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WARNING: This story contains MATURE LANGUAGE
I DO NOT OWN MEDAL OF HONOR OR HALO
ALL OC'S ARE MINE
Chapter 4: Marksman training
Epsilon Eridani system, planet Reach
October 22, 2519, 0630 hours
En route to military compound
Matt held on tightly as the dropship accelerated towards a military compound. Chief Mendez walked in the passenger compartment of the dropship. When Matt, he rose and saluted.
When the Chief saw him he said, "At ease number-038 and sit down. We have a lot to discuss."
He snapped off a 'Yes sir' to the Chief and sat down once again.
When he had sat down the chief finally spoke, "Today trainee, you will be traveling to a military conpound to train you to become a marksman. You will also learn how to use a sniper rifle, as well."
"Sir, may I ask why?" he asked.
"Certainly. You have a very sharp and clear eyesight. This can enable you to shoot long distance targets," the Chief replied.
"Sir, is a marksman the same thing as a sniper?" he asked.
"It is similar in the fact that a marksman is more suited to staying with a squad abd providing fire to medium to long range targets. A sniper on the other hand, carries a rifle and will stay in a position to watch over his or her team from afar and provide fire from long range. Does that answer your question, trainee?" Mendez said.
Matt was silent for a moment, comprhinding what he had just heard, then he spoke, "Yes sir, it does thank you."
"Your welcome," the Chief replied.
As they flew over the flat land, he looked out the window of the dropship and saw a miltiary compound in the distance.
He asked, "Sir, who am I meeting with?"
Mendez hesitated for a split second then replied, "A masrksman. He teach you how to become one."
"Is he good, sir?" he asked.
Mendez was silent for a moment then said, "Oh, he's more than good trainne. He's one of the best marksmen that the UNSC has ever had."
Reach military base
30 minutes later
Lieutenant Jack 'Rabbit' Pravdin stood on top of the landing pad waiting for the incoming dropship to drop off its passenger. According to ONI, he was supposed to a Spartan to become a marksman and sniper. The Spartan's number was 038. From what Chief Mendez had told him, this particular Spartan had incredible eyesight, the best out of all of the 75 Spartan II candidates. A few minutes later the dropship landed and Chief Mendez and a young boy hopped out. he saw the boy's face. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the face. The boy had Lena's eyes and Tom's hair. He remembered Dusty telling him that Tom had a son and two daughters. Tom's first daugther was killed just over two months ago with a bullet hole in her forehead. Tom's other daughter was missing. No one knew where she was. Tom, Lena, Rachel, and their son Matt were all said to be killed when their house was burned down by an unknown persons. There were reports of one person surviving the fire and that was a young male. The Chief and young boy who looked so much like his friend and his freind's wife walked over to him.
Mendez saluted, "Lietanent."
He returned the salute, "Chief."
He looked to Mendez's left and saw the young boy.
The boy saluted him, "Lieutenant, sir!"
Again, he returned the salute, "Spartan, it's good to finally meet you."
Mendez said, "It looks like your in good hands here, trainee. Good luck."
"Thank you Chief," the boy replied.
Mendez then spun around and boarded the dropship. It took off and flew back to where it had come from.
Jack looked at the young boy and said, " I am Lieutenant Jack Pravdin, Spartan. I will be training you on how to become a marksman and sniper. Is there a particular name that you prefer go by, Spartan?"
The boy replied, "Matt sir. It's what my freinds call me."
"Ok Matt," he replied. "First off though, I need to tell you some things."
"I'm listening sir," Matt said.
"First thing- there is no need to call me 'sir'. I prefer Leiutenant or as my friends call me, Jack. I'm also sometimes called by my codename, Rabbit. Second thing- you don't have to salute me," he said.
Matt nodded then said, "Fair enough Lieutenant."
"Ok, we'll go now for a tour of the compound. Follow me," he said. He showed Matt the barracks, showers, mess hall nad the other things that the compound had. After that, they went to the mess hal to eat lunch.
"Ok Matt after lunch we will begin your marksman training," he told the young Spartan.
"Ok s- I mean Jack," the boy replied.
HE nodded then said, "Good your learning. In time you will learn how to snipe, how to stay will a team and be a marksman like I was, and I will teach you stalking."
