Chapter 345 - Chapter 345: Scouting Scout
Chapter 345: Scouting Scout
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Skill Activation Success!”
Emerging from the water, Wang Ye immediately activated the skill of armed swimming.
Of course, it was just skill activation.
At this moment, Wang Ye didn’t have time to improve his proficiency.
He glanced at those still on the water’s edge.
A row of soldiers had already reached about halfway to the shore, and the other half were not far behind.
No one was falling behind, and even the last few were only about ten meters from the shore.
“Hurry up, what’s with the dawdling? Can’t you see Wang Ye has already made it to the shore? Are you all slower than a newcomer?”
From the boat behind, Jiang Nan shouted loudly.
His shout made everyone involuntarily turn their heads to look at Wang Ye. Some stopped in their tracks, while others rushed to the shore. However, Wang Ye also heard some murmuring.
“Damn, is this guy really a newcomer? Who’s ever seen a newcomer win the grand slam of the entire division?”
Of course, his voice certainly wouldn’t reach Jiang Nan on the boat behind.
“Hurry up and get up there!”
Jiang Nan shouted again and then the scribe controlling the throttle at the back of the boat accelerated, causing the powered inflatable boat to swerve.
On the water’s surface, there were actually not just one, but two inflatable boats.
The reconnaissance soldier’s armed swim was not like the training seen on television, where soldiers are equipped with lifebuoys or life jackets with ropes attached to them.
That was simply impossible in the Second Squad.
They had nothing except their backpacks, which served as their only floatation device.
Of course, there were safety measures in place, and that was the boat where the squad leader and squad sergeant were sitting.
They had been circling around the team the entire time.
While supervising and urging everyone to speed up, it was also a protective measure.
If someone really cramped up and was in danger, they would definitely be rescued.
Of course, anyone who was rescued would surely face more training in the future.
“Hurry up, check your equipment, put on your shoes, we’re ready to move forward!”
On this side, the first ones who made it to the shore were helping the others.
After everyone had reached the shore, the squad leader shouted loudly.
Checking their weapon and equipment was a necessary procedure.
Everyone carried hand grenades, magazines, and some even had pistols on them.
Losing equipment during the armed swim would be a serious matter.
Of course, such oversights were rare.
Just like the others, Wang Ye quickly checked his personal equipment.
He sat down and took out the shoes he had taken off before entering the water from his waist.
Wang Ye twisted the socks he had taken out of his shoes and poured out the water from inside the shoes. He then put them on and shouldered his backpack.
The backpack was waterproof, so even though the outside was soaked, the weight hadn’t increased much. What was uncomfortable was that his clothes and shoes were now completely wet.
But for a soldier, this was nothing major.
Even Wang Ye had trained or run in the rain more than once.
“Hurry up, keep up!”
Less than two minutes after getting ashore, everyone set off again.
At this moment, Wang Ye glanced to his right, about seventy or eighty meters away, and even further, at the other side of the shore.
The other two squads had one about twenty meters from the shore, and the other even further, at least seventy to eighty meters away.
Wild Lake was not a swimming pool, and it was impossible to achieve absolute fairness when starting from the same location but ending up at different points on the shore.
But this morning’s training was not just about armed swimming.
For example, those who had a longer water route would face a relatively smooth and obstacle-free slope when they got ashore.
On the other hand, their group, although they reached the shore quickly, had a dense forested hillside in front of them.
There was no path at all.
In this unit-level competition, although absolute fairness was not guaranteed, a rough fairness was still maintained.
There was no time to dwell on this, and Wang Ye followed An Ping and the others, quickly climbing up the hillside in front of them.
“Hurry up, don’t fall behind. First Squad, take care of the newcomers, Second Squad, send someone to clear the way!”
The hill wasn’t very high, around a hundred meters.
But getting up there was tough. The underbrush and thorns were thriving, and the front team members had to clear the way with machetes or entrenching tools.
Of course, in this season and in this place, you also had to be careful of landmines in the underbrush.
There were quite a few of those in West Guang, especially in damp areas like this.
Of course, for reconnaissance soldiers, these landmines were not much of a threat.
Their eyesight was very good, and they had no fear.
If they did encounter one, it was just a short training exercise like now. They would have food back at the camp, otherwise, they might even look for landmines to have for breakfast.
After climbing for about fifteen minutes, everyone reached a road after traversing about a hundred meters.
“To the left!
The squad leader gave the order again.
Just a while ago, he had passed around his map to everyone in the jungle.
Wang Ye had glanced at it as well.
So, he naturally knew that turning left now was the right way.
“Still adapting? This is our reconnaissance soldier’s daily routine, playing in the mountains and water!”
With clothes and shoes still damp from earlier, while running, the squad sergeant, Ge Hui, spoke with a smile beside Wang Ye.
Wang Ye turned his head and smiled as he replied, “Not bad, quite interesting!”
Indeed, for Wang Ye, this experience was quite fresh.
During his previous military service, there was nothing like this.
Even during field exercises, they had ample support. But look at the situation now.
Just a moment ago, they were swimming in Wild Lake, with the squad leader and others still paddling kayaks behind them. As for now, Wang Ye couldn’t see anyone.
