I spent my first two days in the Army on the Empire Builder from Fargo to Seattle. That was the highlight of Basic Training.

I was inducted on September 20, 1966 and arrived at Ft. Lewis in a rainstorm. I would say I was there during the rainy season but that probably covers the entire year.

Ft. Lewis had an outbreak of Spinal Meningitus so we were confined to barracks the entire 8 weeks and we were forbidden to go off post.

After 6 weeks of being wet under cloudy skies, I walked out of the barracks and for the first time the sun was shining and a great big mountain looked like it was on top of us! \

I think I saw Mt. Rainier twice the whole time I was there. The most memorable times were marching on the bluffs above Puget Sound, it was truly beautiful.