Dept. of unintended consequences: turning alpha-minuses into alphas

In a fascinating story about the unintended consequences of applying a new technology to a wide audience, the NYT today says now that up to a third of all Naval Academy grads get free laser eye surgery, with the unintended result:

For generations, Academy graduates with high grades and bad eyes were funneled into the submarine service. But in the five years since the Naval Academy began offering free eye surgery to all midshipmen, it has missed its annual quota for supplying the Navy with submarine officers every year.

Wow, so that line about submarines "running blind" was not just a metaphor.

The story goes on to describe the details of the surgery -- instead of leaving a corneal flap, as cilvilian laser eye surgeons do, the Navy surgeons "grind it away," which is not the most pleasant image, especially considering you're watching this as it happens. But the point is that they had all these smart guys with imperfect eyesight before, but now that they have fewer of them:

The growing number of aspiring pilots has also made it harder to find candidates to become "back-seaters," officers who serve as navigators and weapons officers on planes, Navy officials say.

I love stories of unintended consequences.