DODMERB - Substandard Depth Perception

Colleges and Universities A-Z Air Force Academy - Colorado Springs
1

<p>I recently got my dodmerb results back and these are the codes that I have:
R252.10 - DD Form 2382, Statement of History Regarding Allergies </p>

<p>D257.80 - Substandard depth perception </p>

<p>They mailed me a statement I need to fill out for the history of allergies and I am getting a copy of my medical records to ensure that I fill all the dates in right (they are nothing serious, just seasonal allergies when I was much younger that I had claritin prescribed for). But my question is what will I have to do about the substandard depth perception because I have not been mailed anything about it and when I look up the description all it says is substandard depth perception.</p>

2

<p>Dear Dolphin:</p>

<p>Kinda a lurker here, but I couldn't let your post go unanswered as you situation sounded incredibly similar to my son's. His story had a very happy ending:LOA, appointment, aceptance. We were discouraged at the beginning of the DODmerb process by lack of information (part of the weeding process, we guessed) and encouragement (ALO, great person, told us he's never heard of anyone rebutting successfully). So I've kinda made spreading info on this a mission of sorts...</p>

<p>As our esteemed UnCynical has stated previously, you can win and lose Pilot Potential Qualification along the way, over the years. I understand you are trying to secure an appointment, and want to get the decks cleared for your months of completing The Application - we were doing the same. Our bad luck at the beginning of the Dodmerb process affored my son this moment of clarification: Although he wanted to be a pilot, he wanted to attend usafa and serve, pilot or not. So began our battle to secure Rebuttals. If you decide this is what you want to do, get busy, kiddo.</p>

<p>I've cut and pasted my post of last September - it is lengthy, but so much is relevant to your situation. </p>

<p>Get moving on getting other evidence if you think your eye exam was in error. Note we had to find a depth-perception specialist - call your optician, get a specialist referral, see your optician for another exam, get an exam by the specialist. Please note the tip on the eye exam posture - I wouldn't have believed the difference. Don't get rattled - my son thought this was part of his problem in the DodMerb exam. Get online and see what tests they use with pilots - I think it was the Randot and a few others. Make sure your specialist can administer those tests before you go. Lastly, if the results are favorable, make clear, in writing, what you need the specialist to state in their letter. You can see from the post, we had some trouble with that.</p>

<p>Re: allergies. Looks like we had the same story on Claritin. Our kid took it long ago and had muddled through without it, so documenting this was not a problem, excpet the illegible records. (Another tip - try eating a teaspoon of raw honey instead of medication every day during allergy season - it really helped him - worked outside all day, ran in evenings, etc.) Again, make sure the letter from the doctor clearly states your case. (Can you see how much time we wasted on that?) Make sure you send the documentation as soon as you get it to the proper authorities - next day air or fast method, make sure you pay to get a signature. Wait and watch your DODMERB site - they are amazingly efficient (well, last year anyway.)</p>

<p>Keep us posted on your progress. CC/USAFA is a wealth of information and encouragement!</p>

<p>Remedials and Rebuttal: Success Story </p>

<hr>

<p>Been lurking here on USAFA for a few months...felt compelled to register today to share my son's story of the DoDMERB "waiting game" after reading of others in the same position. Thought maybe our experience might help others, as we felt a bit without direction navigating some of this, espcially Rebuttals. Please forgive the length! I may not ever post again as I am only experienced (albeit limited) in this one issue, but I will still lurk for all the valuable info.</p>

<p>Kid had his physical in late July - has been amazingly healthly and injury free throughout his life, but he asked me to get a complete copy of his medical file so he could be completely truthful. Good thing we did, I guess, as we forgot about the Claritin he took years ago for occasional hayfever (this was before Claritin was OTC). So the personal medical history had a "yes" for allergies, with the required explanation. Funny enough, the examining physician tore off the copy of this expnation of his medical file that was attached to the form and said "Son, this is the military. Don't give us extra papers." The kid knew better than to argue that this was in the directions...LOL</p>

<p>Fast forward to the second week in August - his DoDMERB page indicates he has two remedials: History of allergies, and orthodontic retainer. Also, much to our surprise, three disqualification codes: substandard near point of convergence, substandard depth perception, and unaided near visual accuity less than 20/20. That sure didn't seem right, the same sentiment expressed by our optician when presented with the codes. An exam proved the codes were not correct, and we got a leter to that effect. But we went one step further, because then we knew we needed to try for a rebuttal. He went to a depth perception specialist, where we knew we could get a finer depth perception test. This was a long exam, with plenty of other tests, but he got a Randot depth perception test. Bottom line: passed all test wonderfully, including depth perception to 20 seconds of arc (30-40 is normal), and acuity better than 20/20. So his eyes were great.</p>

