Chapter 25: The Class Monitors Are Doing Well

  These two days have been torturing me with my left eye, I've tried hard but can't get my left eye to shut tightly, tomorrow is the first live ammunition shooting exercise.

  I wandered around restlessly in the new recruit regiment.

  "Could it be that I, Xiao Bin, am really not cut out for this?" I thought to myself as I wandered around the new recruits' barracks for several rounds.

  Unconsciously, I walked into the infirmary of the new recruit company and saw that the military doctor was reading a book.

  I knocked on the door of the infirmary.

  After getting permission from the military doctor, I walked in.

  "Is that you? How are you? Has your hand recovered?"

  The military doctor's first words upon seeing me were to ask about my hand, which caught me off guard.

  "Heh heh, military doctor, thanks a lot for your medicine, I was able to recover so quickly."

  The military doctor smiled and pointed to the chair beside him before turning back to me and saying, "Heh heh, so where are you hurt this time?"

  After sitting down, I touched my left eye and asked: "Military doctor, I want to ask you, is there any way to make my left eye close? You also know that when we shoot guns, we need to close our left eye, but my left eye doesn't listen to me at all, it's really frustrating."

  "Let me see."

  The military doctor's expression turned stern upon hearing my words, making me feel a bit tense.

  After examining my face, the military doctor took off his rubber gloves and laughed: "Scared me to death, I thought you little guy had muscle nerve problems."

  "I was startled by you, military doctor. The expression on your face just now made me think I had some kind of physical problem." I replied with a sigh.

  At this time, the military doctor took out a few band-aids from the medicine box and handed them to me.

  "Alright, tomorrow during live firing practice, stick it on your left eye. This has happened to comrades before, don't worry about it."

  I put the band-aids in my pocket and asked reluctantly, "So I can't rely on band-aids every time I make a real shot, that's not equivalent to my left and right being disabled."

  "Hahaha..."

  The military doctor burst out laughing and said, "It's not that exaggerated."

  "It's not an exaggeration, it's just like being sick, it needs to be treated." I retorted with a curl of my lip.

  "When you have nothing to do, try using your hand to cover your right eye and keep your left eye open. Gently release your hand and slowly try to close your left eye in the same way as closing your right eye, without using force. That's how it is for right-handed people, the right side is flexible, but the left side isn't very bright."

  I nodded, and it had to be this way.

  ……

  The next day finally arrived.

  Get up... go for exercise... fold blankets... have a meal...

  These few steps have finally come to an end.

  Next is live firing, we can't wait.

  After receiving their weapons in line.

  We got on the military vehicle and arrived at the shooting range.

  At this time, the shooting range was very lively. On the bus, I heard from the class leaders that because of our live ammunition shooting exercise, a large number of old soldiers from the old soldier company were arranged to come here to ensure our live ammunition shooting exercise.

  Some veterans were arranged to persuade passing vehicles and crowds on the periphery, because there is a newly built university near the shooting range, which just started formal classes this year. I guess it should be the new campus of the students, but I couldn't figure out why the new campus of this university was built in such a remote place, just a few kilometers away from our troops.

  Some old soldiers were arranged in the shooting range's target position to report our ring numbers.

  At first I was still thinking about how veterans reported their ring numbers.

  It wasn't until the class monitor explained that we realized there was a deep ditch under the target, and when people stood at the bottom to look up at the target paper, they could see very clearly.

  After we got off the train and lined up, the company commander came to the front of the troops and said: "Comrades, in a while, you will conduct live ammunition shooting in the order of one row to three rows. Today's live ammunition shooting is divided into two rounds, with 10 bullets per person each time. How to lie down, load, aim, you all learned, and your squad leader will demonstrate how to receive the bullets and go to their respective target positions."

  At this time, we saw that one to three class leaders all gathered and stood on the left side of the team.

  "Alright, listen up! The first two rows, squat down; the last row, cross over."

  The squad leader shouted orders at us.

  We were divided into four rows. Since I was in the last row, our entire last row stood behind the third row, with two people in the middle section, which allowed us to observe the front more conveniently.

  "After seeing that we were all ready, the class monitor shouted: 'The demonstration is about to begin.'"

  "Run and walk."

  In the demonstration team, after one of the squad leaders finished giving orders, the squad leaders ran forward.

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  The class leaders were only twelve people, but the slogans they shouted out were extremely loud and surprised us.

  No wonder every time we shouted slogans, the class leaders would repeatedly order us to re-shout them. It turned out that our entire team of dozens of people shouting together was still not as loud and clear as a few old soldiers.

  The class leaders demonstrated very well, from receiving bullets to dispersing and walking towards their respective targets.

  After the platoon leader shouted out the order to fire, the squad leaders began firing individually.

  "Bang..."

  "Bang... Bang..."

  The sound of gunfire from the shooting range is really exciting, it's so cool.

  We new recruits had only heard about this on TV before, this is our first real experience, the scene was too shocking, I started to get nervous.

  After the class leaders finished their demonstration, we all applauded with great enthusiasm.

  "Target, target, report ring count."

  The voice came over the intercom soon after.

  "Target one scored 97 rings, target two scored 94 rings...... Target six scored 99 rings......"

  I was shocked when I heard the report of my monitor's score on the walkie-talkie. The highest score for one shot is 10 rings, and a perfect score for 10 shots is 100 rings. My monitor actually scored 99 rings.

  I'm shocked, I'm too shocked. This time my unruly heart has been thoroughly captured by the class monitor. I must also be like the class monitor, no, I want to surpass the class monitor, I want to hit a hundred hoops.

  I silently thought in my heart: "Class leader, I will take you as a model and look up to you."

  The class leaders are indeed class leaders, this performance is excellent, their grades are all above excellent.

  After the class leaders finished their demonstration, it was finally our turn as new recruits.

  According to the arrangement of Lianchang, it started with one row and one class.

  We still haven't had our turn yet and all new recruits are arranged to train aiming at their original place.

  Our monitor shouted at us during target practice, "Everyone listen up! The 12 rifles used for shooting today were all debugged by the old soldiers of our company. You'd better shoot well!"

  At first, we didn't understand what sighting-in meant. After the squad leader explained it to us, we learned that sighting-in means adjusting the gun beforehand so that the bullet's trajectory is corrected when fired. There is a thicker pointer than the needle on the front part of the gun, and through adjustments, you can grasp the direction in which the bullet deviates when fired.

  (PS: Thanks to readers who threw flowers and VIPs and stamped yesterday for the days of being a soldier together, thank you.)