244: Chapter 242 Live Fire Shooting 244: Chapter 242 Live Fire Shooting Abu, dressed in a crisp black suit with a hat that bore five golden stripes, wore large sunglasses that hid half of his face and knee-high boots.
Around his waist was a belt three fingers wide, holding a brand-new USP45 pistol in its holster, and in his hand behind his back, he carried a whip.
The suit that Abu wore was a custom order by some African president or warlord.
Although gaudy and extravagant, one had to admit that Abu looked very dashing in it.
Ever since Uriyangko managed to get his hands on two of these suits, Abu never took it off, despite the fact that it made him sweat more than the others.
But Abu declared that even if he were to die of heat, he would never take off the suit.
Standing straight as a rod, Abu watched the soldiers of the Instruction Platoon train.
Whenever he saw any sign of laziness, he would immediately point at the culprit with the whip in his hand and bellow, “Do you want to be kicked out?
Damn it, if you don’t want to be kicked out of the Instruction Platoon, don’t slack off.
I’m watching you.”
There’s not much to say about the training itself, it’s just the usual set that any regular army would have.
Gao Yang and the others were not trying to train a special forces unit, so they taught the same things that were taught in the Huaxia forces.
The members of the Skull Gang had been used to a lax discipline before training, with no concept of the word “discipline” in their minds.
Therefore, at the beginning, combat skills like shooting were not taught at all.
The only thing soldiers under Lee Jinfang could do was the most basic military drills such as marching and standing at attention.
Standing under the sun all day, there were few who could endure it.
They all expressed that they could not accept Lee Jinfang’s method of training.
However, instilling discipline was the primary aim of the training, so there was no room for negotiation.
Lee Jinfang did not punish those who led protests or slacked in training; he simply kicked them out of the Instruction Platoon.
Gao Yang and the rest were too busy to deal with such issues.
Before Uri brought in the food supplies, everyone including Maide was in a state of hungry semi-survival.
Only Gao and his group, along with all the members of the Instruction Platoon, could eat their fill.
The food for Gao and the others consisted of various fresh fishes and salted fish, with a staple food of cornmeal mixed with water or dough baked over a fire—strange concoctions that were hard to swallow except for the fresh fish.
But what was hard for Gao and his group to swallow were considered fortunate meals for the soldiers of the Instruction Platoon, as long as they could fill their stomachs.
It wasn’t long before the difference in treatment became apparent, and to fill their bellies, there were not many who still wished to leave the Instruction Platoon.
By the time Uri’s food supplies arrived, a sense of collective honor had already been developed within the platoon.
Particularly when their weapons and uniforms were far better than those of others, an air of elitism had set in within the platoon, and asking them to take off their unique military uniform was more painful than death.
At first, Abu really lashed out with the whip, without a word he would deliver several strikes to anyone caught slacking.
But now, Abu wielding the whip was more about enjoying the sensation.
Still, as the highest commander of the Instruction Platoon, he was greatly adored by his soldiers.
The training had been going on for two months, and the progress of the soldiers in the Instruction Platoon could only be described as rapid.
Not that they were that impressive now, but compared to before, when they only knew how to spray bullets with their guns and brazenly charge when the coast was clear, running away at the first sign of trouble, the Instruction Platoon now at least looked like soldiers.
The chosen rocket launcher and machine gun operators had already been assigned to the Instruction Platoon.
Except during specialized skill training sessions, they practiced with the platoon to build a sense of cooperation.
As for the marksmen, since it took too long to train them, they could not yet be assigned to the platoon, but that time was coming soon.
As soon as a week, every squad in the Instruction Platoon would be able to have a marksman.
Today, Gao and his team were to conduct live ammunition shooting drills for the first time—not to let the soldiers of the Instruction Platoon fire live rounds, but to train under the threat of live ammunition.
Glolov would fire the machine gun, and real bullets would fly over the soldiers’ heads or chase after them, and any deformation in their movements or any accidents could indeed cost lives.
Thus, Gao, putting aside his marksmen training, came to oversee the drills personally to ensure safety.
Next to a machine gun position fortified with sandbags stood Glolov, ready to fire.
As it was the first time doing this kind of live-fire intimidation training, Gao had to pull Glolov away from teaching the Skull Gang how to use the Type 63 107mm rocket launcher to ensure safety.
Watching the soldiers warm up sufficiently, Gao shouted loudly, “Stop, Toad, let them begin.”
Lee Jinfang immediately yelled, “Everyone assemble, attention!
Everyone present, crawl forward under the wire.
Remember the techniques, and as long as you move according to them, you’ll be fine.
Lift your head or rise up, and you’ll be eating bullets.
This is no joke.
Starting with the first squad, go!”
