I don’t really know if it’s true for all Air Force pilots (e.g. C-130 truckers), but fighter pilots really need keen, better than average eyesight in combat. Thanks to AWACS and radar and beyond-the-horizon missiles there’s maybe less of an absolute need for it than in the past, but it is still a crucial advantage in close range, high speed dogfights & ground attacks.
You can wear glasses and be a navigator or bombardier.
When I had my entrance physical for the Air Force in 1965, no one looked at my feet. Of course, women were treated differently in the military then. We didn’t march much, and when we did, it was sans pack. We didn’t have firearms training either.
I do have flat feet, but they were asymptomatic until I was in my 50s.
My feet are completely flat. When I walk around a pool deck, I leave complete footprints. I have no discernible arch whatsoever.
I also successfully made it though 4 years of NROTC, and over 10 years active duty in the Navy.
I went though an entrance physical before NROTC, and another physical before going on active duty. I was never asked to take off my socks, and nobody looked at my feet.
IIRC, on the questionnaires they gave me for the physicals, they only asked if I experienced pain or had problems with my feet. At the time of those physicals, I’d never had any pain or other problems, and I never had any trouble with military footwear. I did get some custom orthotics once (on my own), but found they were more trouble than they were worth.
But how much long distance walking do they really need to do these days? Surely we are past the era when armies marched to wherever they were going.
I have flat feet, and I can hike several miles with a backpack with no problems. Must be more to do with military shoes being teh suxxor.
In places like Afghanistan the areas are very rugged with dirt roads only in some areas , other areas have no roads at all. They can use choppers but that means you are noisy when you show up. If you want to sneak up you pretty much have to walk in although it may not be a long walk.
I don’t really understand about the complaint about flat feet always being ‘bad’. I have flat feet and it never bothered me in the least. I have an extremely fast walking pace and can hike for 20 miles or more in one day. I used to run 8 miles a day, 5 days a week. Mine isn’t severe but people have commented on my footprints when I got out of a pool. I had to wear special shoes in third grade much to my humiliation and pick up marbles with my toes as a correction during that time. It was probably all a medical scam but they probably just didn’t know what to suggest any better. I do have some arches but they just aren’t as pronounced as most people’s. It has never been a real-life issue and I was in ROTC for a while in college.
True, if they are bad enough.
The army wants soldiers who are able to function in forward locations, marching long distances, carrying a lot of equipment, and with limited access to medical care. So any medical condition that renders you unable to do that, or that would require chronic medical treatment, will likely disqualify you from service. On the front lines, lack of special medical care might make you a less effective soldier, or the need to provide that care will require more effort from the military supply chain. Better for them to just avoid that altogether, and draft the next person, without that medical problem.
This is very dependent on the service, and the assignments for you.
Flat feet will keep you out of the army, but not the navy (they don’t do that much marching onboard ships). Air Force pilots need good eyesight. But the new remote-controlled drone planes are ‘flown’ by someone sitting behind the lines at a computer console – it probably won’t matter if they have thick glasses.
This applies to civilians, too. My daughter had to get a security clearance, and one of the things they looked at was her debt load. She was found to have a reasonable debt load, and was paying it off well. She had her student loans, a car loan, and almost no credit card debt or other debts. I’m convinced that this is part of the reason she got her current job.
They’re bad because they cause shin splints from walking or running. As I learned last year when I decided to become an avid walker then jogger. Ouch. I was so stubborn about it that I almost caused myself permanent damage before I decided to talk to my doctor about the pain.
In addition, depending on the cause, it can leave you more open to having weak ankles, which means it’s much easier for you to sprain/strain/twist your ankle, which leads to a delightful self-perpetuation cycle, since that makes you more vulnerable.