NOVEL WEB Chapter 250: Chapter 250
The eight weeks of underwater training passed by quickly. Owen felt it had been the fastest phase since he arrived at the SEAL program—every day packed with new skills to learn.
Through constant repetition and mechanical drilling, all of it had become second nature. Faced with any situation, Owen could now react correctly without thinking—that was the whole point of the training.
After underwater training, the program transitioned immediately into the third phase of BUD/S—Land Warfare Training. This segment would last roughly 8 to 10 weeks and covered an immense array of topics.
Though similar to what Army special forces trained for, water-related elements were still ever-present. The training included intelligence gathering, long-range reconnaissance and patrol, demolitions, covert infiltration, sentinel elimination, basic weapons handling, hand-to-hand combat, vehicle operations, rope rappelling, helicopter insertion and extraction, night combat, counter-sniper tactics, building infiltration, and beachhead clearance.
Most of the training was conducted on San Clemente Island and at the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton. Much of the land combat demolition and assault training took place at night, with trainees averaging four hours of sleep a day.
San Clemente Island was harsh—rocky terrain, howling winds, and more than 80 miles off the Southern California coast.
To prepare for anything, SEALs taught trainees the small-team tactics essential for the field—how to handle explosives, penetrate enemy defenses, perform live captures (including control techniques), and deal with prisoners properly. Operators also had to be able to survive in extreme conditions and perform medical treatment (field medicine).
To pass SEAL training, one had to complete several long-distance swims—one of which was at night. And the ocean was home to countless creatures. During a swim, something might brush against you from the depths.
That was why theoretical courses were necessary. They had to be able to identify common marine species and know instantly whether something posed a threat.
During one night swim exercise, Owen's team encountered an emergency. San Clemente's coastal waters were a known breeding ground for great white sharks, and several of them began circling their group.
Following their classroom training, the team formed a tight, back-to-back circle, remaining perfectly still and alert. They vividly recalled the instructor's words: "If a shark starts circling, stay where you are. Don't swim off. Don't show fear. And if it charges you for a midnight snack—hit it as hard as you can in the nose. That's how you make it turn away."
Luckily, it was only a scare. The sharks eventually lost interest and swam off. Owen also remembered another quote from that same lesson: "There are many sharks in the world. If you want to finish the swim, you have to deal with them. If you want to change the world—don't back down from the sharks."
The first five weeks focused mainly on theory and basic coursework.
With blindfolds on and stopwatches ticking, trainees had to disassemble and reassemble all manner of firearms—handguns, rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles—domestic, foreign, American-made, Soviet-designed. They had to be fluent in all of them.
Their weapons instructor was surprisingly a woman—Val Kyrie, though everyone called her Valkyrie.
To Owen's knowledge, SEALs didn't recruit female trainees, and Valkyrie wasn't a combat operator. She seemed more like a technical specialist or support personnel.
But she had passed all SEAL qualifications. She also held the speed record for American weapon disassembly and reassembly at the Coronado Naval Base. Among thousands of elite personnel—including active-duty SEALs—when it came to American weapons, she was the fastest.
Valkyrie wasn't talkative. She liked smearing camo paint on her face and had full-sleeve tattoos of sharks on both arms.
Watching her strip and assemble weapons was mesmerizing—her hands fast and precise, like machine arms controlled by a computer. In just a few seconds, a weapon would be fully broken down before your eyes.
After enough practice, Owen became one of the best in this field as well—thanks to his "bullet time" ability, which let him cheat a bit. Still, he lost when he went head-to-head with Valkyrie.
Bullet time gave him speed, but not precision. In that, Valkyrie was unmatched.
The instructors weren't strict about weapon assembly—as long as you were competent. But marksmanship was another story entirely.
Every trainee had to fire thousands of rounds—shooting endlessly at 100, 200, 400 meters; pistol and rifle rapid-fire drills; moving target drills; and shooting while in motion. On and on.
Their firearms instructor was a grizzled SEAL known only by his callsign—Blackbeard. No one knew his real name, and no one asked.
He taught using standard SEAL equipment—the MK17 short-barrel assault rifle and the M9 pistol.
The MK17 was essentially a SCAR-H (heavy variant) produced by FN Herstal. The SCAR-L light variant was known in service as the MK16. After adoption by USSOCOM, the names were changed.
Trainees could freely choose their primary and secondary weapons—there were no strict restrictions. Special operations forces often fought behind enemy lines and couldn't always rely on national-standard weapons. They had to be proficient with all common models.
Most soldiers already had some shooting background. So Blackbeard focused on advanced tips—ways to improve hit rate and shooting speed. The rest was just practice and bullets.
There were no shortcuts. Every marksman was forged from mountains of spent brass—except maybe Owen.
The firing range was packed with activity. As top-tier recruits, they spared no expense on gear. In terms of training budget, SEALs outspent even the Marine Corps tenfold. Fewer operators meant higher priority—and virtually unlimited weapons procurement.
The entire class was going all-out, but to someone like Blackbeard, it was easy to tell the skilled from the average—just by listening to the rhythm of gunfire.
Owen quickly drew his attention.
Every shot he fired had a rhythm. Even just listening to the cadence, it was clear he wasn't a novice. His accuracy was also excellent—consistently landing within the 8-ring zone.
Firing quickly was easy. Firing quickly and accurately—that took years of training.
Blackbeard noticed, and so did the others. Owen became the standout of the shooting module. His unique techniques—keeping one bullet in the mag, single-handed reloads—soon had people asking for advice and copying him.
Some even started whispering that Owen might actually be a better shooter than Blackbeard himself. And they liked that—because Owen was a trainee, just like them. Blackbeard was an instructor. Having one of their own shine gave the class a sense of pride.
Blackbeard had no intention of challenging Owen, and Owen wasn't foolish enough to provoke him. But deep down, he was confident—if it ever came to a duel, he might not lose.
Still, Owen didn't get cocky. Many of Blackbeard's tips were genuinely useful—even for him.
Owen's tricks weren't unknown to the SEALs. They just didn't obsess over them like he did. They had too much to train for. Shooting was only one slice of their massive training pie.
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