Chapter Four

Odayin's Chapter

I sighed in relief as I put my heavy pack down next to Skyler's.  The 30 sniper trainees were standing in a half-circle around the Captain and our new Sniper Trainers.  There were two of them: Blake and Stan.  Although they would both oversee everything, Jake would mainly focus on our shooting whereas Stan would focus on our stealth.  The Captain was here because, well, he's our captain.

      "Okay here now listen up! There will be 3 stages of sniper training that some of you will endure.  The reason I say that is because if you aren't good enough, you will be eliminated from Marine Sniper training and will have to wait another season before trying again.  Anyway, the stages are as follows: Stage one will be just your regular shooting at targets.  Your score will be based on accuracy as well speed.  The targets will be relatively short ranged at only about 200-300 meters.”

      “Stage two will be focused on your ability to remain unseen and undetected.” Stan swiftly picks up where Black left off, “A sniper’s ability to get into position for a shot without being seen is just as important as making the shot itself.  Both of them judge the success of a mission.  In this section of the training, you will each help each other fashion ghille suits and then cross an open terrain.”

      Blake was nodding and smiling by this time and it seems they have had memorable past experiences with this section of the training.  He then takes up the reigns of the conversation again.  “Your third and final section of training will consist of, once again, shooting.  This is where most people will be eliminated as this is the most difficult section.  You will be shooting at targets roughly 600 meters away that are moving.  Once again, your score will be based upon accuracy as well as speed.”

      It was the Captain’s turn to pepper us with words now, “Okay you ugly pieces of work, get moving over to the training area! Go! Go! Go!”

      The next thing I felt was my heavy pack on my back again as we all lightly jogged (quite used to it by now) over to the first shooting range.

 

*     *     *

 

      “Okay, we will time you on how fast you can hit the ten still targets scattered across the range.  Accuracy counts so don’t miss!”  Blake’s voice still rung in my ears as Stan started calling names.  A lot of time passed as it turns out that Skyler and I were the last two on the list.

      “Drobesian!” The call came sharply around the range.

      I felt the dirt under me as I positioned myself prone behind the sniper rifle resting on the ground.  I quickly loaded it and slid the bolt back as my hands had done a hundred times before.  “You're on the clock Drobesian! Go! Go shoot them guys!” The shout bounced around in my head.  I put my eye up to the scope and looked down range quickly sighting the first set.  I focused on the cross-hairs, rather than the target itself.  Lining them up…bang! One down.  I repeated the same process over and over.  The requirement was to reload once and I did this flawlessly as loading the gun was always my specialty. By the time the last target fell, I felt a large sense of relief overcome me.  I had hit them all with perfect accuracy, something no one had done yet!  “Time: 58.6 seconds.  Accuracy: 10 for 10.  Nicely done Drobesian,” The Captain’s voice filled me with pride as I returned to my spot beside Skyler.  I knew that the only one who beat my time was Ryan Strider with a 56.3 and 10 for 12 accuracy.

      “Riferck!” The last call came, and Skyler went forward to answer it.

      I watched as my friend settled in behind the massive weapon and them to call the time starting.  Skyler and I knew each other and our skills well: I was more accurate, but not by much.  I was also faster with the bolt and reloading.  I was also slightly better at seeing the targets, (Which is why I was planned to be spotter) not that that mattered here in training.  However, Chris shined in the speed of shooting targets; and oh did he shine.  He was fast and deadly accurate.  A great sense of pride filled my heart as he stepped back from the course that he just showed who the master was.

      “Whoa, that was fast!” the Captain exclaims, quite surprised.  “A time of 44.2 seconds Riferck and an accuracy of 10 for 11.  You just beat the trainee record of 46.8 seconds.  In fact, you were close to the course record of 43.1 seconds set by Blakey over here.” the Captain states as he gestures to Blake.  “Amazing job Riferck!”

      Skyler returned to his post beside me trying his best to keep a straight face.  He silently gave me the ‘you may think I haven’t done it before.’  I replied with a ‘not that well…’ look.

     

      Time went by in a blur because before I realized it, two snipers had been announced of not passing the first stage, and then, all of a sudden, I was listening to Stan tell us how the next sniper training was going to work.

      “Okay gentlemen, for this stage of Marine Sniper training, you are going to have to move across that open field,” he gestured over his shoulder to the open green pasture behind him, “Without being by spotted by The Captain and Blake.” He indicated a spot about 300 meters away where you could see the two men standing ready with high powered binoculars.

      “You will be able to help each other with your ghille suits,” Stan continued on after turning back around. “If either The Captain or Blake feels like they see something, you will hear a sharp whistle from me, which means ‘freeze’.  I will then confirm to them if they truly have spotted one of you.  Once you get to the desired checkpoint, you will fire a blank.  That will secure your spot in passing this round.  You fail if you're spotted.  Okay, be ready to move out in 10 minutes.”

