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Days had passed by without any conflict. However, Katrina was not one to stand idly by when there was nothing to do. In her off time she would train her usual routine. Fire and maneuver, she was never one to stay in one place, in fact, staying in one place may doom one to their fate if they choose to do so at the wrong time. She practiced firing, moving, and reloading whenever she could – she would’ve done the same thing today, but Thanh was training a few new faces at the range, which prevented her from doing so. Watching them gave her time to think of when she was trained in the same fashion.
The year was 1942, Manila had just fallen and Katrina and her family were fleeing north of the city into the mountains and jungles. The guerrilla movement was starting to heat up and the American forces were forced to train more volunteers. Katrina was too young to join USAFFE at the time, not to mention that USAFFE only took men. She had no choice but to join the guerrillas. In an interest to give the Filipino guerrillas a fighting chance, USAFFE command gave them a man who could teach them how to use the weapons that were supplied to them as well as basic infantry tactics. His name was James Leonard; he was proficient in the local language and was quite sympathetic to the Filipino struggles.
He had little time and little resources to turn the would-be rebellion against the Japanese into proper fighting men. He felt that the young ones and the women didn’t need to fight – Katrina’s mother felt the same way. However, Katrina felt that if at least she could come back with some experience in fighting, she could defend her family like her father intended to. Her brother – Rizalino understood his sister’s choice and soon enough even their mother agreed to let her go.
Under sergeant James careful instruction, Katrina and the other Guerrillas would be studying, learning, and familiarizing themselves with basic maneuvers and light infantry tactics. USAFFE also supplied the rebels with surplus weapons if needed. He treated them with intense respect and at times acted as if this was more than just a job for him; he went above and beyond to give the group as much time as was available to him to train them. Katrina saw James as if he were a second father and at every turn when she needed his advice and guidance he was there.
Katrina noticed the young men Thanh was training and walked up to them. She eyed their technique and watched their shots with shots landing on and off the mark. She knelt down next to one particular young man who was struggling with his task and said,
”Reload…”, the man looked at her confused, someone else was training them just a few moments earlier,
”I’m just doing what I was taught to do, I-I don’t understand why I-“ his explanation wasn’t necessary – Katrina hushed him and repeated herself,
”Reload I said." The man reloaded his weapon, an SMG – the Russian PPSH if she wasn’t mistaken,
”Alright, I’ll teach you the way I was taught." The day she first learned to use a rifle was one she could not forget. She too was having trouble hitting her marks. James noticed her determination to learn, staying in the range using up training ammunition in the process. James knelt down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder,
”Alright Kat, I can’t have you wasting the training ammunition that’s reserved for the others." She was surprised at first - she was so focused on trying to do well that she completely forgot about her surroundings. James gave her a look and lectured her a little,
"Surprised huh? You gotta be careful out there, be alert, it's not just you who's gonna be in danger." He let out a sigh, and got back to what he was suppose to help her with.
”Alright listen up Kat, breathe deep and relax – pull the trigger until you feel resistance, DO NOT FIRE…” Katrina pulled slightly till she found resistance,
”You feel it?" She nodded to signal that she did,
”That’s called slack, always feel that before firing. Now aim and squeeze the trigger.” Katrina wasn’t sure what James meant by 'squeeze the trigger' and asked him about it,
”What do you mean by squeeze the trigger? Do you mean for me to just open fire?" James understood why she was confused, he took her right hand in his and explained,
"Squeeze from all sides, it gives you a bit more control when you fire..." Katrina understood what he meant with his demonstration and put it into practice. She remembered to breath normally; relax herself as she aimed at her target, feel the slack, and squeezed the trigger. When the gun went off she found she had hit her mark exactly where she was aiming,
"Thank you sir!" James looked at her and remembered how old she was and said,
"We call it B.R.A.S.S - Breathe, Relax, Aim, Slack, Squeeze. I sincerely hope you'd never need to use it..." She watched James start walking only to pause once he had stepped away five paces to glance back at her,
"Except, maybe use it to teach the others, they need it too - plus I need an extra hand."Katrina used this memory to help this struggling soldier,
"Alright, I'm hoping you understand my English well enough - now pull on the trigger until you feel a bit of resistance. Stop at that point, don't fire your weapon." He kept quiet and followed her orders,
"Alright that's called slack, I want you to aim and just breathe - breathe normally, relax and calm yourself." the man took deep breaths and mellowed down, visibly loosening up,
"Now, I want you to squeeze the trigger with your whole hand as if you were trying to hold on to something - don't worry about the recoil, let it flow and remember short bursts." when the recruit squeezed three shots rang out and he took a look, his shots grouped around where he wanted to shoot. Katrina gave the man a pat on the back,
"Good, that's better than before." She concluded the lesson with an order,
"Continue practicing, once you get it down I want you to help anyone else who's struggling - The technique is called B.R.A.S.S., Breathe, Relax, Aim, Slack, Squeeze. Never forget it. Keep in mind that you still have to handle your weapon correctly, push the stock against your shoulders and make sure it's secure, it'll keep your weapon stable when firing. When standing or crouched, make sure your stance is stable cause your weapon can and will knock you off balance if you get complacent." The recruit nodded indicating he understood and took note of everything. With that done she stood up and walked to her quarters, she paused and glanced back at him as she got to her fifth pace at the sound of gunfire. She saw the recruit putting her words into action as he tried out different stances to practice stabling himself while firing. When the recruit turned his head to notice her, he saw her ever encouraging smile. Katrina knew he was doing well and continued her way to her quarters.
She passed by Thanh to say hello and wished him well with his training before continuing on. She'd rather study up for the mission ahead instead of taking the time to talk to already busy people. Once she was at her quarters she brought out a map and their briefing papers she eyed it and studied its supposed terrain - more jungle. Burma was where their next deployment would be, she had a sneaking suspicion that the Japanese or their puppet conscripts would make an appearance to hinder them wherever possible. However, that was just her paranoia speaking, they may face some other threat, but she worried for the young men she and Thanh helped train. Would they be able to face the Japanese without faltering? She sat quietly in her room pondering this question, knowing that the people she had just spoken to may end up facing the Japanese soon enough and may not return. She feared a similar fate for those who have just come from the fighting in Europe, the Japanese and their puppets are different from their European allies - more ferocious she'd say; more like animals.
She shook herself back to reality and went on to prepare. She sharpened her bolo knife, her bayonet, and made sure her pouches were loaded with ammunition and rations - a routine she has been doing for quite some time. She decided to use the S.M.L.E rifles available for them in the Matupi Headquarters armory and familiarized herself accordingly during the passing days. The S.M.L.E. was a different beast to what she was used to, the action was different in many ways and her accuracy improved quite a bit once she learned that she could keep her eye on the sight as the bolt pull wouldn't actually hit her face - it was rather impressive really. After she prepared her things, she added another piece to her collection of her own artworks - a scene of men training for battle, still hopeful and fresh, drawn with just a regular pencil and shaded carefully with charcoal. She now understood why James said he hoped she'd never have the need to use B.R.A.S.S.
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