The man with the white hair then says “Rhino, come over here.” I walk over and he says “Rhino, let me first tell you that you did an outstanding job, and as a reward, we are going to send you home early tonight. I want you to go home and get a good night’s rest, you’ve earned it.” I said “awesome, thank you very much.”
Mr. Green then pats me on the back and says “outstanding son, f*cking outstanding!” This was the first time Mr. Green had physically touched me and I remember the “eerie” feeling I got and the “chills” that went down my spine as he removed his hand from my back. I walked over to the wall and picked my coat off the floor and followed the two men who always drove me out to the car.
Then I remember being in front of the dorm and I actually said “good-bye” to the two guys and went inside to bed. Most of all I remember the proud feeling of amazing them with my shooting even though I don’t know exactly how I did it. I remember the feeling of being “honored” with a reward because I could somehow do things none of them could do. And most of all I remember the “eerie” feeling of Mr. Green touching me. He had always been there and I had seen him many times, but for some reason now in my mind he finally had become all too real. If that makes any sense?
After that they then instructed me with rifles, more pistols, basically, every practical thing that shot a bullet I was instructed in how to use it, clean it, shoot it, and kill with it. And as soon as the instructor was finished I instantly knew it all like the back of my hand, like I had done it a thousand times before.
I remember feeling the differences between the M-16 and the AK47 as I shot them. Shooting small semi-automatic weapons (like an Uzi only different). Then asking me to remember which weapons I personally liked the most. They converted the longest hallway into a target range since it was the longest stretch in the facility, by placing sandbags all the way at one end and blocking off all other doorways and hallways along the way. I would estimate it was about 70 yards + or – long. In doors, this shot seemed very distant.
They also had converted the original range to have these “pop-up” targets, as well as moving ones which ran along this miniature track. The targets would come out of this temporary wall, go across the line of sight on the track and then disappear into the other wall, and they had tracks going at different distances, coming to and going away, etc. For the next while, it seemed that all I did was shoot. All the other experiments seemed to have been put on hold. The exercising, the brain games, the puzzles, the punching bag, everything.
I could hit ANY target still or moving, at ANY range, with ANY of the guns in the exact center every time. Except for some reason I remember having some trouble with the semi-automatic type stuff, because the gun was not designed for accuracy it was designed for speed. So it would fire so fast the distribution pattern just wasn’t accurate enough. And by not accurate enough I mean instead of having one bullet hole in which all the spent rounds would pass through in the exact center of the red dot (which the targets now came with already painted on).
The semi-automatics would basically just eliminate the entire red dot which was the size of a half dollar if I emptied the clip in one burst. This was basically still an unbelievable bulls-eye and show of marksmanship, but it was not what they wanted. They wanted every bullet through the same hole every time, all the time. In the exact center of the red dot, no exceptions, and no excuses. So they backed off using these guns for the time period. At close range I could do this without any problem I would estimate under 20 yards. The further I backed away the larger the single bullet hole would become.
As I backed as far back as I could go on the long-range (60 or 70 yards), the bullet hole had gone from being about the size of a “dime” to be about the size of a “quarter“. I remember after I shot they would gather around the target at the other end and then yell for me. I would run down and see one hole the size of a quarter in the red dot on the head, and this “rush” of pride would run through my body. But when they spoke to me it was not praised, they were screaming at me with criticism.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, YOU CALL THAT SHOOTING, GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN, AND I WANT TO SEE ONE HOLE THE SIZE OF A DIME NOT THE SIZE OF A FUCKING GOLF BALL. DO YOU UNDERSTAND.”
I would have to go back and do it again. I remember some improvement but then I would worsen again. They sent me home early anyway to get some rest. They were pushing me and my limits. Yes, I was doing incredible things but they wanted to see just how far I could go and just what I could do.
The helmet of knowledge- Everything was going very well with my conditioning and my training. Mr. Green and Adolph seemed pleased with my progress.
Until we began shooting outside. It all seemed different now. With the cold air on my face, I felt more “awake” and more aware of what was going on. The pistol no longer felt like an extension of my own hand. It felt cold and seemed to be heavier now. When I shot as the distances got greater and greater I became worse and worse and began to miss.