The boy looked confused, "Stalking lieutenant? I've never heard of that. Would you mind provding me with a defintion."
Jack looked at the boy and smiled, "No I don't mind. Stalking is where you approach an area stealthily so that no one can hear or see you. Stalking can be a very hard process to learn, so I will teach you in steps."
"Ok lieutenant, I'll try my best to follow what you teach me," the boy replied.
"Good," he said.
After lunch, he took Matt into a classroom and taught him about the different medium and long range weapons that the UNSC had currently. The weapon he taught Matt the most about though was the sniper rifle.
"The sniper rifle is main long range weapon used by the UNSC," he said. He picked up a sniper rifle sitting on a table near him and he handed the weapon to the young Spartan.
Reach military base armory
5 minutes later
Jack led MAtt into the armory. This housed a collection of weapons, ranging from, assault rifles to sidearms. Jack walked over to where the sniper rifles were held and picked one off the rack it was on and showed it to Matt.
"This here is the SRS99. IT is an anti-material rifle that is semi-automatic and gas operated, which fires 14.5x114mm rounds. The rifle has a four round detachable box magazine. This a very powerful rifle and this is also the sniper used by the UNSC Defense Force" Jack said to Matt as he handed the young boy the rifle.
Matt took the rifle from the LT and inspected it.
"I assume you know how to dismantle, reassemble, clean, load, and fire a firearm am I correct?" Jack asked.
"Yes lietenant," he replied.
"Now show the where the scope is," the LT said. Matt pointed to the top of the rifle where the scope was located. "Good. Now where do you grip the rifle?" the LT asked. Matt pointed to the trigger handl.e and the place under the scope. "Excellent work. Now show me the muzzle..." He pointed out every part that the lieutenant told him to.
"Now remember, there are a and disadvantages to every firearm," Jack said
"Lietenant if you don't mind me asking, what are the advantages and disadvantages to the SRS99?" Matt said
"Yes certainly," the LT replied, "the advantages for the SRS99 are as followed: extremely high stopping power, the ability to take out almost any target at any range, and the ability to take out targets at medium to long range. The disadvantages are as followed: slow reload time, small magazine size, heave recoil, slow rate-of-fire, and last but not least, there is a bullet trail that could be traced back to a sniper's location. Does that answer your question?
Matt nodded and asid, "Yes lietenant."
"Good your learning quickly Matt, perhaps maybe too quickly," Jack chuckled, "Now follow me. We're going to the range to how well you can shoot." Matt followed the LT outside an area of flat land. In the distance he could small shapes that looked like human bodies.
"Those aren't real human bodies are they lieutenant?" he asked.
"No their not. They are plastic targets," jack replied, "Now set up and get ready to shoot. I will call what target to shoot and what the range is. You can usally tell the range by using the electronics programmed into the scope, but the purposes of this exercise, I disabled it so that you get a feeling of havingto shoot a rifle if the electronic are diabled or perhaps broken."
"Matt?" Jack asked.
"Yes lietenant?" the young boy replied as he looked back at his trainer.
"One last thing. Remember, that a sniper rifle like the SRS99 has a slight travel time over greater distances, which means that you may have to aim above or below your target to make sure the bullet land in the place you want it to land. And sometimes if your target is moving, you may have to lead your target if the target is on the move. Now lay down prone by the sandbags and wait for me to call out targets.
"You got it lieutenant," the young boy said.
Matt lay prone by the sandbags and waited for the lieutenant to call out targets. "First target, 500m, 11 o'clock." Jack called out, "Hit! Excellent shot"
Matt waited for the another bullet to cycle throught the rifle. "Next target, 750m, 12 o'clock," Jack said, Hit again."
matt waited for the LT to call out the next target. "Next target, 900m, 2 o'clock," the LT cried out, "Hit..."
Matt hit the remaining seven targets with incredile accuracy. "Holy shit," Jack murmered.
"What is it LT?" he asked. Jack turned the datapad towards him and Matt saw that he had hit all 10 targets dead center and got a bullseye every shot.
"Son, I think you best goddamn sniping skills I've ever seen in my entire life," Jack said with a big smile on his face.
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