Firestorm - 24. FS Chapter 24

“Staff Sergeant Benning here, currently holds the Australian long-distance record for a sniper shooter, he is the best we have, and he is here on this facility, and you should be privileged to have such a skilled instructor teaching your Cadets at this camp. Benning here has done all the planning for this Cadet training camp, and until recently, he was going to be the chief instructor, even thou, I am the ranking officer. Because of this situation that has arisen, he has relinquished that position to me, so that he and the three Corporals, plus the four MP’s can guard this facility 24 hours a day for the next six days.

Your CUO’s are aware of this, and they have agreed to assist in this situation, except they will be armed with paintball guns, and if any intruders do enter this facility, they will most likely have no protection from the paintballs, so the CUO’s will have a big advantage over them. Instead of the Corporals assisting with the Cadet training, that duty now falls onto you the Cadet Unit Commanders to assist me, and you will have you cadet WO’s to assist you.

So now if you are all agreeable to us continuing with this Cadet camp, I will ask Staff Sergeant Benning, and his team, including the CUO’s to get going with their duties of protecting the facilities, and we will get down to preparing for this afternoon’s activities” Mike said to the Unit Commanders, and they all agreed with Mikes recommendations.

“By the way Captain’s, you won’t see your CUO’s much during this camp, as we have a command post on the property, that has all the facilities required. We will keep you posted, that they are alive and well, and believe me, when they have finished this week, they will be well on their way to having a successful career in the Army if they chose to do so” I said with a smile, as I lead my squad of regular army Corporals, and army Cadets out of the parade hall and back to the conference room.

“Right, from now on, you are known as Assault Platoon, Corporal Gregson, you will lead Squad Alpha, Corporal Hays will lead Squad Beta, and Corporal Masterson will have Squad Dumbo… just kidding, Squad Charlie”, and I heard the three Corporals chuckle softly. “I want four CUO’s to each Squad, you are to work as a team, we are in a serious situation. I know most of you have had firearm training, but for legal reasons, I do not have the authorisation to issue you with rifles or pistols.

Our CO – Lt Colonel Harding, who you met the other day, has given authorisation for you Cadets to use paintball rifles, and as was said earlier, the intruders will not be expecting this, and won’t have protection against the force of the paintballs. Our aim is to locate and capture, just as we have been training you over the past few days, so aim for soft spots in the body, groin, hands, back of knees and shoulders, are the best spots.

If the intruders do enter the property, and they are armed, you are to disarm them, by hitting their hand, arm or shoulder. You will be doing some very intensive training, with a lot of information to absorb, trust in yourself and your squad mates, and you will do well and come out of this alive and a better person, wait here for a moment” I said, and I stepped out of the room, where I found one of the MP’s.

“Where have you stowed the intruders” I asked, “the same empty storeroom, where they put us, we have put plastic ties on their ankles as well, to restrict their movement, so they can’t try to escape, I am staying here till you leave, my partner is guarding the firearms, and the other two are guarding the prisoners” the MP replied.

“Ok, we will be leaving for our base camp, only the WO knows it’s location for security reasons, when we have gone work out an 8-hour roster, so there are two MP’s patrolling the compound at all times, I will get the handheld VHF radio for you, so I can keep you posted on activity. WO Owens is in charge from now on” I said as I headed back into the conference room, to retrieve two hand held radios.

“Channel 12 is what we will be on at all times, keep one on the charging station in reception at all times, and this conference room is out of bounds to all Cadets, and is to be kept locked at all times” I said to the MP as I exited the conference room and handed him the two radios, before heading outside. “We will be leaving shortly, the other MP’s have your instructions, you are under the command of WO Owens from now on, park this car at the back of the main building, I want this are kept clear at all times” I instructed the MP’s.

I went around to the side of the building, where the Army truck was parked, and I climbed in drove it around to the front of the main building, and I went inside to the conference room. “Right the truck is out front, Marc, can you drive the truck, Assault Platoon grab your kit bags and load up in the truck” I said to all in the room, before tapping my ear piece, “Staff to Warrant Officer Owens, Assault Platoon plus Angela and Tom are moving out to Bird’s Nest, we will see you later” I said, and I saw all three Corporals looking at me, and I smiled.