<p>So we had a two-pronged approach here - records for allergy background, letter for ortho on remedials. The ortho letter was very easy - they had done this before. A consultation with the MD revealed some of his records were illegible - we requested a letter of clarifcation from his regular doctor stating his past treatment, that sporatic symptoms were well-controlled with named meds, and he hadn't been in for this in some time. The letter and the file pages (some readable, some not) were sent separately with a cover letter to DoDMERB as requested in their letter to us.</p>

<p>Second prong: We followed the scarce Rebuttal directions provided on the site, cover clearly stating the disqualifying codes, and these conditions did not exist, and the two eye doctor letters. This rebuttal was sent separately to DoDMERB.</p>

<p>Two days after receipt, DoDMERB, the very picture of efficiency, removes ortho remedial from his site. A day later, allergies code disappear, making him Commission Qualifed. We were happy, but still waiting. This afternoon, two business days after they received the rebuttal, the disqualifying codes on vision were lifted, making him Potentially Pilot Qualified. I printed that out and stuck it on the home memo board. When I got home I knew he had seen it for he was measuring basketball throws in the backyard. You know what I'm talking about!</p>

<p>Lessons learned:
1) Always be honest. In our case we sought the truth on his history, it wasn't a happy truth, but you gotta go with it. If integrity is a problem now, it will really be one later. Additionally, the Air Force can always ask you to furnish your records. Hiding the truth would be very bad, and ignorance would probably be not much better. And if you truly had a medical disqualfication, it would be best to understand it as information to make good decisions about your future, heart-breaking as they would seem now.
2) Expediency and persistance are needed here. Get those doctor appointments ASAP even if you have to bake the receptionists brownies or something. You will lose your mind as you wait a week for the letters. Remind them sweetly that you need them very soon. Every day if needed.
3) Spare no cost if you believe you are right and want to pursue this. We are by no means well-to-do, but it seemed a shame to not pursue this aggressively with the dream, the grades, the scores, the sports, the leadership, the character all in place. The kid and I both lost work days and pay as we took crappy appointment times and tried to remain hopeful we were doing all this right. Total cost, none covered by insurance, of three appointments, express mailing etc, lost wages: $300+. Final result: Priceless. And I say this as a very thrifty person! There will be sacrifices, but we got it done.
4) Remember you are not a moron. If you are thinking about the USAFA, you must be smarter than the average bear. Solve the problem logically with data (our optician and guidance counselor both were hopping mad over this - we felt pretty calm with our plan of attack). Follow the directions provided. Move fast. Educate yourself on your condition or lack of it. We learned alot about depth perception and near point of convergence, and found out what the USAF uses in finally qualifying pilots, and went after it. The Web is a wonderful thing. And remember to get your doctor to address the issue(s) specifically and nothing else. We drove to one of the doctors three times to get a letter that just had the test data we asked for, and to please just include the kid's SS# this time...we figured irritating DoDMERB with extraneous data would be bad. And finally...
5) When you take eye exams, exercise good posture. If we hadn't seen the difference in his performance between slouching and sitting up straight, we never would have believed it. Ramrod straight, heels against back of chair footrest. Need good blood flow to the optic nerve. As it turned out, our depth perception specialist is married to a F-16 pilot, and offered this advice to someone who may have lots of exams in his future. So now you know too!</p>

<p>Good luck and godspeed to all you hopefuls as you find your way! Totally spent after this long missive, I go now quietly into the night to lurk once more...</p>

3

<p>Great post, Momx4+dog.</p>

<p>The main word of advice I have for you with any kind of hangup with DODMERB is to stay proactive. That mainly goes along with doing what she mentioned in her last post. DODMERB isn't going to go to great lengths to tell you what you have to do to get a waiver, but they will provide you answers if you pursue them. Also, make sure you make copies of everything you send in and document whenever you send anything in, when you talk to anyone (as well as who, when, and about what), etc. This will give you something to fall back on if DODMERB loses something.</p>

<p>It is also helpful to keep contact, even online through a board like this, with potential future classmates so you can compare notes on the process. This will lessen the chances of you missing some vital piece of information you weren't expecting. This happened to me the first time I applied when something got lost in the mail and I didn't know to inquire about it as I didn't know it was coming to begin with. My case was still up in the air with DODMERB less than a week before I was supposed to inprocess, due to me being behind as a result of not getting mail that I should have gotten earlier. Perhaps if I had gotten things earlier, my case would have been decided earlier and I would have been cleared that year. However, as things turned out, I got officially disqualified, yet when I applied again the next year, getting a waiver was not an issue (which I attribute at least partially to the extra time I had). I did get in that time, and I'm happy with where I ended up so I'm not disappointed, in retrospect. My point, though, is that a lot of last minute scrambling around could have been alleviated the first time if I had maintained contact with other people who were going through the process too.</p>

