CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (26 August 2006) --- "A day off the ground is always better than a day on," said Navy Lt. Commander Kevin McGowan. "I love being able to see the world from a different point of view."
McGowan loves his job as an aerospace optometrist and he uses his expertise to help Navy and Army pilots and other servicemembers in Combined Forces Land Component Command.
"Oh yeah, I love my job," said the pilot. "It's fun. I get to see patients who would normally avoid the (optometrist).
"Flying with pilots shows them that our job isn't to ground them, it's to keep them flying," said McGowan who works at the Expeditionary Medical Facility-Kuwait.
Putting optometrists in the sky to fly with the other pilots helps build relationships between them and the pilots, said Navy Cpt. Lee Cornforth, Director of Administration for EMF-Kuwait. McGowan's job is to help the pilots.
"Having an aviation optometry specialization helps optometrists understand the unique vision requirements aviation has under flight conditions," he continued.
"We have 16 Aerospace Optometrists in the U.S. Navy," said McGowan, a Rockford, Ill., native.
"It's my job to improve operational readiness and flight safety," he said. "If you can't see, you can't fly. If you can't see, you can't shoot."
McGowan said he always knew he wanted to be in the military but didn't always know he wanted to be an optometrist.
"I wanted to join since I was very small," said McGowan. "My dad
was a rifleman in the Marines and he wouldn't sign the papers for me to join the Marines, but he let me join the Navy at 17.
"I enlisted as a hospital corpsman and was attached to the Marine Corps at the Aerospace Medical Institution during Desert Storm," he said.
He was able to see the different jobs available in the Navy medical field and was especially interested in optometry, McGowan said.
After being in the Navy active duty for several years, McGowan enlisted in the Navy Reserves to attend Illinois College of Optometry.
"Half way through optometry school, I was offered the two-year commissioning program scholarship and became an officer," said McGowan.
McGowan said he sees patients throughout the day and flies to other camps to teach classes on optometry to military doctors.
"I think it's a great career," said McGowan on being an aerospace optometrist. "I like dealing with the healthy military population."
Optometrists see people with general vision problems and other minor eye issues, said Cornforth. If someone has a vision problem, it's possible to correct it here in theater.
Pilots and other servicemembers are now offered contacts and glasses with limited use, said McGowan.
If servicemembers want a more permanent solution for their vision problems, some duty stations in the U.S. offer photorefractive keratectomy, a type of corrective eye surgery, and the Army offers Lasik surgery, both of which are performed by an ophthalmologist, said McGowan.
"The Navy has a large aviation mission due to our aircraft carriers," he continued. "(Optometrists) support the Marines; and in a joint environment like this, we support all of the coalition, including other nations as well."
"We have weekly flight physicals for Army and Navy pilots," said McGowan. "We want to keep them flying."
Servicemembers are prescreened for vision problems prior to deployments and if they need glasses, they are issued a current set, but sometimes servicemembers, including pilots, do not develop vision problems until they are in theater, said Cornforth.
"If a patient starts to have problems seeing," said McGowan, "we make glasses right here. If they require a special lens, we can have it sent here from the states."
"Now pilots are allowed to wear contacts while on a mission in theater and glasses with some limitations," he said.
McGowan is not only able to help other pilots complete their missions here in theater, he also gets to enjoy his. He said he loves flying and that is the best part of his job.
"With the help of doctors like McGowan, aviators are provided optimum vision for their operational missions," said Cornforth.