Military trains coming down the UP or the BNSF from the north could be headed to Fort Irwin, Calif., where the Army has had its National Training Center for many years. The standard way to get unit vehicles to and from California for training rotations at the post is by train.

I did an NTC rotation in the summer of 1989 with the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry from Fort Drum, N.Y., and our squadron's vehicles moved by train from Fort Drum all the way to a Marine Corps logistics base near Barstow for unloading.

Three years later, in August 1992, our Squadron vehicles moved by rail from Fort Drum to Homestead, Fla. when we deployed for Hurricane Andrew relief operations. Returning to Fort Drum, we redeployed our vehicles out of the Florida East Coast intermodal yard at Hialeah.