Americans do not allow Deaf people to join the army unless they do civilian based jobs but that hasn’t always stopped Deaf people from joining the army.

Thanks to Tom Harrington’s submission to the Library at Galladuet back in 2002, there is a list of fourteen Soldiers that had fought in the Civil War in America.

John Gross Barnard was a Major-General in the Civil War

William Meade Berkeley fought for the Confdereate side.

John Blount was in the Union Army (state militia from Kentucky)

William Martin Chamberlain fought in the Union Army until he was discharged. They had released him when they found out he was Deaf.

Those are only a few people that deserve our remembrance and honor. There are some people like Keith Nolan are fighting to gain the right to serve in the Army. Nolan was a top performer in the ROTC program at CSUN. While he gained respect of his instructors, he still did not gain the ability to go on into the Army.

“There are a plethora of various non-combat jobs accessible to the deaf: intelligence, computer technology, map drawing, supply,” Nolan says.(WJLA)

While this weekend is all about honoring soliders, it is an excellent time to remember that people from this community are not allowed to be part of the program.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtKTcPq7XBs]
In this video he mentions the passion that many Americans have in wanting to serve their country by protecting it. This is a deep part of pride for their country and yet people from our community are rejected this opportunity. Nolan shares his journey into the program and what he learned. He also mentioned Deaf Smith and several names in the Gallaudet library (a few listed above) of people that fought in the war regardless of their hearing ability. 
This is an interesting journey and while there are people that enjoy the fact that because they’re unable to, they don’t have to be put on the draft list when they register to vote. Those same people often think the laws or rules should stay the same so they don’t have to register. Others feel like it’s unfair. 
What do you think?