“The fuck-ups are at it again, I see. Get in thefucking hummer,” he growled as they all crawled in the back.
***
By the time they made it to the range, all fourwere nervous.
Ryan walked over to Jason Trainer and offered asmall smile. “Dude, I'm so sorry.”
“No worries. If Grabowski had walked down towhere we were, you guys would have been carrying our stuff.” Jasondismissed it just that easily.
Kenneth and Brendon found out that Weatherly andBrody weren't so forgiving. Brodrick just shrugged, and handedPatrick his stuff.
Once everything had settled down Drill SergeantGrabowski stood in front of them and explained what they were doingthere. He went through the mechanics of firing. Again.
Ryan was starting to think that he, Grabowski,thought they were all stupid, but everything was like that in theArmy. They explained everything over and over again.
“Brody, Gracin, Smith, Roslin, and Murray,you’re up first,” Connelly shouted.
They left their rucksacks on the ground andwalked toward the fox holes quietly. Their LBE were tight againsttheir chests. It was the first time they’d had a ‘live fire.’Yesterday and most of the morning they had been practicing with awasher balanced on the tip of their weapons and a seriously fuckedup Nintendo game. King said it was to help teach them all how topull the trigger without jerking.
They paired off with a Drill Sergeant and Ryanfound himself standing behind Grabowski.
Ryan wanted to blush or something. He had triedso hard to forget that little scene in the “Davis Club.”
“What do you do before you jump into the foxhole?”
“Uncover and make sure there are no spiders orsnakes,” Ryan said. When the dark-haired man nodded, he did justthat.
They heard an unmanly scream and Ryan knew itwas Brendon. He was flinging his hands up and down animatedly.
Grabowski ignored it but Ryan was almostgiggling. Brendon looked and sounded like a girl.
“Second?”
“Put my earplugs in.” Ryan put them in andlooked up at Phillip. The Drill nodded and gestured for him to jumpin.
“Load your weapon!” Grabowski shouted.
Ryan knocked the magazine against his Kevlar andthen inserted it with a snap.
“The targets will be popping up and down. Do notfire until I give you permission,” he said.
The permission came quickly. The first targetpopped up at fifty meters. It went down easily under his shot.
The random “pop pop pop” came from each of thefox holes.
They fired the first twenty and then a ceasefire was called.
“Get out of the hole and fire from the proneposition,” Phillip shouted.
Ryan got out of the hole and slid down to hisbelly. He used his arms to prop the M16 up and aimed downfield.
“Reload!”
Ryan did it again and they fired the last twentyrounds.
“Cease fire.” Phillip shouted. “Drop magazines!”He stood up and then shouted, “Police your rounds!”
They did as they were told and then locked theirbolts back to the rear. Before they left the range, Grabowskichecked to make sure there were no rounds left in the weapons.
