Chapter 143: Chapter 143: Giving You Some Pressure
The selection process was set to begin at 2 PM.
New Manchui, along with Sanderson and Tony, dragged their luggage and seized an eight-person dormitory.
Just as they were about to enter, Old Manchui turned his head and looked at 'Hemostatic Forceps,' who seemed to want to join them, and said with a frown, "What are you following us for? You're a woman, you should go to the female soldiers' dormitory."
'Hemostatic Forceps' gave Old Manchui a look with her dead-fish eyes, which had more whites than irises, and said, "I don't mind, what are you worried about?"
Old Manchui patted his bald head, 'heh'ed, and said, "Interesting, if you don't mind then I certainly have no objections, but I do snore at night, so you'll need to stay away from me..."
Sanderson had long been ground down to a lack of temper by Old Manchui, and he shook his head, pushed open the dormitory door, turned on the light for a glance, and then froze in place.
The dormitory was a simple eight-person room, with two bunk beds on each side and two desks put together in the middle, with eight chairs neatly lined up against the desks.
There was nothing odd about the dormitory—it was even a bit spartan—but the equipment laid out on the beds and desks was a bit frightening.
On each bed lay two sets of camouflage military uniforms, complete with underwear, boots, and helmets.
Beside the uniforms lay a tactical vest and a tactical belt, with two large and two small ballistic plates on the vest.
Under the bed, there also lay a large-capacity military backpack.
Old Manchui came from a field unit, but as a cook he didn't normally carry the same gear as his comrades, so he couldn't help but feel a bit thrilled seeing such comprehensive equipment.
"Damn, this company's boss is something else. This stuff is US Army gear, right? How much does a set cost?"
Sanderson, with a reminiscing look in his eyes and a somewhat somber tone, said, "This is standard Rangers' gear, two sets of uniforms for 600 dollars, a helmet for 1200 dollars, goggles for 200 dollars, a tactical vest for 900 dollars, ballistic plates for 500 dollars, a backpack for 400 dollars, and a belt for 300 dollars."
Old Manchui quickly calculated in his mind and said in surprise, "Just for this stuff it's 4100 dollars? You Rangers are quite something!"
Sanderson shook his head and said, "It's still missing radios, night vision devices, spare batteries, water filtration bottles, and various combat tools.
The clothes and vest aren't expensive, it's those small tools that are costly."
As Old Manchui's eyes glazed over at this information, 'Hemostatic Forceps,' who had been inspecting around, suddenly lifted the green cloth covering the table, pointed at the squad-level weapons on the table, and said, "The main attractions are here. It seems this so-called selection is serious."
Old Manchui turned his head to look, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
The guy, wiping sweat from his forehead, walked over, took a bullet from the box to look at it, and then picked up an AR70, a rifle mostly phased out by the Italian army, and said incredulously, "Real deal?"
Sanderson picked up an AR70 and worked the charging handle, listening to the sound of the bolt, and shook his head, "They're all real, but the bolts in these guns have been tampered with; they'll probably jam after one shot."
As he spoke, Sanderson seemed to think of something. He pulled out a backpack from under the bed to test it, and after opening it, he discovered it actually contained six 5-kg sandbags.
The guy seemed touched by some memories. His eyes danced for a moment and he said, "Seems like this selection won't be easy to pass."
As he spoke, Sanderson looked at the other four vacant beds and muttered to himself, "Looks like this generous boss has other requirements too."
Aside from the blissfully ignorant Tony, the others present were old soldiers. Old Manchui, somewhat incredulous, said, "You can't be serious, he wants us to form teams already?"
As he spoke, Old Manchui looked at the two old, 5.56 caliber 'Set Me Ameli light machine guns' on the table, and swallowed hard, saying, "It looks like they want to form a squad, but can this really work?
Combining all these things weighs over 50 kilograms. If there's a march right off the bat, I don't mind, but can the others make it through?"
'Hemostatic Forceps' saw Old Manchui glance at her while he was speaking. Her dead-fish eyes rolled slightly, and she said irritably, "Take care of yourself.
I counted just now, there are a total of eight dormitories, making us exactly 64 people.
I'll go outside and have a look, pick out a few good hands to join us, preferably with two machine gunners."
While 'Hemostatic Forceps' was speaking, four burly men appeared at the door. They had come over on the boat with them that morning, Bulgarian men from the 'Diamond Special Forces.'
The leading burly man had obviously heard what 'Hemostatic Forceps' said. He grinned, showing his big, bearded mouth, and said, "We have two machine gunners, need a temp team-up?"
......
At 2 PM, Joe Ga appeared on the training field fully equipped.
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What Old Manchui and the others guessed about pre-assembly of groups didn't exist. It was just a bit of mischief by the training camp instructors, accustomed as they were to always keeping the soldiers on edge.