The so-called wire was made of old cables from ships.
During normal training, even if they moved incorrectly, they could not even get a scratch.
The most they could expect was a kick from Lee Jinfang or a lash from Abu for severe mistakes, but this time it was different.
Glolov would be firing just above the so-called wire, something Lee Jinfang had repeated several times already.
Moving under live ammunition would naturally cause concern.
After everyone in the first squad had crawled into position under the “barbed wire,” Li Jinfang gave the order, and the soldiers of the first squad began to crawl forward, while Glolov’s machine gun immediately roared to life.
The bullets really did fly over the barbed wire, but Li Jinfang had trained them well.
Although the soldiers were very nervous and crawled much slower than usual, fortunately, no one made any significant movements or misshapen forms.
One squad after another passed under the threat of bullets.
Gao Yang’s heart, which he had been holding up, slowly relaxed.
After the last squad had also passed through the barbed wire, Gao Yang let out a sigh of relief.
He had finally completely put his mind at ease, and at this point, Maide and Bruce, who stood beside Gao Yang, also took a long breath of relief.
Bruce made a mock gesture of a flower blooming on his head and said with a smile, “I’ve personally seen, during such exercises, someone’s head, pfft, get blown open.
Yes, I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
This kind of training either goes without incident or, if something happens, it can cost lives.”
Maide too shrugged and said, “Thank goodness nothing happened.
I was worried to death just now.”
Gao Yang shook his head and said solemnly, “This type of training will become the norm in the future.
Accidents are truly inevitable.
It’s better to put in more effort during training so that they won’t be scared witless by such situations when they’re on the battlefield.”
Having said this, Gao Yang waved over to Li Jinfang, signaling that today’s live-fire exercise was over, then he turned to Glolov and said, “I need to get busy with my own matters, and you should go back to yours as well.
By the way, how’s your artillery training going?”
Glolov shrugged and replied, “They can handle basic operations, but they’re not yet able to perform beyond-visual-range shooting.
My God, I really shouldn’t have taken on this task; I’m not an artilleryman by training.
I’ve already taught them everything I know.
Mortars are still manageable, but they still have problems using rocket launchers.
At most, what I can do is help them shoot more accurately within visual range.
As for professional artillery techniques like beyond-visual-range shooting and obtaining firing data, that requires a specialized artilleryman to teach.”
At this moment, Abu, who had walked over and heard Glolov’s words, laughed and said, “You’re already doing well enough.
Even if it’s only within visual range, that’s already quite impressive.
Now we have artillerymen, haha, you’ve done a good job, Big Dog.”
Glolov shrugged again and said, “Alright, I’ve got to leave now.
There’s still a lot to do.
Goodbye.”
After Glolov left, Gao Yang was about to leave as well when Maide suddenly said, “Ram, can you come see me tonight?
I have some matters I’d like to discuss with you, some military matters.
Can you give me a hand?
I know you’re here mainly for training, but I really need someone to offer me some advice.”
Gao Yang laughed and said, “Of course, that’s no problem at all.
But tonight we have night shooting training, and we can’t delay that.
So it can only be later, say around midnight?
I’ll come find you at midnight.”
After they had agreed on the time, Maide smiled and said, “I didn’t know you had training tonight.
We could move it to tomorrow to avoid disrupting your precious rest time.”
Gao Yang shook his head and replied, “No, there will be night training every day from now on.
Let’s just meet tonight, there’s no problem.”
Maide was very sincere as he said, “Thank you so much.
I believe we’ll soon have a group of real snipers.
By the way, I heard there’s a young man called Asan who’s performing exceptionally well; he’s very talented, isn’t he?”
Speaking of Asan, a smile surfaced on Gao Yang’s face, and he nodded repeatedly, “He is talented, very talented.
But Asan doesn’t actually suit the role of a sniper; he’s too spirited.
I think he’s more suitable as a marksman, but Rabbit insists on competing with me for him.
He’s determined to train Asan into a sniper.
Alright, gentlemen, I need to go train my prized pupil, lest he gets swayed by Rabbit into becoming a sniper.
See you tonight.”
After arranging to meet at midnight, Gao Yang shook hands with Maide and Abu, then hurriedly took his leave.
He now had twenty sharpshooters under his command, but they only had the potential to become competent sharpshooters.
To make them into barely qualified marksman would require a lot of training; Gao Yang had to seize every minute.
The reason he had to make a special appointment to meet is because the Instruction Platoon had their own camp area, which no one was allowed to enter, to maintain a tense training environment.
If, come evening, they were allowed to go their separate ways, or let family members visit, the results of the training would greatly diminish.
Moreover, it would not be conducive to fostering the team spirit and cohesion within the Instruction Platoon.
(To be continued.
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