Jack and Jill: Army

  ***

  Jill and Jack worked as a team as they zeroed the riflescope. Jill had sighted scopes many times with her older brothers, so for her, it was a routine task. She knew how to pick a target, determine its range, calculate the cross wind, and estimate the trajectory of the bullet. She was glad she remembered to bring her earplugs. She was new to the M82 rifle, and its report was deafening. When Jack fired it the first time she was two feet from the rifle. The shock wave blasted her body so hard she thought the gun had exploded. She began counting her body parts to see if she was injured. Two arms, two legs, ten fingers. Even with earplugs, my ears are ringing.

  Jack laughed. “Pretty cool, huh?”

  Jill nodded and grinned. “Like I said, I am glad you’re the trigger man.”

  Jill and Jack continued the test firing. They began at close range, one hundred yards, then two hundred yards, and finally five hundred yards. Jack’s rifle was good out to eighteen hundred yards, which was over one mile, but the sniper competition would not require shooting that far.

  Since this was the first time she worked with Savage, she knew that it would go slow at first. They needed to learn each other’s phrasing and idiosyncrasies. The jargon was pretty standard, but still, sometimes a different person will phrase things differently. She tried to be patient as she got used to Savage’s responses to her commands. Likewise, she knew Savage would have to get used to her command phrasing.

  Jill estimated the distance, wind, and trajectory for each shot. Each time she made a calculation, she spoke out loud. That gave Jack the opportunity to confirm or disagree with her calculation.

  “Temperature 21 degrees,” Jill said.

  “Confirmed,” Jack replied.

  “Distance 100 yards.”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Wind 10 knots.”

  “Confirmed.”

  ‘Elevation down 1.5 inches.”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Send it.”

  Jack took careful aim before gently squeezing the trigger . . . then the quiet disappeared as the gun fired . . . KABOOOOOOM!

  Jill and Jack repeated this procedure for two hundred and five hundred yards. This verified the rifle and scope were aligned and ready for the competition. The only question she had was whether she and Jack were ready. Would they be able to work as a team, or would his fierce independence and chauvinistic attitude drive a wedge between them?