By Deirdre Carroll, Senior Editor


The U.S. Military’s standard issue S9 spectacles (a.k.a. birth control glasses or BCGs) circa 1996. Photo courtesy of militaryphotos.net
WASHINGTON—On Jan. 19, Navy Medical Logistics Command (NMLC) announced that all active duty and Reserve personnel, including recruits, will soon have a new standard issue eyeglass frame available to them.

Since 1990, military personnel and recruits who required vision correction have received the standard issue S9 eyeglass frames, often jokingly referred to as "birth control glasses" or simply "BCGs" along with the rest of their standard issue gear when reporting into boot camp.

"We are happy to announce that the New Year brings with it a new frame option for all personnel serving on active duty and in the Reserves," said Capt. Matt Newton, commanding officer of Naval Ophthalmic Support and Training Activity (NOSTRA) in Yorktown, Va. "Service members have told us that they like the appearance of the new frame. We are confident this frame will increase the likelihood that military personnel will continue to utilize their eyeglasses beyond boot camp."

Starting Jan. 1, the current cellulose acetate BCG frames provided at all Armed Forces initial entry training sites (boot camp) began the transition from the male and female brown "S9" spectacles to a new, unisex black "5A" frame, also in acetate.


The new standard issue unisex 5A frames being rolled out to Active Duty military.
NOSTRA works very closely with Rochester Optical in Rochester, N.Y. on developing eyewear for the troops and Rochester Optical has been supplying the military eyewear since 1932, the company said. “We have been the ‘Home of BCGs & RPGs’ for many years and our product portfolio has ballooned to meet the needs of the military for improving quality of life for the troops,” said Patrick Ho, president of Rochester Optical. “We have been the ‘Home of BCGs, RPGs, FOCs, S9-1As” - and now we are the ‘Home of R-5As’ as well.” Rochester Optical also provides other special purpose proprietary products they’ve developed for the military, like the EAB-17 for submariners that was developed with Sub Base in Groton, Conn. The company has set up a designated Facebook page dedicated to the new frame.

The military decided to make the change to the 5A after a study by the Military Health System's Optical Fabrication Enterprise (OFE) coordinated by NOSTRA was conducted to find a suitable frame to add to the standard issue inventory. A select few where chosen for user tests at military compounds around the U.S. where testers were asked to assess the frames functionality, durability and cosmetic appearance and the 5A frame was selected as the best option.

Roll out of the 5A frame will occur at all Armed Forces initial entry training sites and within the next six months, the 5A frame will be made available to all active duty and Reserve service members. Full implementation is expected to be completed over a two-year period.

The military also has a “Frame of Choice” (FOC) program for those who have graduated boot camp which consists of nine frames styles, all but one of which, a squared-off oval shape in acetate, are made of metal. All Active Duty personal in any branch of service are eligible to receive one pair of standard issue spectacle frames (now the 5A, formally the S9), along with one pair of sunglasses and one frame from the FOC program. To learn more about the FOC program visit its Facebook page.

Military retirees who receive their glasses through the Veterans Administration are not eligible for the new frames under this program but will continue to be eligible for the standard issue S9, S91A and Half-Eye frames. However, over the next two years, the OFE will study the feasibility of providing 5A frames to retirees.


The old standard issue frames which are still available to retirees.

Prior to WWII, physical standards prohibited people who needed vision correction from even joining the U.S. military, but in 1945 after the attack on Pearl Harbor the physical standards were relaxed in order to expand the fleet. That’s when the military started a program to provide standard issue glasses. As the program grew, demand for trained staff and facilities to fit and dispense lenses also increased. Now the Armed Forces train their own opticians and dispensers and grind and fit the lenses in their own labs around the world. NOSTRA is only one of 24 labs in the Optical Fabrication Enterprise (OFE) which makes eyewear for all eligible personnel. It is also the training site for Navy and Army personnel training to become laboratory and clinical opticians. For the last seven years, NOSTRA has produced an average of 45,000 pairs per month of prescription eyewear for authorized personnel. More on the history of the program here.

Now with the implementation of new 5A frame it begs the question of whether or not the number of pairs of prescription frames NOSTRA handles a month will go up. A possibility if you take into account a Facebook user’s comment on the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery’s Facebook page when they announced the roll out of the new frame. He said they “look like a pair of Ray-ban prescriptions I almost bought at Lens Crafters a few months back…” Surely a high form of praise.

Then again, if the U.S. Military needs to off load some of those old S9s, eBay is doing a healthy business of selling vintage BCGs to hipsters who enjoy a bit of irony with their eyewear.