Starting from the deputy company commander of the Soldier Assault Team

As reconnaissance soldiers, especially elite units, they have significantly more live-fire exercises and ammunition than ordinary units each year, but even so, they can only manage a maximum of three or four hundred live-fire exercises a year.

This figure only applies to the company's best marksmen or shooting instructors, plus an additional 200-400 rounds of ammunition allocated each year for intensive training.

If they are ordinary motorized infantrymen or ordinary riflemen in mechanized infantry companies, without special training or participation in competitions, they will only fire a few dozen shots a year. Logistics soldiers and communications soldiers will only fire a few dozen shots after two years of service.

Even with dedicated shooting funding, top marksmen in reconnaissance or special forces units who routinely engage in low-light, moving target, and rapid-fire exercises can only fire an average of two to three thousand rounds of ammunition per year.

This was the state of live-fire exercises for soldiers around the turn of the millennium. Even American soldiers, who were busy with "counter-terrorism" operations overseas year-round, had ample ammunition budgets, and infantrymen only fired a few thousand rounds of live ammunition per year.

If you want to fire more bullets, go home and buy them yourself. The military doesn't have the budget for that, even though bullets aren't expensive.

In my country, although bullets are cheaper to manufacture—after all, my country is the country with the largest and most thorough use of steel-core bullets and copper-plated steel cartridge cases in the world—you really can't buy them anywhere.

If you want to shoot more, you can go to a live-fire shooting club, but it's a bit expensive there. It's fine for most people to play a few rounds, but if you shoot a lot, your wallet really can't take it.

Think about what Zhang Anbang just said about finishing a standard ammunition box in half an hour, that's a full 1,500 rounds. Xiao Wenwu has been in the army for over ten years, and he's only ever fired about three 1,500-round live ammunition boxes.

Looking at Zhang Anbang's nonchalant demeanor, the two recalled the exercise before the Steel Seventh Company was reorganized. Now it seemed that they hadn't just lost, they had lost thoroughly; the deputy company commander had been ousted, and the company had been reorganized.

However, the loss was not unjustified; the saying that a standard ammunition box is delivered every half hour must have originated from there.

For the Steel Seventh Company at that time, the bullets in a standard ammunition box were almost half of the ammunition for a typical live-fire exercise.

If you want to play so much solo, you might as well just wash up and go to sleep; after all, anything can happen in dreams.

(As for the behavior of unleashing bursts of firepower in movies and TV dramas, remember that's artistic embellishment, just for the sake of making it look good. In other words, it's also called recruiting soldiers.)

After the broadcast of "Soldiers' Assault" in 07, the total number of people applying for military service nationwide increased by 23% year-on-year, with the core source of the increase being the increased willingness of young people to join the army brought about by the drama.

The number of recruits was not very large, just over 100 million. According to incomplete surveys conducted by various military regions at the time, 95% of the new recruits had watched the complete "Soldiers' Assault".

Between 60% and 84% of new recruits explicitly stated that the drama was the core reason they decided to join the army, and 65% of military academy students' motivations for enlisting included their aspirations for companies like the Steel Seventh Company.

The author himself was also affected, but unfortunately his health failed him, and he became unemployed after graduation.

Of course, there are similar examples now, such as short videos introducing the various benefits of military-issued uniforms and shoes, with comments asking how to buy them, and the official account actually replying with a link, which leads to the National Conscription Website.

Gao Cheng stood behind him with a smile, "Come on."

Company Commander Li Xiao immediately gave the order, "Prepare to fire!"

At the command, Ma Xiaoshuai, Gan Xiaoning, and two other sergeants immediately changed from holding their guns to standing at attention.

Wu Liuyi and Cheng Cai, on the other hand, stood with their hands clenched, guns against their shoulders, and feet apart, in a completely different posture from the other four.

Both men were in the same position, gripping the handle with one hand, the gun hanging down, and the muzzle pointing downwards towards the ground. This is a practical, low-prepared, rapid-fire stance with one hand.

This posture emphasizes prioritizing reaction speed, concealment, a wide and undisturbed field of vision, complete observation of the environment ahead, and anticipating the target's trajectory before taking action.

It's not difficult to get into this position, but to shoot accurately, you need a lot of training to repeatedly develop muscle memory for recoil compensation. Raising your hand, bracing your shoulder, and controlling the recoil should be an instinctive and quick action.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Several empty green beer bottles were quickly thrown high into the air, making a sharp whistling sound. Just from the sound, you could tell that the empty bottles were thrown quite high and the speed of the throw was very fast, otherwise the sound would not have been like this at all.

Ma Xiaoshuai, Gan Xiaoning, and the others maintained their standing shooting posture and quickly raised their guns to prepare for aiming.

But before they could pull the trigger, gunshots rang out—it was Cheng Cai and Wu Liuyi.

The moment the beer bottle flew out, the two men quickly raised their guns and pulled the triggers without hesitation.

Crack, crack, crack.

The crisp sound of a glass beer bottle shattering from a bullet instantly echoed throughout the entire Fifth Platoon's camp.

Of the three beer bottles that were launched in the first wave, Cheng Cai broke two, Wu Liuyi broke one, and as for Gan Xiaoning and the other three, they didn't even fire their guns; the bullets were still lying steadily in the chambers.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Without any pause, a second wave of six beer bottles rose into the air with a shrill sound, followed by the cracking sound of shattering glass.

Similar to the first wave, the only difference this time was that when Cheng Cai and Wu Liuyi smashed the beer bottles, Gan Xiaoning and the other three aimed their guns at the beer bottles, which was an improvement over the first time.

The entire Fifth Squad's camp on the grassland fell silent instantly. Gan Xiaoning and the other three turned to look at Cheng Cai and Wu Liuyi in disbelief.

Especially Gan Xiaoning. Back when he was in the Steel Seventh Company, Cheng Cai and Wu Liuyi were indeed better marksmen than him, but the gap wasn't this big.

What looks like a simple beer bottle smashing match now is actually a thought in Gan Xiaoning's mind: if he encountered such an opponent on the battlefield, he would be completely finished.

Before he could even aim, the enemy's bullet was already between his eyebrows.

Thinking of this, a fine layer of sweat appeared on Gan Xiaoning's forehead, not because of the heat, but because of fear.

The third wave also consisted of six beer bottles. This time, the four men made a slight improvement and fired, although the bullets missed.

Next, the whistling sound of beer bottles flying into the air and the cracking sound of bullets shattering the bottles continued incessantly. The soldiers who were throwing bottles no longer threw them up in waves, but in a continuous stream.

Cheng Cai and Wu Liuyi did not lower their guns again, and the sound of bullets rang out one after another.

However, after three or five shots, Gan Xiaoning turned to look at the two men in shock. Even with the contrast of the previous shots, he was still deeply impressed.

Ma Xiaoshuai and the other two sergeants didn't stop; the gunshots rang out continuously. Unfortunately, they were too slow. Each time, the bottle was already shattered before their bullets reached the bottle's original position.