Hello, I would just like to say that I have looked for over a month on this forum and other sites on the web, ive asked other DEPer's, and even all of the recruiters at my station about this question. No one seems to know the answer and its hard to believe that after ALL the people that have ever gone through Basic Training havent worried about this.

I wear contact lenses 98 percent of the time. the only time I wear my glasses is right before bed after I take my contacts out for the night. I already know that I will get the wonderful' "Birth Control Glasses" at Basic and im fine with that, but my vision is BAD...Im Near-sighted and can only see things clearly if they are within about 10 inches or less from my face...the rest is just a big blur. but with glasses or contacts i have 20/20.

Ok, my worry is that I when I go off to the pool at basic and get up on that platform to jump into the water...ill have to take my glasses off...making it impossible to see the edge of the platform, how far the water is, and I know it will be LOUD in there with all the recruits, orders, and the splashing of the water. Im a good swimmer and can keep my self afloat, but Im afraid once I hit the water, if someone yells an order to swim a certain direction in the pool or "do this" or "do that" I wont be able to see WHO it is thats talking to me, where they are pointing me to swim, and that ill get disoriented and confused making them think im an idiot or worse...thing I cant swim and fail me.

I know someone in the past has asked this question, and someone who went through basic that had the same problem.

I dont want this to lower my performance just because I get disoriented in the water, with it splashing in my face, people swimming around me, running into them because I didnt see them, etc..

So, do they give you something like "perscription goggles" or something?

I have a meeting with my recruiter on Monday and we will discuss this more, but no one there at the station wears glasses so they dont know how to answer this...

Thanks a lot for your time, I hope someone out there can give me a little more insight into this. Thanks

You will be briefed fully on what to anticipate before you even jump in, multiple times. Just pay attention. My brother is 20/400...he passed.

You will have to take your glasses off before hand

honestly, it's quiet in there. Everyone is worried about passing and no one wants to **** of the guys who run the pool

You'll be ok. If your vision is ok to get in, you have the ability to pass

Hey, thank you for replying catherine0830.

I guess that makes me feel a little better knowing we'll all be breifed beforehand on everything that will happen. Im just so used to swimming with my contacts in or at the very least with galsses on, that i have no idea how my performance will be affected without that "good vision"

Yeah, im not sure exactly what my vision is, but I think im close to the same ratio as your brother...I think one of my eyes is around 20/390, and the other is slightly worse at about 20/400 with an astigmatism.

Anyway, thanks again, and if anyone here has bad eyes and went through the swim quals'id love to here what the experience was like and how you managed to get through it without being able to see.

I have had similar visual acuity (or lack of) nearly my whole life. I have been a more than competent swimmer without any visual correction for over 70 years. IF you are comfortable in the water you can always orient yourself with sound or limited sight. When I say comfortable, I mean that you don't fear the water for itself so that you can concentrate on navigation while swimming, staying afloat, etc..

I never remember fearing anything having to do with water even though I could not see worth a hoot. I would suggest that, if you can find the facilities near you, that you spend some time trying to simulate the test as best you can. Remember, when you jump off the tower you dont have to worry about getting in the water, and when you are in the water after the jump, just swim your way to the surface. Your practice should be toward orientation and moving the distance and direction you need to go. Before the test, look at the features of the indoor/outdoor pool in which you will be tested. There will be certain "landmarks" that you will be able to use to differentiate the direction in which you want to proceed. One side or end of the pool may have windows, or towers, or lifeguard stands, doors, signs on the walls, etc., etc., that you may not be able to see perfectly, but in a blurry image can serve as a distance and directional clue.

Stop worrying, familiarize yourself with the tasks at hand, you will have no problems.

I wear contacts also. During boot camp you will not be allowed to wear contacts. (Unless things have changed.)

Now what you really have to worry about is getting yourself untied from the big anchor they tie to your leg when you jump in the pool.

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Originally posted by mpwimmer:
I wear contacts also. During boot camp you will not be allowed to wear contacts. (Unless things have changed.)

Now what you really have to worry about is getting yourself untied from the big anchor they tie to your leg when you jump in the pool.

HaHa... That made me laugh. That would make for an interesting day at basic seeing all those recruits dropping like rocks to the bottom. Tho wouldnt be too much fun once MY turn came about.

Anyway, thanks for the replys everyone. I appreciate it.

quote:

Yeah, im not sure exactly what my vision is, but I think im close to the same ratio as your brother...I think one of my eyes is around 20/390, and the other is slightly worse at about 20/400 with an astigmatism.

I too am as blind as a bat. My vision is around 20/800 with a slight astigmatism. I had no problem following everyone else. Walk to the end of the platform and fall in. When they told us which direction to swim, I just followed everyone else.

Is the test still the same? Into water off 3m platform, tread water for 5 minutes, then swim the lenght of the pool and back? (Of course, it was only 5 minutes for the last person, the first person had to tread water for close to 15 minutes).

quote:

(Of course, it was only 5 minutes for the last person, the first person had to tread water for close to 15 minutes).

One of the few times it was nice to have a last name late in the alphabet.

I had the fun experience of navy AND marine Corps swim quals when i did ROTC--and am nearsighted and rely heavily on my glasses....don't worry about being mostly vision-less. I didn't find it too horrible to find my way to the big blur which was the other end of the pool...or seeing the end of the platform (it's where the grey blur stops and the blue blur starts!) I promise it won't be nearly as bad a problem as you think--especially if you are a good swimmer !

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Originally posted by mturnb:

quote:

(Of course, it was only 5 minutes for the last person, the first person had to tread water for close to 15 minutes).

One of the few times it was nice to have a last name late in the alphabet.

Yeah, but it sucked on gas chamber day because everyone takes their mask off at the same time, but you still have to wait for everyone else to say their name, etc before you can go.

I lucked out there too. We were getting ready for the gas chamber and a runner from batallion comes up to the RDC. He relays the message and then the RDC yells my name and tells me to go to sick bay for a sub physical. He didn't have to tell me twice. I was gone from the area almost before the words were out of his mouth and never went through the gas chamber.