“Get used to it guys, you are stuck with them for a whole week” I said with a chuckle, after deactivating the comm’s, and I headed out of the room to get Angela and Tom, who were still in the kitchen, and as soon as he saw me, Tom raced towards me, and I bent down to pick him up. “You are getting to big to be getting hugs all the time” I said to Tom, “But I like them Uncle Mitch” Tom replied with a big smile, as I carried him back into the kitchen. “Hi Angela, are you ready to go? Oh, and we need enough food for 18 including you two” I added.

“We will have to come back for some more, as we don’t have enough re…” Angela stopped realising that she didn’t need to say any more, “Agreed, we will have someone come back and collect some more supplies” I replied, I have a small box of extra kitchen supplies and three boxes of food, including flour and mixed fruit for your favourite snack” Angela said with a big smile, “Damper, yum” Tom shouted, and Angela and I laughed, as I placed Tom on the ground, so I could pick up one of the boxed of food.

With Angela and Tom in the jeep, with their luggage, Troy and Amos went to collect the last two boxes of food, before climbing into the truck, and with me driving the jeep, we led the way to the main access road then north, as I decided to take an indirect route to the command post, and we stopped 300 metres after leaving the main track, to dust away our tyre tracks, before we continued.

After a very bumpy ride we arrived back at the command post, where all the CUO’s jumped out along with their kitbags, and they looked around. “Right listen up Assault Platoon, this is a temporary command post, built especially for this week’s training camp, afterwards, it will be all pulled down. For the remainder of this camp, this location is top secret, you are not to reveal its location to anyone else, apart from those who are here now.

In the back of the truck there are three more tents, one for each squad, I suggest that you set them up close together, over behind the camp seats, so you are near the camp fire. Ms Parker here is our camp chef, and I am a qualified first responder, in emergency medical care, if you have any medical issues. The tent under the shelter is off limits as it is Ms Parker and Tom’s tent, the other is where Corporal’s Masterson, Hays and Gregson will be sleeping,

I will be in my swag, under my vehicle awning, that is my blue vehicle behind the tower, which is also off limits, except the ground floor area, which is the shower room, and try and conserve the water, as it has to last for the whole week. There are two portable toilets here, please make an effort to keep them clean and tidy for all of us, and stay out of Ms Parkers kitchen, unless you have been invited, and finally, as you are most probably aware we are on a high hill, and sound carries very easily, so from now on soft talking and whispering, that includes you too Tom” I announced to everyone, and Tom went into a bad mood and marched into his tent.

While the CUO’s were setting up their tents, I went and retrieved my Sat earpiece from the car, before helping carry the two heavy firearms boxes up the steps to the top of the tower. “Did we get any more tarpaulins from the stores, the caretaker spotted the lights from up here the other night” I asked the three Corporal’s, “Yes Staff, they are in the truck” Marc replied, good, can you set them up to cover the upper half of each wall, so it directs the light downwards towards the trees, that might resolve the issue, or we just don’t use lights up here at night time” I responded.

While the Corporal’s were doing that, I went downstairs to my vehicle, and I pulled out a spare bag of concrete, a bag of gravel and a bucket, and placed them on the camp seat, in front of the seats, was a bare patch, where we had mixed the cement before. Next, I went over to the pile of rocks, and found suitable rocks and started to arrange them to form two circles to one side of the camp seats, before I started to mix up some concrete, and I started to build three 2-foot diameter rock pillars, three feet apart, that will become the base for bench seats.

When the CUO’s saw what I was doing, they began to assist, and we soon had three rock pillars completed, and we began to build two more on the opposite side, till we had completed them also. “Over near my vehicle, you should find some planks that have already been cut, we will need two for each bench seat” I said to the CUO’s, and they set off to find what I asked, returning soon after, with the planks in hand, and they placed them onto the pillars. “Give them till dinner time, and they should be set enough to sit on them” I commented.

When Amos, Troy and Marc appeared, and saw the handy work we had been doing, they nodded in approval, “Ok, no bums on those bench seats till after dinner, to allow them to set, guys, is the other box still in the jeep?” I asked the Corporals, “Yes Staff” Marc replied with a smile, as he and Troy walked over to the jeep and pulled out a large box, and carried it over to the semi-circle area in front of the fire, created by the seats.

Once the box was open, a number of smaller boxes were pulled out, and I turned to the CUO’s. “Right, now it’s time to get into some training. In these boxes are all you need for camouflage, netting, body paint and of course your paintball guns, we have a couple of spares, just in case we have any that are faulty.