He guessed that they had probably stored the kayaks and were heading back in trucks.
“What? Regiment commander, am I hearing this correctly?”
At the training base, the entire regiment had started mobile training today.
However, on the way, the regiment commander suddenly had someone call Wu Jianfeng.
And when Wu Jianfeng arrived, the words the regiment commander said left him wide-eyed.
What the heck?
Wang Ye has been promoted to First Lieutenant already?
“Yes, it’s a promotion out of the usual sequence. Of course, he will only have the rank of First Lieutenant, without the corresponding duties, and his personal unit affiliation won’t change. His personnel allocation will still be in your Fourth Squad!”
“Fuck, this guy is moving up pretty fast! 1 feel like if 1 don’t work harder, 1 might get overtaken soon!”
Wu Jianfeng chuckled and commented.
“Haha, that’s entirely possible!” The regiment commander also laughed heartily.
After laughing, the regiment commander looked at the troops marching ahead on the road, then turned to Wu Jianfeng with a smile and said, “Little Wu, you’ve been a squad leader for about three years now, right?”
Wu Jianfeng’s heart skipped a beat, but he quickly suppressed his excitement and nodded, saying, “Yes, it will be three years in a few months.”
“Good, keep up the good work! Especially during this training, make sure to perform well!”
“Yes, sir!” Wu Jianfeng stood at attention, saluted, and responded loudly.
In that moment, although the regiment commander didn’t explicitly say it, Wu Jianfeng understood the regiment commander’s intention.
If he performs well this time without any issues, he should be able to move up this year.
To be honest, Wu Jianfeng didn’t have big ambitions because he had come to terms with reality.
He had been promoted relatively late, and now he was relatively old in terms of age.
His future was limited.
In fact, this was why he was willing to dig a pit directly in front of the regiment commander when they were training the new recruits, all for the sake of Wang Ye.
He felt that his military career might only reach the level of a regular company commander at most, and if things went well, he might become a deputy regiment commander.
In this situation, there wasn’t much difference for him between transitioning to civilian life a little earlier and continuing in the regular company.
He might as well put in the effort to train a promising recruit, someone who could avoid the mistakes he had made and go further in the future, seeing the sights he would never get to see in his lifetime.
Of course, while he thought this way and had these aspirations, he was still happy about the opportunity to advance further now.
Wang Ye was unaware of the events unfolding in the Iron Bones Hero Regiment.
Currently, he was with his squad at a village entrance.
The squad leader personally climbed a large tree at the village entrance and took down a small red wooden plaque.
In this orienteering exercise, the goal was not a straight line but to follow the directions provided by the assistant squad leader’s map. Then, according to the indications on the map and using the compass held by the squad leader to determine the direction, they had to collect tokens from various marked points. Only by gathering all these tokens could they return.
“Hurry up, run faster! It’s been an hour already, according to the map, we still have at least five kilometers to go before we can get back. Let’s pick up the pace!”
The squad leader urged.
The training earlier in the morning was actually a maximum of eight kilometers in total, but with the two kilometers of swimming in Wild Lake, plus the previous mountainous terrain, covering this distance in less than two hours was quite challenging.
Wang Ye didn’t know the situation with the other two squads, but he figured they wouldn’t be having an easy time either.
Since Jiang Nan had organized this training and said they had to be back in the camp by eight, Wang Ye figured it must have been calculated. There was no way they would let you return twenty minutes early.
They would definitely have to push themselves to make it by eight.
He kept up with the team and continued running.
Half an hour had passed since they got ashore, and the sun was rising in the sky.
Wang Ye’s clothes were already partially dry.
He expected that once they returned to camp, his clothes would be completely dry.
“Squad sergeant, can’t we split up? Can’t we collect the tokens separately by squads? We only have three left, and if we split up, we’ll definitely be faster!”
While running, Wang Ye couldn’t help but speak up and ask Guo Hui, who was beside him.
Guo Hui glanced at Wang Ye and whispered, “We can, but it’s risky. We only have one map, and if the teams split up and get lost or go off course without the map for reference, there’s a high chance that the entire squad will fail. So, even though this approach takes more time and effort, it’s the safest way. Running together just means we’ll cover more ground together!”
“Alright.”
Wang Ye nodded, but in truth, he wanted to say, “What’s wrong with taking a little risk? We’re all soldiers, especially reconnaissance soldiers. In theory, reconnaissance soldiers should be fearless and daring.”
If they made a mistake by splitting up, they could still treat it as part of the training.
At worst, they would all undergo additional training together, and they could identify the reasons for the mistakes and improve.
Being too conservative wouldn’t produce true elites.
However, this was Wang Ye’s first day of formal training with everyone, and he wasn’t familiar with the training methods of the Second Squad or even the entire Second Company.
On the first day, he didn’t want to question the squad leader, let alone the company commander, even though he held the same rank as the squad leader.
So, Wang Ye held back.
But he did take note of it.
In the future, if he had to lead soldiers, or if he had the opportunity to observe and evaluate later, he would definitely voice his opinions.
If he genuinely felt that something wasn’t right, once he became more familiar with the company commander and the instructor, he would definitely speak up..