Army Veteran Rod Jackson returns to the classroom to learn ASL

KILLEEN, Texas — At 70 years old, Rod Jackson sits in a night classroom at Central Texas College , his arthritic hands carefully forming signs in the air. He's learning American Sign Language, and his reason why might just inspire you to take that class finally you've been putting off.

"I'm going deaf," Jackson said. "Stood too close to too many things that went boom."

Jackson's hearing loss is a souvenir from 20 years in the U.S. Army—four years as light infantry and 16 in military intelligence. He served when the Berlin Wall stood and later deployed to Afghanistan at 53 years old.

"I've been on every continent except for Antarctica," he said with a laugh. "I've no desire to go see the penguins. I've lived on three different continents. And you don't learn about people on a two-week