As a young boy I was very active in Cubs and Scouts learning all the fundamentals from the great outdoors to tieing knots and building bird houses. Of course every scout remembers that one day a year when you converged on the streets of your home town to sell apples on apple day. In this picture above we have three "good dead do-ers" from left to right, there is Me then my older brother "Chuck" and my little brother "David" Well, something must have rubbed off on me, for I quit working at the paperboard mill to look for something alot more exciting and adventurious.
As a bigger boy, this is what I found to be my idea of fun, learning and excitement! I joined up with the 1st Princess Patrica's Canadian Light Infantry. I was sent to a place called Wainwright Alberta. "Where is that?", was my first question. I soon found out where!! It is located about 120 miles East of the city of Edmonton. It is way out there in the boonies. There is nothing there in the summer, but very hot, dry, and dusty soldiers. The picture above gives you a pretty good idea of what Wainwright is like in the summer time. Just when you get used to the heat, there is the other side of the equation and that is, "What if we have to fight a war in the winter time?"

This was the answer......Welcome to "Wainwright Alaska !!" and the weather today is a balmy -65 degrees. Yes, the army prepares you in all aspects and possible situations which helped me to deal with life in general. In this picture, I'm standing watch during a brief time period in the day that there is sunshine, it's in the month of January. I've been back to Alaska several times and love the place. I recommend that everyone go to Alaska and check it out. Remember if you go in the summer, bring lots of bug spray, you're going to need it... If the winter is your time of year for that special vacation then you had better dress warmly....for I have seen it over -100 degree's, be concerned however it is a dry cold and you can dress for it easily.
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