243: Chapter 241 Selecting Soldiers 243: Chapter 241 Selecting Soldiers All the members of the Skull Gang gathered together, and Abu shouted through his megaphone, “Who knows English, raise your hand.”
Gao Yang and his group were currently selecting fighters, picking about a hundred good-quality soldiers from a thousand to train, but none of them understood Somali, so they had to rely on Abu to translate.
Quite a few raised their hands, many more than Gao Yang had expected, at least two hundred.
Most of those present had been pirates, and being a pirate required some knowledge of English, so these people knew English to some degree.
Gao Yang was quite satisfied.
He turned to Abu and said, “Let those who know English step forward, then ask who knows how to use RPGs, and have those currently using RPGs and those who know how to use them step forward.”
Using RPGs was basically not difficult, and there were quite a few who knew how; about half raised their hands.
So, in the end, Gao Yang decided to select from those who knew English.
These people, who were basically elite pirates often going out to sea, numbered only about two hundred, yet there were twelve shouldering RPGs and another fifteen who knew how to use them without possessing one.
After the twenty-seven English speakers stepped out, Gao Yang waved his hand and said, “Little Fly, take your men aside, they’re yours now.”
After Frey led the twenty-seven men skilled with rocket launchers to the side, Gao Yang continued, “Bring out the ones with machine guns.”
There were a fair number using light machine guns, forty-two in total, who were already selected for their superiority.
Only the ten best needed to be chosen to join the Instruction Platoon.
Glolov stepped forward and loudly said, “Follow me, over here, quick.”
After Glolov led the machine gunners aside, Gao Yang loudly said to Abu, “Tell them to step forward if they have ever used mortars or rocket launchers.”
Abu shouted a few times, after which only six people stepped forward.
Among the Skull Gang, very few had used mortars or rocket launchers, but this was expected, and Gao Yang didn’t find it particularly hard to accept.
He continued, “Tell them to raise their hand if they’re good shots.”
Abu immediately took the megaphone and shouted, “Who’s a good shot, raise your hand.”
About half of the thousand or so people raised their hands in a whoosh.
It seemed that many were confident in their marksmanship.
Gao Yang couldn’t help but chuckle, as not all of them could be the marksmen he needed.
He wanted individuals who could be trained into marksman and snipers, and it was unlikely that so many had the potential to become precise shooters.
“Tell them to raise their hand if they can hit a soccer ball at a distance of two hundred meters.”
After Gao Yang told Abu the new requirement, Abu frowned and said, “Many have never seen a soccer ball, they won’t know how big it is.
Also, how far is two hundred meters?”
Gao slapped his forehead in exasperation and then loudly said, “Rabbit, put something up, two hundred meters.”
Cui Bo picked up a not so large piece of broken board and ran out quickly, planting it into the ground about two hundred meters away from where Abu stood.
Gao Yang then pointed at the board and said, “Ask them who can hit that board from this distance.”
Abu pointed at the wooden board and yelled, “Who can hit that board, raise your hand.”
Not a single hand went up.
Gao Yang, once again at a loss, noticed someone in the crowd slowly raising their hand, but after a few taunts from the people next to him, he hesitantly lowered it again.
Gao Yang had already seen the person who raised his hand.
He immediately called out, “Let that person come out, have him come here.”
After Abu called out a few times, a young-looking black man came forward to Gao Yang, and upon reaching him, the young man stumbled through his English, “I’ve never shot something that small, but I’ve killed two people from that far away.”
Gao Yang immediately gestured and said, “Come try it, let me see what you can do.”
“I don’t have a gun, my father was killed with our family’s gun, and it was taken.
So now, I don’t have a gun to use.”
Gao Yang waved his hand, and Abu tossed his AKM to Gao Yang, who then handed the rifle to the black youth.
The youth didn’t speak; he simply cocked the gun, aimed at the board, and fired.
However, despite firing three shots, he never hit the board.
Seeing the young man’s performance, laughter started to rise from the crowd, and the young man’s face grew tense.
Gao Yang then said in a serious tone, “Try lying down.”
The youth lay on the ground, and by the time he fired the second shot, a small hole had finally appeared at the top of the wooden board.
Gao Yang, who was holding binoculars, immediately put them down and shouted loudly, “That’s enough, no need to fire any more shots, you’re qualified, stand up.”
After taking the youth’s rifle and tossing it to Abu, Gao Yang gestured for Cui Bo to come over and said, “Take him with you first, see if he’s got potential.”
Cui Bo looked conflicted and said, “I can’t just take one person, right?
How about letting those who think they are accurate try?”
Gao Yang shook his head and said, “It’s a waste of time, wait until we start training to slowly pick them out, we’ll find a few with potential eventually.
