Color vision is an option!

Some of you may know that I have a color deficiency.  I am not completely color blind, but I can't pass the standard color vision tests.  Dots, Lanterns, lights, nothing.  But I can and do see some colors, just not the colors you see.  Hey, it works for me.

Being a Gunner's Mate, color vision is a supposed requirement.  The late Navy Master Chief Gunner's Mate and one of the first Tech Reps on Gun Mounts, Tom McKenna remembered that I was color blind from a mistake that I made.  We had not seen each other for many years and we met at the Gun Conference in Louisville.  He came up to me and said, you're that color blind Gunner's Mate aren't you?!  He did not remember my name but he remembered that.

But the funniest event centered around my color vision happened during a reenlistment physical.  The Corpsman administered the standard color vision test, you know the one with the numbers hidden in the colored dots.  Naturally, I failed it.  He then handed me a piece of litmus paper and told me to "Pee on the colored end".   I asked the Corpsman; "What test did I just fail?"  He said the color vision test.  I then asked; "Now what end of this paper do I pee on?"

Another humorous event happened when I was a Senior Chief and I was the GMG Detailer.  I took a reenlistment physical at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren where we lived.  I knew the Doctor and after all the testing, he said; "Defective color vision can be a disqualifying factor for some rates."  I uttered an obscenity and told him to sign the form!  He did.

Then, when I went to work at NAVSEACENLANT,  I had the same defective color vision issue getting hired.  My boss, Dennis Robertson, had to sign a form that I was acceptable to work on gun mounts with my issues.  He did and I did an adequate job.

The bottom line is, if you want to do something and are dedicated to it, nothing will stop you.  No matter what the issue, you can overcome it, if you are dedicated enough.

So, quit whining and start taking charge of your life.  Success is based on trying not crying!