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After breakfast, they should have been sitting in a classroom or training ground, studying theory or undergoing specialized training.
Instead, everyone was staying in the barracks, packing their belongings and preparing for a possible transfer at any moment.
In reality, very few people were actually packing. Most were chatting and shooting the breeze.
After twelve weeks of recruit training, everyone had lived, eaten, and slept together. All the hardships they'd endured had now become material for the men to joke about.
A shapeshifter mutant came out.
Unlike Mystique, he could only alter portions of his face. His physical characteristics, hair, and everything else remained unchanged.
He transformed into the appearance of the old gunnery sergeant and began imitating the intimidation routine from the first day of recruit training.
He even pulled a cowboy hat identical to the instructors' from his luggage and pinned the Global Hawk insignia they had received upon completing recruit training onto it.
For a moment, aside from the extremely incongruous combination of underwear and shorts, his expression and demeanor had acquired some of the instructor's authority.
"Recruits! Do you know where you've come?
"Have you read the Bible? I can tolerate you not believing in God, but I cannot tolerate you not knowing the most basic story of Genesis.
"God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. That was the first day.
"On the second day, God separated the sky from the waters.
"On the third day, God gathered the waters together so that dry land appeared, and it produced all kinds of fruit.
"On the fourth day, God created the sun, moon, and stars to govern the day and night.
"On the fifth day, God created birds for the sky, fish for the waters, and all kinds of beasts for the land.
"On the sixth day, God created man in His own image.
"And on the seventh day, He created the most perfect existence of all.
"That is the United States Marine Corps!
"Today, you idiots have come here for training. I don't care whether you were men, women, thieves, criminals, or some damn mutants before you arrived.
"If you want to evolve into God's most perfect species, the only way is to obey, then obey, and obey!
"I am the priest guiding you into heaven, teaching you how to send your enemies to hell.
"I don't guarantee that any of you will complete the entire course, but I guarantee you'll remember this period for the rest of your lives.
"Don't think the Navy SEALs are anything special. Their training is merely daily routine in the Marine Corps.
"And don't think the Army's Delta Force is particularly formidable. They're nothing more than a group of decent specimens picked out from a bunch of scrawny chicks.
"And that standard is merely the level you are expected to reach upon graduating from Marine Corps training.
"If you want to complete this training, my only requirement is that you have two balls between your legs.
"I don't care if your face looks like a fish or some other goddamn monstrosity. Even if you're a woman, you'd better find two balls and stuff them down your pants.
"This is your only chance at redemption. You won't get another chance in this lifetime.
"Now move your fat asses and stand in front of an empty bunk.
"Dump everything in your packs onto the floor in front of you.
"That garbage does not belong to God's most perfect Marine Corps.
"Someone will come along and sweep it all into one pile. Tonight, we'll have a bonfire party to welcome everyone.
"We'll be burning all the garbage you brought with you."
Perhaps the prospect of having everything they'd brought burned was such an unforgettable form of intimidation that everyone in the barracks immediately started booing the shapeshifting recruit.
Someone even jumped up and slapped his hat off, exposing his true appearance.
Then, inevitably, everyone broke into laughter and playful roughhousing.
Fortunately, everyone knew that this was one of their own merely changing his face.
If the old gunnery sergeant had actually been there...
Well, no one would have dared do anything to him.
Everyone had already suffered enough psychological trauma from being screamed at by him.
Henry asked Blair Aoxing about the old gunnery sergeant.
Blair was his acting squad leader and had reenlisted for a second term.
"I heard the old gunnery sergeant is leaving. Is that true?"
Blair nodded.
"Think about how old he is. If he were working for a civilian company, he'd have retired ages ago. It's only the military that would still keep him around as a training instructor.
"His basic skills really are solid. He's much better than the instructor I had during my previous recruit training.
"I trained at Parris Island last time. The instructors there seemed to have mastered the art of swearing at people, but they weren't particularly good at teaching."
Henry asked again, "I remember this is your second time enlisting. Did you still have to go through the entire recruit training program?"
"That's normal, isn't it? After returning to civilian life, the military would naturally worry that I'd become rusty. A little retraining is a good thing.
"Besides, our situation is somewhat special this time."
"What do you mean?"
Blair pointed toward the officers' building outside the window.
"Look. The training instructors led by the old gunnery sergeant are indeed leaving.
"But after the combat training during the eighth week, our command structure was quickly established, and those officers even trained alongside us.
"I heard those officers will remain here as a unit and take command of this formation. That includes our second lieutenant platoon leader, Frank Castle.
"Think about it. It's like taking a group of experienced NCOs and officers from regular units, giving them a batch of recruits to train, and then preparing to send the whole group to the battlefield.
"And wasn't it announced from the beginning that our mutant recruits were being gathered specifically to establish a mutant battalion?
"I only started thinking about reenlisting after I heard that news."
Henry, however, wasn't impressed.
"Although all the recruits are mutants, only a small portion of the NCOs and officers are mutants, and they're the kind without obvious external characteristics.
"Most of the NCOs and officers are still ordinary humans.
"Can that really be called a mutant battalion?"
Blair gave a bitter smile.
"We don't have much choice.
"There really aren't many mutants who can attend military academies or work their way up from ordinary soldiers, pass the various evaluations, and gradually become senior officers.
"Even when there are some, their original units might not be willing to let them go.
"I heard that in the Marine Corps, they've practically pulled over every mutant officer they could find.
"Some were even transferred over from other branches.
"If we refused to use ordinary humans to fill the officer positions and instead randomly promoted mutants who weren't qualified enough to command, I'd be even more worried about this mutant battalion's combat effectiveness.
"We'd risk getting ourselves killed by our own people before we even had a chance to kill the enemy.
"You don't want to experience just how terrifying an incompetent commanding officer can be.
"And from the perspective of the military's senior leadership, they'd naturally rather have ordinary humans controlling and commanding us than allow the mutant battalion to develop the potential to go out of control."
Henry asked again, "Even though we're called a mutant battalion, we're receiving the exact same training as ordinary soldiers. Does that really have any meaning?"
Blair, roughly the same age as Henry but already serving his second enlistment, spoke earnestly.
"The military is like a giant grinding wheel.
"No matter how talented or powerful you are outside, once you come here, it'll grind away your sharp edges and turn you into the same standardized expendable unit as everyone else.
"Everyone here has only one identity.
"Rifleman."
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