I want you into your squads, and help each other to get kitted out ready for S & C - search and capture manoeuvres” I instructed the Cadets, as I picked up one of the paintball guns, a camouflage pain tin, and I headed off down the hill to the east of the camp. “Right, this is the Staff Sergeants favourite training game, you are to search and locate him, you are to remain in your squads, we as your squad leaders will be supervising, but we will not help you in any way.

Your only protection will be your eye goggles, and working as a team, using field signals to achieve your goal, once you are kitted out, report to Ms Parker, for a water bottle and ration pack, there is no time limit on this exercise, so we could be out there till midnight, depending on how good you are” I heard Troy say to the CUO’s as I walked away. Once at the bottom of the hill, I started a light jog, heading north, further away from the camp, and I kept going until I was 2 ½ kilometres from the command post.

I came to a stop, when I heard the ear piece activate, “Assault Platoon to Cub, are you ready for us over” I heard Troy’s voice, “Affirmative Troy, I am over two clicks from your location, over and out” I replied softly before deactivating the comm’s, and heading off again in a westerly direction. After nearly half an hour of fast silent running, I had run nearly 4 ½ kilometres, as I reached the top of a long ridge, that has a good view of all directions to the east, west and south, after a little bit of searching, I found a perfect vantage point, and I settled down for a long wait.

Knowing that these paintball rifles only had a maximum range of 200 metres, I knew that I had to do some very clever sniper work, to be able to shoot as many Cadets as possible, without being discovered, then I thought, maybe I should shoot the Corporals, first just to show how good I really am. With that decision made, I set off slowly and silently towards the camp, 3 kilometres to the south east of my current location.

I came across the first squad a lot earlier than I expected, heading straight for me, as I burrowed down out of sight and waited for them to get closer. As they passed within just metres of my location, I lined up and took aim at Amos’s boot, and slowly squeezed the trigger. “What was that?” I heard one Cadet whisper, and another signalled for all to stop. I watched as I saw them scan the area, looking for any clues.

“Corporal, what is that on your boot” I heard a Cadet whisper, “Oh shit, the bastard has got me, he is here somewhere” I heard Amos whisper, and I activated my ear piece, “You bet, I got you Amos, that’s one down two to go” I said in a faint whisper, before deactivating the earpiece. I watched as the Cadets searched and searched but they couldn’t find me, as they continued to move further away.

When it was safe to do so, I continued on, changing direction to due east, hoping to intercept another squad, which I did about an hour later, this time it was Marc and his squad. When they had passed me, and were about 120 metres away, I once again fired another shot, and again I hit the boot, where it would be hard to feel the impact. When I saw that the shot had not been noticed, I moved south till I was well away from them, before I activated my ear piece again, “Two down and one to go, Marc, check your boots, I shot you ten minutes ago” I said softly.

“Shit you little bugger, how the hell did you do that” I heard in reply, before I deactivated the Sat, and continued to head south, for a little while then turned due west. I stopped often and listened carefully, and I was soon able to pick up the sounds of movement, and I followed them, till I was nearly right behind them, before going into hiding and preparing for my next shot. When I fired this time, I saw a hand signal for everyone to stop, and look around. “Bugger, the bastard has got me too” I heard Troy say, and I activated my earpiece.

“Three down, game over boys, return to camp” I said softly, and deactivated the earpiece, before laying low, as Troy’s squad would be passing right past me. I lay quietly, as they grew closer, and when I saw a boot step just one foot from my face and I saw paint on it, I smiled, as I quietly reached out and tapped on the boot. Troy stopped almost instantly, and he looked around him, but he couldn’t see me, probably because of the low light, caused by the heavy clump of trees in the area.

“Squad halt” I heard Troy order, and he bent down to take a closer look around him. “Boo” I shouted as I jumped up, and I saw every member of the squad jump in fright, especially Troy, who was just three feet away from me. “Jeeze, Staff, give us all a heart attack why don’t you” Troy said as he tried to calm down, and I was chuckling with delight, and I activated the ear piece, “Troy will need a change of jocks when he gets back” I said, “I do not, yah bastard, you are just too good at this hide and seek” Troy replied, and I chuckled again, before deactivating the earpiece, and followed Troy and his squad back to camp.

When we arrived back, Angela had a large loaf of warm damper ready for us, and the kettle was boiling for a cuppa tea, and the cadets were quietly chatting as they sat down to enjoy their afternoon tea, “So was it a successful training exercise?” Angela asked to anyone who wanted to reply.