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In reply to the discussion: How did you come by your username? [View all]pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)That was long ago and far away.
They promoted me to captain in the hospital, then gave me a partial disability retirement after only 4 1/2 years in. I never really felt like part of the "officer corps," though. The first thing I did when I got out was grow my hair long, along with a moustache and a beard. I wasn't anti-military, but I needed to separate myself from that life and put it behind me--maybe more sub-consciously than consciously.
The military even made a distinction between guys like me and the Academy lifers. They were retired with the formal designation, "USA (U.S. Army), Ret." My designation was "AUS (Army of the United States), Ret." Sorta like the US/RA enlisted distinction between draftees and enlistees--though by your time they were using the SSN. I had three different service numbers--first with a 'US' prefix designating draftee, then with an 'O' prefix designating commissioned, and finally my SSN.
If you were at Lewis in '67, you might have seen me. I was the one in olive green fatigues and combat boots.
We didn't get to see much of the amenities there because of the Meningitis outbreak on the West Coast at the time. Training units were confined to their company areas and could only go to the PX as a group, marched there by the drill sergeant once a week or two. In the barracks, the protocol was that that alternate windows had to be lowered 6 inches from the top and raised 6 inches from the bottom. We had no passes in Basic, but did get to go into Seattle on pass a couple of times in AIT. I think I only got to the 3.2 beer hall on post once the whole time I was there.
You probably remember the cadence line of Lewis trainees: "All we got is rocks and rain," lol. In the early 90's I saw a news report that they were going to raze the old barracks at North Fort, where I'd trained. My memories were more of the people and the training, though, not so much the place. What I remember of Lewis is mostly the smoke curling out of the barracks chimneys from the coal-fired furnaces when I arrived in March (and the heat, rocks and rain later). Because we were so confined, I never really got a good sense of the post layout.
It's been fun conspiring with you to hijack the thread (though it's pretty hard to 'jack a thread that's more a collection than a discussion). I'm sure we'll meet again on these boards. And thanks for stirring that stuff that needs to be stirred from time to time. That's both helpful and healthy.