The Battle

First day of training

I woke up from a loud noise, I got up quickly. And I looked at my phone which said 4 o clock in the morning, I heard a man shouting. He said in a loud voice.

"Come on, get up, you're not at home anymore, get dress, then go eat and then meet me out side and you better hurry up!"

All the guys were standing up, even Rowan stood up, I stood up quickly and all the men including me shouted. "Yes sir!" When the guy left, I just wanted to go back to sleep but instead, I got dress, I put on my uniform, then slipped my socks and boots on, after that Rowan called my name and I followed him out of the dorm. I could smell the morning dew and wet grass, I yawned. When we got into another big dorm. There were a lot of tables, I got a tray and got my food which was beans and a piece of bread.

After I ate, I followed Rowan outside again and I saw that man who shouted at us earlier, I looked at the men lining up in one row. I was the 2nd person who was last. The guy went to me and asked "Name?"

"Jeff. Jeff Cipriano." The guy looked surprised at me and asked: "Aren't you Jake's Cipriano's son?" Oh, great here we go again. "Yes, yes I am"

"Well, you will be just fine training. Your dad was a good sniper, it's an honor to have you, Jeff"

"Thank you, sir." He nodded his head at me and walked in the middle of the field and shouted at us all again "It's time to train! Get a sniper rifle in that shed over there, then meet me over there, where the targets are set up." I followed the rest of the men and got a sniper rifle. It was kind of heavy but cool looking. I followed Rowan and the men were the targets were set up.

"Okay. Listen up, guys. Before we start my name is Warrant Officer Rick. We are going to practice shooting and then after that, we're going to run for 3 miles, then do 20 dead hang pull-ups and do 100 sit-up crunches less than 2 minutes. After that we are going inside and studying 5 things. Now get on your stomach and aim the rifle at the targets. Come on, get to it!" I ran to an open space, I got on my stomach, I aimed my rifle at the target, I looked through the scope and shot at the target, I looked more closely at the target and I missed the first time, but I tried the second time and I got it in the middle. Warrant Officer Rick came up beside me. "Good job son, try again and see if you can get it in the middle of the target, I want to see." I nodded my head and looked through the sniper scope again. I focused on my target, I blocked out the sound of bullets flying past and soon I didn't hear a single bullet fly past, instead, I focused on my target and I shot the middle of the target again.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked up and saw Warrant Officer Rick standing above me, he crouched to my level and said: "that was very good, it was perfect, you're going to be a great sniper just like your father." I was speechless, I couldn't even speak, I tried to speak, finally I spoke. "Thank you, sir." He nodded his head. "Do it again and I want to see if you can get it again." I looked through the scope once again and I took the shot. I got my bullet in the middle of the target. "Excellent son." He walked off and went to a different guy. After an hour of practicing, Warrant Officer Rick yelled. "Okay everyone, get up now. We are now going to run 3 miles, then we are going to 20 dead hang pull-ups and 100 sit-up crunches less than 2 minutes. The final thing is that we're going to study 5 things, which are very important. Now, let's go." We ran for nearly 3 miles, I was so exhausted, my legs felt like jelly. We did 20 dead hang pull-ups, which were difficult. At first when I did it, I couldn't barely hold myself up, but after 2 or 3, I got used to it. We then did 100 sit-up crunches. I did it less than 1 minute, which I was surprised, because I beat Rowan, I'm going to be so sore tomorrow. The final thing we did was went to study. We all went inside, I sat by Rowan and there was another guy who was with Warrant Officer Rick, it looked like they were talking about something. I looked at the guy more closely and it was the guy that I saw earlier at the test results. He looked my way and started towards me, when he got to my table, he said. "Well kid, you got some skill with the sniper rifle, huh? Rick told me about you and how you shot the target, nice, you are going to be a good sniper. I just know it." He walked off and went back to Officer Rick and they started to talk again. I looked at Rowan and he said. "You're going to be a good sniper." I heard a loud noise and of course it was Warrant Officer Rick yelling, once again "Okay everyone, this is Warrant Officer Rixion. He is going to hand out a book and we are going to study marksmanship. Now, everyone open

up to page 20 chapter 1." When Warrant Officer Rixon handed out the books, I opened to page 20. I looked at it and it said. "The ability to hit targets as far as 1,000 yards away, is not something that comes naturally."

I looked at Warrant Officer Rick, who was writing something on the board, it said in big letters. "MARKSMANSHIP, OBSERVATION, STALKING, WINDAGE, and

BAROMETRIC PRESSURE" after he finished. He said, "someone tell me what marksmanship is." I raised my hand quickly and high, then Warrant Officer Rick picked me. "Okay, Jeff what is marksmanship?" I looked at my book and said. I read out of the book, this is easy.

"Good job. Now everyone look beneath marksmanship and someone read what windage is." I looked at my book and raised my hand once again Warrant Officer Rick called on me again. "MOA is also known as the minute of angle. It is the unit of measurement that snipers must use to measure accuracy. The greater the distance, the sniper is shooting from, the lower the accuracy, as natural forces like wind resistance work on the bullet while it travels through the air. Minute of the angle measures the accuracy of the shot taking the distance it was fired from into consideration. The basic formula is 1.047 inches at 100 yards, or practical purposes, 1 inch at 100 yards. For every 100 yards the bullet travels, you need to add 1 inch of inaccuracy."

"Good job Jeff. Now observation. Tomorrow we are going to play a game called Kims, I'll explain it tomorrow, then we will practice shooting again, run 3 or 4 miles then we are going to learn how to build ghillie suits. after that day, we are going to play another game called the stalk. Now stalking I'll tell you about it now. Snipers must learn to move slowly, patiently and methodically. If necessary. Snipers will lie for days in the same position to observe an objective or avoid detection. Okay now air temperature I'll tell you about. Air temperature can affect a bullet, as well. Cold air is denser than hot air now, therefore, creates more drag on a bullet. On the other hand, bullets can tear through the hot air. Now, everyone, it's time for lunch and today's training was good. See yeah tomorrow, wait Jeff come here for a minute, I need to talk to you." I felt a hand on my shoulder, and it was Rowan "well I'll see you later" he whispered to me, "okay bye." I said in a whisper everyone left and I was still there, I walked up to Warrant Officer Rick and he beckoned me to have a seat. I sat in a chair and said. "So, did good for your first day but in two months we must go in war against Germany, so I know you're not ready yet, but I was thinking after two months you'll probably be ready. So, I been thinking about having you and Rowan coming with us and you can be the shooter while Rowan is the spotter. So, what do you think about coming with us in war? " I was speechless, it felt like someone was trying to choke me, I feared going into war and dying but I had to do it for the country, for my people, and for my dad, I looked at him and said. "Yes, I would like to go in war with you guys." Warrant Officer Rick smiled and patted my back. "Excellent, you'll do fine."