[nabs-l] Blindness and the Military

[Derek Manners]

Howdy Ryan, I too shared this dream and actually did a fair amount of effort in trying to get a medical waiver. Technically a blind person can apply for a medical waiver to get into the military. However, in practice, I was told that no blind person would ever really get one. For example, I was interested in being a JAG (military lawyer). Despite an impeccable résumé on the legal end, the problem is that any member or the services is considered a soldier first and a (fill in the blank) second. E.G. A jag is considered a soldier first and a lawyer second. 

That's the party line. However, I agree with you and think this is something that we ought to fight against as the rationale is a bit silly IMO. I mean really, how many lawyers are going to fire a gun in a hot war?  

In the meantime, there are a number of rewarding civilian jobs available if you want to pursue your desire to serve our country and the military specifically. There are a ton of civilian IT, communications, support, analyst, etc. type jobs at the DoD and other international security institutions within the government. 

I personally worked at DoD this summer as a legal intern at the pentagon and it was an amazing experience. If this is something you'd like to pursue, you can email me off list or text or call at 9032716494. I have a few connections at DoD and State. 

Best
Derek Manners

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 25, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Ryan Silveira via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I am curious to know the general opinion on the topic of blind people serving in the US military.  It has always been a dream of mine to serve, but unfortunately, given my blindness, this does not seem possible.  Or is it?  Does anyone know of congenitally blind soldiers?  Personally, I think blind people could serve the military well, especially in the inteligence and communications departments.  They could even opperate distance weaponry )e.g. droans), although that might be a bit more difficult.  What do you all think?  If it is actually against policy for blind people to serve in the armed forces, I think this would be a good cause for the NFB to take up.  Thanks in advance for your feedback.
> 
> 
> Ryan L. Silveira
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/dmanners%40jd16.law.harvard.edu