You take this one for now, see if he’s fit to be a sniper or a marksman.”
At this time, Li Jinfang also spoke up gravely, “There are more people who speak English than we expected, if you ask me, just pick from those who can speak English, it’s less of a hassle than dealing with a language barrier.”
Gao Yang nodded and replied, “Right, we’ll select from those who can speak English.
Even if their physical fitness is a bit weaker, it’s fine.”
After finishing, Gao Yang turned to Abu and said, “Ask who can read, any language will do.”
Abu shouted several times into the crowd, but not a single hand was raised.
Eventually, Abu put down the megaphone and said to Gao Yang with a helpless expression, “Our people are either fishermen or pirates.
If you’re willing to take older people, there might be a few who can read, but if you’re looking for young people, you’ll have to search in the city.”
Gao Yang felt helpless, as he had planned to pick out some literates for special training, such as operating communication and electronic equipment, because literacy would definitely make it easier to learn.
However, since there weren’t any, he simply shrugged and said to Li Jinfang, “Whoever among the rest can speak English is yours to pick.”
Li Jinfang nodded, made his way to the group that could speak English, and after sweeping his gaze over them, shouted loudly, “Everyone, run with me, at my pace, start running now!”
Li Jinfang intended to select those among the English speakers with relatively good physical fitness, and his method was simple: run together with them.
In the end, those who could keep up would stay, and those who couldn’t would be eliminated—a crude but effective way.
Li Jinfang, fully armed, ran at the forefront, and over a hundred Africans, some in flip-flops and some barefoot, ran behind him in a chaotic rush.
As the distance they ran grew longer, more and more people fell behind, until in the end, only six people managed to complete the entire run with Li Jinfang.
Once they ran back to the starting point, Li Jinfang began to gather those who progressively returned.
Each person he pointed out would stand behind him, signifying that they had been selected.
The majority of people in Somalia are very thin, and the Skull Gang is no exception.
Poor nutrition meant most were in subpar physical shape, so Li Jinfang could only choose from those who were relatively fitter.
But it wasn’t just about speed—he rejected those too old or too young or those he simply didn’t like.
Even if someone was slower but showed determination, they could still make the cut.
After Li Jinfang had called out ninety people, Gao Yang nodded to indicate that it was enough.
Then, he turned to Maide beside him and said in a deep voice, “For now, these are the people, you can give them a pep talk.”
Abu gathered the selected individuals together, and apart from the ninety newly picked by Li Jinfang, those with special skills also belonged to the Instruction Platoon.
Of course, they would need further screening, but for now, they were temporarily members of the Instruction Platoon.
Maide began to speak, using the Somali language, which Gao Yang and the others couldn’t understand, but there was no need for them to know what Maide was saying.
Even though Gao Yang and his team had chosen these people, and they would eventually become an army, this army didn’t belong to them.
Gao Yang and his team were not part of the army they had personally built; they were just mercenaries, merely instructors.
Hence, Maide was the appropriate person to deliver speeches, as he was the owner of this army.
Now the basic framework of an Instruction Platoon had been established.
They envisioned forming an Instruction Platoon of one hundred and twenty people, which would be divided into three platoons and ten squads, with four of those squads being designated to an enhanced platoon.
The squad’s firepower composition included a machine-gunner, a marksman, and a rocket launcher operator.
The remaining nine would be equipped with AK74 rifles, divided into three combat groups, each with an RPG-26 rocket launcher.
The tripartite organizational structure showed that the Instruction Platoon was based on Huaxia’s formation.
Li Jinfang would be in charge of their basic movement and shooting training, while Glolov would train the machine-gunners.
Frey, of course, would teach them how to use rocket launchers.
As for Cui Bo, needless to say, he was to instruct precise shooting and select potential sniper candidates for focused training.
Gao Yang oversaw the overall preparation, with Bruce responsible for the medical treatment of these recruits.
Neither Maide nor Bruce expected to train any military medics in three months—it simply wasn’t realistic.
During Maide’s speech, everyone was highly enthusiastic, extremely so.
Gao Yang couldn’t help but start to admire Maide; the guy managed to rally a loyal group with his non-intimidating baby-faced appearance, relying on his excellent oratory skills.
Of course, Maide would promise his followers a bright future, giving them hope and indeed working towards it, which is how he could gather the hearts of his people.
Maide quickly concluded his speech.
After stirring up everyone’s emotions, he walked over to Gao Yang and said with a smile, “The sooner the training starts, the better, so if there’s anything else you need, just let us know, we will do our best to accommodate.”
Gao Yang nodded and replied, “Training starts this moment, but now we need to construct a training field, oh, and a shooting range.
Call everyone who’s available; we need the training field and the shooting range completed as soon as possible.”(To be continued.
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