They say that you can get a waiver easier if you are over qualified but are colorblind, is this true?

Question

I surpass all the qualifications and then some. I can see red and green and any other color but certain shades of red and green i can't. Also, I failed thier color vision test. Does getting a waiver for being colorblind become easier if you don't have it bad? anyone who is in the army, really knows about waivers, and can truly answer this question would be a huge help.

Answer 1

First, yes you can be just a "little colorblind". Color blindness does not mean you can't see red or green, but that you can't see the shades running from the red/green spectrum to the yellow/blue spectrum (purples are seen as either blue or red, tourqoise is either green or blue). The worse the case of color blindness, the less of these midrange colors can be seen. Mild cases can see more of these "inbetween" colors. The Army Ranger standard uses the PIP or FALANT test to ensure you are not severely colorblind. The bar that has to be passed is a determination that you can see, "vivid red and/or vivid green as projected by the Ophthalmological Projector or the Stereoscope, Vision Testing (SVT)." Second, this information can be found in AR 40-501, Chapter 5-4 (I linked it below - vision/colorblindness standards for Rangers are found on page 48). Finally, color blindness itself has often been considered an advantage and disadvantage for infantry soldiers. The disadvantages deal almost specifically with red-light readable maps. They are hard to make out for someone who is strongly color blind (mild color blindness it's not that difficult to read - hence the Army's vision test.) The great advantage is that, especially red/green color blindness, the soldier determines shades of green by intensity and not color. In a nutshell this means that if 2 green objects are together but not made of the same material, a color blind person sees them much more easily as 2 objects where a normal sighted person may just see one green blob. This has distinct advantages regarding camoflage in a jungle/woodland environment. In fact, if you are on patrol and your squad leader knows you are colorblind in that environent - expect to be on point. Best of luck to you and thanks for your service.

Source(s):
http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r40_...

I stole this best answer from a previous question so don't give me the BA. Cut and paste.

Answer 2

Robbie, try this site.. they have loads of articals and the like..
thank you for wanting to serve ..