Unexpected path.

After that day our training took on a whole new meaning.

No longer did any of us recruits complain about the grueling training and the hard work.

Now we welcomed it.

Because now we knew that we were going to need it.

And the hate we held deep down for those to do such terrible acts of terrorism fueled us on.

The US had already deployed to Afghanistan.

And as soon as we were done with rifle training we would be deployed as well.

This week we are firing our rifles for the first time.

Our drill instructors led us to a large open field with large boards spaced out from around 200 yards to 500 yards away from where we would be shooting.

After the drill instructors made sure we knew not to shoot each other or aim our guns anywhere but down range.

We were told to lay down flat on our stomachs and shoot at the board with the markings on it.

He told us.

"try to shoot the center of the target." and so I did.

I looked through the sights of my M16A2, and could now see the board more clearly.

It had a big circle with rings inside and a bright red center.

So I lined up the scope marker right on the dead center.

But something felt off about doing that.

It was the same feeling I got when I fight, and my opponent was about to throw an unexpected kick or punch.

So moving my aim around the board I found that slightly above and to the left of the center felt right.

So making sure not to move from that spot I pulled the trigger.

The recoil shook my arm, but I never looked away from my scope.

"Dead center."

I couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face when I saw where the bullet hit.

Moving my scope again I found a spot that felt right, this time dead center but slightly above, and pulled the trigger.

Once again dead center.

Over and over again I hit dead center.

Once I shot my last bullet I moved my eye away from my scope and watched as the large board was pulled down to be marked with stickers to show where I had shot.

It only took a few moments before the board was lifted and showed me what I had hit.

At the center of the board was a grouping of yellow round stickers.

"Well, shit recruit," a voice said behind me.

Startled, I turned to look behind me.

I was stunned.

Behind me stood all three of my drill instructors, as well as some of the other recruits.

The one who spoke was my head drill instructor.

"oh uhh, sir."

"That was some damn fine shooting, have you shot a gun before?" he asked.

Standing to my feet I answered him.

"No sir, this is the first time I have ever fired a gun, sir."

He looked at me for a moment, then leaning down, he grabbed another mag and handed it to me.

" Try again, let's make sure it wasn't beginners' luck."

Grabbing the mag I exchange my spent mag with the fresh mag and lay back down and take aim.

Moving my scope around I waited until I found a spot that felt right and pulled the trigger.

Shot after shot, my bullets hit the center.

Once out of bullets, I waited to see my grouping this time.

Once the board came back up, it was exactly like before, all hit dead center.

"shit," said my head drill instructor from behind me.

"I guess it wasn't luck," he said looking down at me.

"Move down the line and try on the 500-yard," he said, grabbing a pair of binoculars from one of the other drill instructors.

Doing as I was told, I stood up, making sure to keep my gun down and not aimed at anyone. I walked down the firing line to where the 500-yard markers were.

Just like before I was handed a new mag, then I laid down and aimed at the large board with a circle on it.

"Wait this time I want you to stand up and shoot." my head drill instructor said

"aye sir," I said and stood up."

Bringing my rifle to my shoulder I widen my stance and looked into my scope.

Unlike on the 200-yard, where I only had to move my scope marker slightly from the center to get the feeling that it was in the right spot, I now had to move it a few inches from the center marker.

And again I fired off my rifle.

Once I heard the "clink" of my last bullet being fired, I looked downrange as the board was lowered.

For some reason, I was giddy at the fact I was actually doing well at shooting a weapon.

The board was raised showing the perfect groupings dead-center.

At the end of rifle qualification, I scored 320, making me an expert marksman.

After the rifle qualifications were over the hardest point of my training began.

The crucible.

The crucible was the last hill needed to pass and graduate boot camp.

It's a 54-hour slice of hell on earth, where you will be tested to the point of insanity.

The day before the crucible was to begin I was called into the head drill instructor's office.

I was slightly nervous, I hadn't done anything wrong that I knew about.

Knocking on his office door, I waited for a response.

"come in" came from the other side of the door.

Opening the door, I walked to stand in front of him and went to attention.

"Recruit Cole, sir," I said looking past I'm at the wall.

"at ease recruit," he said, waving a hand in the air.

Widening my stance, I placed my arms behind my back and waited for him to speak.

"The reason I'm calling you in here is because of your rifle qualification score," he said leaning forward in his chair.

I looked at him questioningly, but I didn't speak.

"Do they think I cheated?" I thought.

The last thing I needed was for people to think I cheated, even though I had no idea how that was even possible.

You had an instructor there the whole time keeping your score.

"You had one of the highest scores we have had in almost five years, and at the moment we are in serious need of marines with exceptional shooting abilities," the head drill instructor said, as he intertwined his hands together.

"The need wasn't as great before but now that the US military is being deployed the need is much greater."

He stopped for a moment and looked me in the eyes.

"We need snipers, and we need them now, no scratch that we needed them yesterday, but we don't have as many as we need."

"and that's where you come in recruit Cole, normally you wouldn't be eligible for sniper school until you were an E-3, but that would take at least a year or two to achieve at the least, so I sent your scores to my higher-ups and they are willing to make an exception for you, that is if you finish boot, as well as infantry training, but what I have seen from you, that shouldn't be a problem, you had great ASVAB scores, you lead in physical fitness, and you have good leadership skills, perfect requirements for sniper school."

I was stunned, never in a billion years did I imagine becoming a sniper, but neither did I not want too.

"I would love to become a sniper sir," I said in a crisp tone.

"very well recruit Cole I will get everything arranged for your infantry training then sniper school."

"you are dismissed"

Saluting the drill instructor I marched out of his office.

—-----

The MC's current ability is visions and premonitions.

Visions- visions of current events or future events.

Premonitions- strong feelings when something is off or to better help the MC when doing something like shooting, telling him the best scope placement for shooting a target.