They observed that he began walking in his sleep. Someone told him about it, and Tommy started tying himself to the bed at night. When he was relieved of the RPOC job, Tommy became depressed and Danny went to sick bay whenever he could.

Arthur became interested in the hematology lab.

The Navy sent an investigator to observe him one day, and he found Philip stretched out on his bunk in uniform, his white hat on his feet, flipping cards off the top of a deck.

“Whats going on here?” Captain Simons demanded.

“Get on your feet, mister,” said*his aide.

“Fuck off!” Philip said.

“I’m a captain. How dare you—”

“I don’t give a damn if you’re Jesus Christ! Get outta here. You’re making me miss.”

When Chief Petty Officer Rankin came in, Philip told him the same thing.

On April 12, 1972, two weeks and four days after Tommy joined the Navy, Philip was assigned to the Recruit Evaluation Unit.

The report from his company commander stated: “This man was my RPOC at first, but then he didn’t do anything except try to boss everyone all the time. Then he started going to sick-call after I relieved him of his RPOC job. Each day it got worse, and every class he found a reason to get out of it. This man is way behind the rest of the company and is going downhill all the time. This man will require watching.”

A psychiatrist interviewed David, who didn’t understand what was going on. After a check of the records from Ohio, the Navy discovered that he had been in a mental hospital and had lied on recruitment papers. The psychiatric report stated, “He lacks the necessary maturity and stability to function effectively in the Navy. It is recommended that he be discharged as temperamentally unsuitable for further training.”

On May 1, a month and a day after his enlistment, William Stanley Milligan was discharged from the U.S. Navy “under honorable conditions.”

He was given his pay and an airline ticket to Columbus. But on the way from Great Lakes to O’Hare Airport in Chicago, Philip learned that two other recruits on leave to go home were heading for New York City. Instead of using his United Airlines ticket, Philip joined them on the bus. He was going to see New York, the place he knew he was from but had never seen.

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At the New York bus terminal Philip said good-by to his traveling companions, slung his duffle bag over his shoulder and started walking. He picked up maps and brochures at the information desk and headed for Times Square. He felt at home. The streets, the voices that sounded natural to his ear, assured him that this was where he belonged.

Philip spent two days exploring the city. He took a trip on the Staten Island Ferry and one to the Statue of Liberty. Then, starting at the Battery, he wandered the narrow streets around Wall Street and walked up to Greenwich Village. He ate in a Greek restaurant and slept at a cheap hotel. The next day he went to Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street and stared up at the Empire State Building. He took the tour to the top and studied the city.