Johny Ramos, who went to the school for the deaf in St.Augustine, was inducted by mistake into the service during the Vietnam War. Since he didn’t understand that his deafness would have made him exempt, he reported for duty. Later, my friend asked him how he had passed his medical examination.
“I’m okay, physically,” Johny told him, “When I saw the man ahead of me doing something, I did the same. When the questions came, I nodded where he had nodded and shook my head where he had.”
“What about the hearing test?”
“I looked at the examiner’s eyes. His pupils contracted when he heard the sound, I was supposed to hear. Then, I raised my hand.”
“What about your training?”
“I just followed whatever I saw going on around me. When the guy in front of me got up, I got up. When he threw up, I threw up. Marching, sleeping, pissing, I just followed along.”
Johny was on the train to the airport to take him to his deployment, when his parents finally rang the bell on him.