      Skyler and I immediately started working on our camouflage.  We had been making ghille suits since we were young in order to more effectively play games in the woods.  We had made several for all our neighbors.

      “Okay, you're looking pretty good,” Skyler said to me, confidently.  We had roughly two minutes before we had to head into the scruff, “How about me?”

      “You look like you’ve been growing there for years.” I replied with equal confidence.  Skyler and I had planned to stay close to each other during the movement but not close enough to make it noticeable.

      “Okay, time’s up!  Into the field you go!”

      “Stan’s voice came as a faint whisper as I heard 28 feet launch, run, and then dive into the depths of the field.  I realized I my feet were part of them after I had unfeelingly dove through the grass and toppled several tall blades out of the way in the process.

      And then everything became quiet.

      I turned my head slowly, ever so slowly, as slow as I could manage without rustling the nearby vegetation, toward the direction I sensed Skyler was.  I spotted him: another mass of vegetation among the larger mass of vegetation.  He was about a meter and a half in front and to the right of my current position.  I could see his eyes peering through the blades and looking into mine.

      It was time to move.  I inched forward in a caterpillar movement and I could see Skyler doing the same.  We made very little progress, but we also made very little movement and noise.  It was worth the latter.  I had only been crawling for about 10 seconds when I heard the whistle coarse through my ear and pound violently against my ear drum.

      “Everybody freeze!” Stan’s voice rang across the field as he walked around holding a giant stick.  The Captain and Blake were directing him by radio to where they think they saw a trainee.  I saw Stan ask if he was in the right spot just a meter away from one of the trainees.  Unfortunately for him, they told Stan to go another meter in the direction of the prone figure and press the stick into the ground once again.  They must’ve agreed because the sniper-wannabe was then taken off the course and marked as failing the camouflage test.

      “Well we don’t want that happening to us, so let’s get moving.  The sooner we get to the end, the sooner the pressure is off,” I hear Skyler mutter to me and we resume our low crawling.

      It seemed like hours had passed before we reached the spot where we would fire the blanks.  In the meantime, 3 more trainees had been spotted and 4 miss-spots.  One of the latter had landed just a meter and a half away from Skyler and me, pretty much in between us.

      I heard Skyler deploying his bi-pod and I did the same.  We quickly loaded blanks in the firing chambers.  “You’re up,” I muttered to my friend.  He pulled the trigger and the blank carried a powerful sound wave in all directions, easily heard by the spotters.

      Stan came over to us and stood right next to Skyler.  He asked the spotters if they could see him and the answer must’ve been that they couldn’t because the next thing I knew, Skyler was being escorted off the course.  They had hardly fully turned around when I fired my blank.  Stan repeated the process and a few minutes later, Skyler and I were off the course with shiny “100”s next to our names on the score sheet.

 

      The last challenge was going to be difficult.  As Blake had told us at the beginning of the day: We had to shoot moving targets from 600 meters away…with speed and accuracy.  Many different pairs of eyes were on Skyler and me because we had aced the sniper training so far.

      “Don’t expect results like last time, Jarred,” Skyler said to me as we took our place in the semi circle.

      Blake told us roughly what we were doing.  It was the same as the first challenge except harder, further, and more targets.  We also had to finish in a time of under 1:20.  There was total of 15 targets.

      Well I guess the saying: “First verse, same as the first” would’ve fit well when it came to the first few shooters.  They did well, passing and showing constant signs of improving from the first challenge.  The shooters who had hardly passed the first two challengers were quickly swept away by the filter that this challenge presented.

      If you asked me later what it was like while I was shooting, I would say that I don’t know because I don’t remember, and I wouldn’t be lying.  I watched Skyler shoot and then we got our results and final order of passing.  I had shot 15 for 15 with a time of 1:01.  I passed Marine Sniper Training!  I wasn’t the least bit worried for Skyler as he had done better than me in the last round with a 15 for 15 and a time of 58.9 seconds.

      All in all, the 30 trainees had been shaped down to a mere 12 snipers including Skyler and me.  We had finished the best in our class.  We congratulated each other, high fived each other, and made jokes all the way back to the barracks.

 

*    *    *    *

 

(3^rd person perspective)

      “So when’s they're first mission?” The Captain asked the only other man in the room, the one sitting behind a desk.

      The man was Colonel Grijak, the same man who’s in charge of the whole encampment.  “Who? Riferck and Drobesian?  Hmm, well I think in another week or two.  I’m sure we can find something for them.”

      “Okay, sir.  But I just want to remind you: they are the best trainees this base has seen since Blake and Stan.  They're true protégées.”