Another guy was NPQ'd for both pilot and NFO the day he was supposed to graduate and another was NPQ'd two days after becoming a candio. Some things you can't avoid, but my advice is to do anything to mitigate your risk.
That sums up most of what I wanted to say, but I know many of you are curious about the flight physical at OCS, so I will describe that a little. You will go to the Navy clinic off base on either the first Monday or Tuesday. It will be a LONG day. We arrived at 6am and didn't leave until about 4pm, all the while sitting at attention and being locked on. The flight docs are in constant communication with the flight docs at NAMI in Pensacola.
For the visual acuity test, they will have three charts at 20 feet away, one 20/20, one 20/30, and one 20/40. They use the Goodlite chart everyone talks about. It has 5 letters across and 10 down, so 50 total letters. In order to pass, you must get 100% of the letters correct on the 20/40 chart. They check the lighting with a light meter to conform to NAMI standards. If you fail any exam, they will retest you twice at later dates. The docs want you to pass, so they will do everything in their power to find a way to pass you, but they will still be realistic with you. Every other eye test has multiple variations, so they will try every test to see if you get better results and they will use the best results. They are pretty knowledgeable and cool guys.
I hope this helps some people. It was my dream to be a Naval Aviator, but it was just not meant to be. I followed my dream to its logical conclusion and that's all that you can ask for.
JONNY
