The "Warrior Star" is shining! In this way, they brought into play the power of self-education of officers and men

Source: Learning Corps, PLA News and Communication Center, Media Integration Author: Jia Feng, Ma Changjian, Zhou Yuan

In the cold winter month, Zhang Tao, a senior soldier of the "Dagong Three Companies" of a certain brigade of the 83rd Group Army, as a guest, was photographed on the "Soldiers Say Military Affairs" column of the brigade's television station and became a "soldier star" around his comrades-in-arms.

"I insist on using my spare time to deepen my medical knowledge and apply what I have learned to my work life. In view of the muscle and joint injuries that are easy to appear in training, I have compiled a set of Chinese gymnastics and massage therapies to help comrades relieve training pains..." In the program, Zhang Tao told his story.

Zhang Tao was born in a family of traditional Chinese medicine, and has learned and mastered a lot of traditional Chinese medicine knowledge since childhood. In 2020, Zhang Tao enlisted in the army after graduating from university and became a soldier in the brigade's "Three Companies of Great Merit". The training tasks of the recruit company were heavy and the management was strict, and Zhang Tao once felt uncomfortable.

Last year, the brigade set off an upsurge in the study and education of party history, and Yang Yancun, a sergeant of the Fourth Company of The Fourth Company, appeared on camera as a "star of study" in the column "Soldiers Talk About Military Affairs" just established on the brigade television station. The Red Army's Long March perseverance, the five strong morale of the Wolf's Tooth Mountain, the seventeen warriors of the Dadu River, the bloody charge... Yang Yancun gave full play to the specialty of drawing sand paintings, integrated classic battle examples and heroic figures into his sand painting works, and told the story of party history vividly and profoundly, which was welcomed by his comrades-in-arms.

"Drawing line drawings, copying, drawing sand paintings, each step must be repeatedly polished, and each frame of the picture is carefully recorded with the camera." In the interview of the program, Yang Yancun shared his harvest of using his spare time to learn sand painting creation.

Soldiers talk about military affairs and talk about their experiences. A seemingly ordinary interview made Zhang Tao deeply inspired and inspired. "I didn't expect that my spare time could be so fulfilling!" Since then, Zhang Tao has decided to cherish his military time and make a difference, and strive to be a guest of the "Soldiers Talk About Military Affairs" column like Yang Yancun.

Kung Fu pays off. After unremitting efforts, Zhang Tao became a "part-time hygienist" of the company. In addition to training, he was able to prevent and treat training wounds for his comrades-in-arms, which was widely praised. Nowadays, Zhang Tao not only appeared in the column "Soldiers Talk About Military Affairs" as he wished, but also compiled the common training injury prevention and treatment methods summarized in the process of serving his comrades-in-arms in a book. He told reporters: "Next, I want to come up with a book on this subject." ”

"Education is one tree shaking another tree, one cloud pushing another cloud, one soul awakening another soul." According to the leaders of the brigade, Zhang Tao's experience made them realize that the self-education of officers and men contains tremendous strength and has a unique and irreplaceable role.

Subsequently, centering on practicing the mass line of ideological and political education and highlighting the status of officers and men as the main body, the brigade organized and carried out a series of mass self-education activities: Relying on the brigade television station's column "Soldiers Talk About Military Affairs", the brigade built a platform for officers and men to display themselves; it regularly carried out keynote speeches on "Telling Stories of Struggle and Being New People of the Times" and story meetings on strengthening the army; officers and men were encouraged to tell the stories of struggle around them through cultural works, and regularly uploaded outstanding works to the Qiangjun Network, and simultaneously broadcast them on the electronic screens of the battalion company.

Recently, the micro-video "Feng Fei's Day" has spread throughout the brigade. The protagonist, Feng Fei, the head of the cooking squad of the brigade's first battalion, has worked in the cook's post for many years, without vigorous deeds and shining military merit badges, but his diligence and dedication are admired by his comrades-in-arms around him.

This micro-video shows Feng Fei's ordinary day: from getting up early in the morning to lead the cooking class to cook for the officers and men of the company, to formulating recipes and checking the food samples... "He has insisted on the stove for more than ten years and silently dedicated, working meticulously without complaint, like an ordinary but affectionate song. The narration of the micro-video speaks to the hearts of the comrades-in-arms.

"My position is similar to that of Captain Feng, most of the work I do is behind the scenes, and most of the efforts that need to be made are unknown. I also want to be like him, based on the post, silent dedication, in the ordinary post to do extraordinary results! Feng Fei's story touched Sergeant Lan Caixing. Since serving as a company communications technician, he has overcome difficulties and worked hard to effectively ensure the integrity of the company's communication equipment and provide a strong guarantee for the company's professional training in communications.

With the continuous deepening of the mass self-education activities, the unknown shining points of many officers and men of the brigade have been extensively discovered, and more and more strivers have come from behind the scenes to the front of the stage, and a large number of "soldier stars" have emerged. Through the activities, many officers and men have found examples for themselves to learn from; their conviction of taking root in the grass-roots units and working hard to make achievements has become firmer; a number of professional backbone cadres and technical experts have come to the fore; and the brigade's ideological and political education work has formed a vivid situation in which "everyone is the protagonist, everywhere is educated, and there are gains from time to time."

Short comments

Give play to the power of self-education among officers and men

■ Zhou Yuan

The literal meaning of "self-education" is that the educated educate themselves, and the essence is to inspire and mobilize the initiative and enthusiasm of the educated, and to stimulate their internal motivation to be positive and take the initiative. To achieve good results in ideological and political education, it is inseparable from the exertion of the subjective initiative of officers and men and the mobilization of their internal enthusiasm.

Fundamentally speaking, ideological and political education is the work of doing people's work. Mobilizing officers and men to engage in education is a concrete application of the party's mass line in ideological and political education work, and is also a successful experience and fine tradition of our army in carrying out ideological and political education. Only by finding ways to enhance the vitality of officers and men's self-education and stimulate the motivation of officers and men to take the initiative to participate can we give full play to the main role of officers and men in education and achieve the effect of doubling the results with half the effort.

In the new era, officers and men have a high level of knowledge, extensive social experience, strong ability and quality, and have the characteristics of active thinking, extensive interest, and outstanding personality. How to teach according to one's aptitude and arouse the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of officers and men in participating in education has a bearing on the implementation of the mass line and on the effectiveness of ideological and political education. A certain brigade of the 83rd Group Army respects the main position and pioneering spirit of officers and men, takes the initiative and has the courage to innovate, let officers and men sing the protagonist, let the spirit of the strivers infect more people, let the stories of the devotees touch the people around them, and make education better play its role in shaping the soul and enlightening the mind.

(Produced by the Media of the Learning Corps and the People's Liberation Army News and Communication Center)