Joe Ga didn't care. The rifles were all training guns provided by the camp, and the ammunition was reduced-charge. Even if there happened to be an accidental discharge, as long as it wasn't extremely unlucky, generally, one could be saved.
The outfit Joe Ga, this boss, provided was a military uniform set that he had snagged in the last few days of a Tunisian defense expo.
Having made the long journey with a large quantity of goods, it was natural that they hoped to sell everything onsite, lest they incur the expense of shipping them back.
Sanderson calculated it about right. But those were the United States Army procurement prices. The clearance sale prices at the end of the expo were different—a complete Ranger set for just 666 US dollars. Joe Ga bought out all 150 sets of the seller's stock in one go.
These military goods were held up at customs for several hours and didn't arrive until this morning, just in time to be caught by these recruits.
Since it was all going to be for their use anyway, why not bring it out ahead of time.
While Joe Ga waited, Dorian and the others, fully armed, rushed to the training ground.
Seeing that even the girls, Nis and Antar, had also donned 50 kilograms of gear, seemingly ready to share in the boss's hardship, Joe Ga walked over irritably and shoved a timer into each of their hands, then pulled down Nis's backpack and tore open her tactical vest, saying, "What are you full-timers hopping in for?
Go to the side and watch. Time them. Anyone who's worse than me gets eliminated."
As he spoke, Joe Ga looked at Nis, who was staring at him with innocent, wide eyes. He pointed to his nose irritably and said, "You think I enjoy suffering with them?
Me, aside from shooting, I'm the minimum benchmark for the selection. There's no need for you to come and suffer with me."
Nis looked at Joe Ga's serious expression, hesitated with something on her mind, but ultimately nodded obediently, stripped off her gear, and joined the ranks of the instructors.
Seeing that Nis and Antar had both left, Dorian smacked his lips and said, "Boss, what about me?"
Joe Ga glanced sideways at Dorian, who wanted to slack off, and said, "You too want to compare with them? You—a Leather Head—can't endure this kind of training?
Let me tell you, if you don't make the top five, I'll deduct your base salary."
Dorian saw his cousin Vito grinning mischievously and waving at him, then sighed...
Full gear weighing 50 kilograms, a 5-kilometer cross-country run, followed by a 400-meter obstacle course, and then shooting.
A normal person wouldn't get past the first hurdle, and ordinary soldiers, after struggling through the second, would find it problematic to prevent their hands from trembling when they took up their weapons.
Watching his cousin make a throat-cutting gesture towards him and then discuss with the nearby instructors, he took off his cap and began accepting bets from them.
Dorian rubbed his face gloomily, looking at Joe Ga and said, "Boss, top five is underestimating me. Let's make it top three. If I can make the top three, can I get a salary like Dragon Gecko?"
Joe Ga looked at Dorian, who had the gall to suggest such a thing, and shook his head, saying, "I underestimated you. I thought you would claim you'd run first. Instead, you go for the top three?
I underestimated the thickness of your skin!"
Chuckling, Joe Ga patted Dorian on the arm and said, "Wanting a raise isn't hard. Just get Dragon Gecko to nod in approval of your ability, and I'll give you a raise."
Dorian glanced at Karman, who was standing in front of a whiteboard, ready to eliminate recruits at any moment. Considering the old man's usual disapproving attitude towards him, he sighed and said, "I think my current salary is fine. Dreaming for the sake of dreaming isn't as good as dreaming about other things.
Boss, I think your M9 pistol is awesome. Can I have one too, preferably with a silencer just like yours? That thing is fantastic!"
Joe Ga, looking at the recruits queuing up and walking in their direction, gave Dorian's shoulder a hard pat and said, "No problem, top three and you'll get a gun.
Do your best to apply the maximum pressure on them, preferably mess up their rhythm. 64 people is too many; we only need about half."
Dorian nodded emphatically and said, "No problem. I'm the real elite. These wage earners have a long way to go."
Joe Ga looked at 'Hemostatic Forceps' and the other three female soldiers in the lineup and said, "Reduce the female soldiers' weight to thirty kilograms."
'Hemostatic Forceps' was a particularly proud Latina woman. She glanced sideways at the other three females and noticed they obediently removed four five-kilogram sandbags, so she also decreased her weight to thirty kilograms.
But then, right after rejoining the queue, she assertively swapped her backpack with 'Potato' Tony's.
Joe Jiaquan pretended not to see 'Hemostatic Forceps'' little maneuver, tightened his backpack straps, walked to the front of the troops, and said loudly, "First, a five-kilometer warm-up run. Any questions?"
"No!"
Smiling at the group of soldiers from around the world in front of him, Joe Ga nodded, turned around to wave at the camp's instructors, and as a convertible lead jeep slowly set off, he shouted, "Start running. Anyone slower than me will be eliminated...."