America 1982-Chapter 628 - 141: Without Tommy’s Letter of Recommendation_3

"Uh... I... or rather, the guys from Kent County who got drafted, we all did some shameful things before we were punitively tossed overseas to rot," Sean said in response to Dennis’s question: "We went for the medical examination at the hospital, you know, whether you have to serve or not all depends on the medical report, so a lot of people hoped to get proof that they were unfit for service, and they thought up all kinds of methods."

"Some guys thought about shooting themselves in the thigh, but they were later told that unless they had the guts to use a shotgun with the largest buckshot to blow their leg off, the injury wouldn’t affect conscription once healed."

"Others claimed to have all sorts of bizarre mental illnesses, talking nonsense, insulting others and such, but the appointed hospitals had professional psychiatrists and psychologists who could easily see through the liars’ scams. They even damn scared us poor souls by showing us a film about treating mental illness. The doctor in the film said that all you have to do is cut out some lobe in our brains to cure the mental illness and make us more obedient; many guys were terrified by that."

"Later, I found a loophole, urine tests! This was absolutely the best opportunity to fake it. The hospital and draft office staff didn’t pay attention to the urine tests at all. They let us go to the bathroom to collect the urine ourselves, with no one supervising. Those fools simply handed us the perfect chance to cheat."

"And just so happened we ran into a bastard in the toilet selling syphilitic patients’ urine at a high price. Damn it, a small cup of urine for two hundred bucks, way more expensive than drugs! But I was willing to pay, no matter the cost, as having severe syphilis would exempt me from the draft. I bought a cup and then when the urine test results came back, the doctor told the military officer I had syphilis and couldn’t perform military service. I was so happy I could die, thinking at last I could just drive trucks in peace. You know what happened next?"

"What happened?" Dennis’s face showed no trace of curiosity; he was just echoing perfunctorily.

"That doctor said the urine test showed not only did I have syphilis, but I was also damn pregnant!" Sean exclaimed with a face full of outrage:

"That asshole who made two hundred bucks off me sold me the urine of a pregnant woman with syphilis!"

With a sympathetic face, Dennis patted Sean on the shoulder: "Calm down, I get it. In the end, did you find out that all the draftees had bought similar urine?"

"Exactly, even the urine that several female soldiers bought was problematic; the test results showed they had severe syphilis and prostatitis," Sean said:

"Afterward, we found the guy who was selling the urine, and he had the nerve to say he mixed up the two urine samples! To hell with him, as a result, our subsequent medical checks were rapidly approved, and after a few months of training at the domestic base, all of us were dispatched to all sorts of godforsaken places around the world under the suspicion of fraud. And there was no refusing, for if you refused, those guys would give you trouble with dishonorably discharging you. Supposed to be discharged in two years, right? Well, because I was ’suspected’ of faking to dodge the draft, if I didn’t want to carry the record of a dishonorable discharge and be stripped of veteran benefits, I had to obediently extend service, for at least six years before they’d consider granting us honorably discharged opportunities. Otherwise, why do you think I’m still in this hellhole?"

"Have you ever thought that he let you guys run into him on purpose, and that he also switched the urine on purpose?" Dennis suddenly said beside Sean.

Sean, who had just taken a drag from his cigarette, stopped midway, almost choking to death, and after a severe bout of coughing, he stared at Dennis: "That was... on purpose?"

"It’s just a guess, but it’s not very likely. After all, they had no reason to deliberately set you guys up," Dennis exhaled: "See you later, Sean, I’m going to check out my resting room."

After finishing, Dennis turned and entered through the door, leaving Sean alone, silently puffing clouds of smoke in the courtyard.

Glen, who had overheard the conversation from inside, looked at Dennis coming in and said: "Dennis, wasn’t that the trick you came up with in the West Point classroom when discussing the draft system? Setting a trap for those who didn’t want to serve, staining their records, then using the pretext of suspected draft evasion to scare them into extending their service."

"That’s right, it seems some of my classmates working at the draft headquarters have started to apply what they have learned," Dennis turned his head to look at the forlorn figure of Sean:

"If not for Tommy’s recommendation letter, I wouldn’t have attended military school with Tony, and right now I’d be just like Sean, rotting away in some corner of the Earth, cursing the idiot who mistakenly got the urine, not knowing who to really blame, thank god for Tommy."