September Morn, 1962: "A Day on the Rifle Range"
"Pretty impressed with the hills of Kentucky, especially early in the morning when they are blanketed with low clouds. Out behind the range they are thought to be especially interesting and beautiful, but when the fog lifts, there stands revealed the devastating effects of man's civilization upon nature's normally beauriful terrain. Directly behind the target area which lies on the top of one hill one can see the effect that the constant showering of rounds of 31 cal. MI firing has made upon the side of the hill which catches the slugs after they pass through the target, over the valley,and on and on. The whole side of this distant hill is completely barren like a field after a horde of locusts or a plow has pitted it."
His friend Peter, he says, "missed the whole target round after round. He just wasn't interested in trying after I told him the better shots or marksmen would have to shoot more often than the rest of the men. Peter was definitely not interest in this type of achievement."
His final advice to me on this day? "Hold on, study hard, and smoke more often."