<p>The waiver/rebuttal process is not fun, but it's worth going through for an opportunity to attend the Academy. I wish you the very best in your quest.</p>

4

<p>I will add a professional response. I am usually a lurker here, but am an optometric physician (optometrist) who has helped several young people navigate the service academy qualification process. </p>

<p>The diagnosis of substandard depth perception is something that you can investigate further and may or may not affect chances of admission & PQ. </p>

<p>Many factors can affect depth perception testing: </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Wearing the proper spectacle or contact lens prescription at the time of test administration. If the test was performed without glasses or contacts your child requires to see clearly then he/she may not pass.</p></li>
<li><p>Lighting conditions. If the test was not performed under optimal lighting a false fail is possible. </p></li>
<li><p>The third factor that may affect results is the experience of the tester. If the test was performed by a nurse or technician unfamiliar with the test then it may have been performed incorrectly (i.e. wrong lighting, wrong test distance, wrong angle if a Randot or similar depth perception test was performed). </p></li>
</ol>

<p>My recommendation: repeat the test. If a technician or nurse performs the test and your son/daughter still fails, ask the doctor to repeat the test personally.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Hey how long did it take until you got your results back I took my medical exam on the 19th and my eye exam on the 14th.</p>

6

<p>tell them the enviorment wasn't good to see in, send in a rebuttal with new findings.depth perception tests can be taken at any opto office. as for the allergies stuff, you should know better than to give dodmerb a reason to DQ you, especially if all it took was claritin to get rid of it. i think the remedial with alleriges is going to kill you on this scholarship. i seen people put down allergies and get asked for remedials...after which they were DQed with a non-rebuttal code.</p>

<p>hate to be pessimistic, but never...ever, give "away" information to dodmerb. </p>

<p>their job is to DQ people.</p>

7

<p>the results should come back in a month. they need to go through concorde, and then 3 weeks in Dodmerb. if you are DQ'ed expect another 2 weeks.</p>

8

<p>I'm not worried about the claritin because I took it before I was twelve. The only reason I put it down is that I used to have a prescription for it and that is on record and I didn't want it to come back later. I think I should be fine with that just because it was before I was 12.</p>

9

<p>"tell them the enviorment wasn't good to see in, send in a rebuttal with new findings.depth perception tests can be taken at any opto office. as for the allergies stuff, you should know better than to give dodmerb a reason to DQ you, especially if all it took was claritin to get rid of it. i think the remedial with alleriges is going to kill you on this scholarship." "never...ever, give "away" information to dodmerb."</p>

<p>Bad advice as far as honesty goes. Enough said.</p>

10

<p>I just checked my medical status on the DODMERB website and I no longer have the Substandard Depth Perception on the list. I did not do anything with DODMERB, do you think this was an error or that it was not supposed to be on there to begin with?</p>

11

<p>I sent everything in specifying that is was before I was 12 I had allergies. They received it today (got notification from usps) and updated the website to say I am commissioned qualified. Is there anything I can do so I can be pilot or even navigator qualified or even ask them why I am only commission qualified?</p>

12

<p>You need to call DODMERB directly and asked why not pilot qualified. Unfortunately, this past week, they just took all the soft disqualifications of their web site.</p>

13

<p>I called DODMERB and they said that it was the Substandard Depth Perception. I called my eye doctor and I have an appointment tomorrow. Do I need to see a specialist for the depth perception or will my normal eye doctor be fine as long as he administers the randot eye test? Also what exactly should my eye doctors letter say?</p>

14

<p>Any qualified eye doctor (optometrist/optometric physician or ophthalmologist) should be able to perform depth perception (stereopsis) testing. The letter should be in the doctor's own words, stating which depth perception test was performed and what your results were. Typically, such tests can be scored as "x-out-of-x" or an equivalent "degrees of arc" measurement.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

15

<p>Thanks. I just mailed the eye doctor's letter with my own cover letter today, priority mail with signature confirmation.</p>

16

<p>How do we check the Dodmerb website for our status? I always try to log on, but it won't let me, saying something about using single quotes.</p>

17

<p>An update: dodmerb got the first letter, called me and said they need more info went to a different doctor with different tests and sent them the information along with pics of the test. They received it yesterday (checked with USPS) and tonight i checked my status and it was: "Application Under DoDMERB Review" I suppose this is good for now because it means that I have hope :)</p>

18

<p>Just checked again . . . POTENTIALLY PILOT QUALIFIED !!!!</p>

19

<p>Congratulations. As they say: "It takes brains, brawn, and guts - and that's just for the application!"</p>

20

<p>Congratulations, Dolphins39. Best of luck with future steps towards admission!</p>