Lackland Air Force Base, Texas –
In a new initiative by the 37th Training Wing commander, Air Force basic trainees from the 331st Training Squadron on Monday became the first to receive eyeglasses equipped with frames the color and style of their own choosing.
Col. Eric Wilbur, vice commander of the 37th TRW, told the trainees he was appearing on behalf of Brig. Gen. Darrell Jones. "This has been a personal mission of his (General Jones) to get you glasses that indicate you are part of the world's greatest air and space power."
Trainee Oscar Hernandez, from Lubbock, was handed the first frame-of-choice glasses by Colonel Wilbur, who said, "Wear them with pride."
Trainee Hernandez, in his third week of basic like the others from Flights 189 and 190, selected silver metal frames for his glasses. "I like them better than those other ones," he said of the regulation S-9 (Spectacle, version 9) with plastic lenses and thick, brown frames designed to stand up to the rough treatment of field training they will enter next week.
Trainees now will receive three pairs of glasses: the new FOC glasses; the S-9; and the GMI, or gas mask insert lenses, said Lt. Col. Sherri Maxwell, head of the Reid Clinic Optometry Clinic. She said about 40 percent of trainees wear glasses, so an incoming class of 700 trainees will require the ordering of 940 pairs of glasses, including 280 FOC glasses.
"I think they had some pretty good choices," said Trainee Logan Schneider, from Higginsville, Mo., who chose gold-colored metal frames. "It was nice of them to give us a choice, instead of just what we're supposed to be getting, like prior flights."
Trainee Cameron Cruz, from Warner Robins, Ga., selected black rims. "I really like them," he said. "I was looking forward to being the first flight to receive these."
"I'm glad my husband won't see me in these ugly BCGs (birth-control glasses)," Trainee Jevry Acosta, from Mountlake Terrace, Wash., said of her pair of S-9s. She chose black wire rims for her FOC glasses.
Trainees get their eyes checked and place the order for their frames at the BMT Optometry Clinic, which is just behind Reid Clinic, Colonel Maxwell said.
"They are all anticipating getting them," she said. "They're excited about that - they're happy."
At first, trainees had 10 choices in colors and styles of four frames. Six more frames are expected to be added Feb. 9, for an additional 17 colors and styles, for a total of 27 possible choices from among eight metal and two plastic frames.
Colonel Maxwell said the glasses and frames are fabricated in a laboratory at Brooke Army Medical Center. She said the glasses are delivered two to five days after they are ordered.
Military training instructors give out the glasses in the squadrons, and trainees can get the frames adjusted at any of three clinics, BMT, Reid or Bldg. 3350 near Wilford Hall Medical Center.
Frame-of-choice glasses are already budgeted for all armed forces personnel by the TRICARE Management Agency, Colonel Maxwell said.
Air Force basic trainees were excluded, however, until General Jones intervened and managed to get the issuing policy changed.
Colonel Wilbur told the trainees they now have glasses they can be proud of when they graduate. "I look forward to seeing you on graduation day - each and every one of you," he said. "Good luck!"