Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Hutchinson, an optometry technician with the 35th Aerospace Medicine Squadron, examines a patient’s retinal scan at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Jan. 21, 2016. “If you can’t see them, you can’t shoot them,” Hutchinson said as he explained the optometry flight’s importance in a service member’s life. In the same way they support the war fighters on the ground down range, they’re also the primary factor in a pilot’s medical clearance to fly. “Without us, they’re literally flying blind,” he said. “People just can’t see without us.” Hutchinson is a Cincinnati, Ohio

---

Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Hutchinson, an optometry technician with the 35th Aerospace Medicine Squadron, examines a patient’s retinal scan at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Jan. 21, 2016. “If you can’t see them, you can’t shoot them,” Hutchinson said as he explained the optometry flight’s importance in a service member’s life. In the same way they support the war fighters on the ground down range, they’re also the primary factor in a pilot’s medical clearance to fly. “Without us, they’re literally flying blind,” he said. “People just can’t see without us.” Hutchinson is a Cincinnati, Ohio, native. ( Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Benjamin W. Stratton)

---

Size: 1825px × 1369px
Photo credit: © PJF Military Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -16, ., .., 35th, air, airforce, base, benjamin, bwstratt, contact, d800e, deployment, falcon, fighter, fighting, force, gas, glasses, health, inserts, japan, lenses, mask, medical, military, misawa, nikon, ocular, opthamology, optometry, photography, photojournalist, readiness, sgt., staff, states, stratton, united, usa, wing