title: Military readiness: an exploration of the relationship between marksmanship and visual acuity.
abstract: The United States military relies on visual acuity standards to assess enlistment induction and military occupational specialty eligibility, as well as to monitor soldiers' combat vision readiness. However, these vision standards are not evidence based and may not accurately reflect appropriate standards for military readiness or reflect a correlation between visual acuity and occupational performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between visual acuity and marksmanship performance using a single blind trial with the Engagement Skills Trainer 2000. Marksmanship performance was evaluated in 28 subjects under simulated day and night conditions with habitual spectacle prescription and contact lenses that created visual blur. Panel Poisson regression using an independent correlation structure revealed significant differences (p < 0.001) as visual acuity decreased from 20/25 to 20/50. We conclude that marksmanship performance decreases as visual acuity decreases. We believe that this relationship supports the use of a visual acuity requirement.
authors.affiliation: USAHC Bamberg, CMR 459 Box 01913; APO AE 09139.
authors.forename: Kenney H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Lewis N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Reich
authors.forename: Patrick C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hardigan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005389:Firearms; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D010809:Physical Fitness; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014481:United States; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014792:Visual Acuity