A second part of basic training in the Army is AIT, or advanced individual training. In my case my advanced training in 1967 was infantry at Fort Ord, Calif., where we learned to use all types of light infantry weapons in preparation for conflict engagement. One of these weapons was the M-60 machine gun, which had an effective range of approximately 1,000 yards. In training at the range in the mountains we fired live ammo with every fourth round a tracer so we could follow and direct our fire to the targets on a hill 1,000 yards out. One day, while we were firing at targets in the distance, a large deer (buck) started to walk across the firing range in front of the targets. Before the range sergeant could sound cease-fire, the tracers of the 12 machine guns on the firing line all began to slowly converge on the deer. Everyone was thinking the same thing at the same time. Luckily, before the deer was struck, everyone ceased firing as ordered. The range sergeant instructed us to wait until the deer had left the target area, but quipped at the same time: "I hope y'all can shoot as well when confronted with the enemy, but remember they will shoot back."

Nick De Cerchio, Lewes, Del.