Cheng Lin, who grew up by the sea, came to the Northwest Desert after graduating from the military academy with a master's degree.
From the sea to the "sand sea"
■ Hu Xiaoyu, special reporter of The People's Liberation Army Daily, and correspondent Xu Bowen
Sand sea.
The music starts and the lights focus.
Standing on the stage, time seemed to stand still, and Cheng Lin clearly heard her own heartbeat.
Receiving the golden trophy and enjoying the warm applause, the female platoon leader of the communications company from a command post of the Air Force of the Western Theater of Operations had an irrepressible excitement in her trance -- the first time she represented the team in the regulatory competition organized by the superiors, she won the glory of the collective.
In the past, she was a graduate student of the National University of Defense Technology, and she was a "student bully" in the eyes of her classmates. But when it came to the front-line troops, she could only start from scratch and learn from scratch. That night, Cheng Lin complained to her mother on the phone. Her mother's words made her heart a lot clearer: "If there is no effort, talent is useless." ”
This girl from her hometown by the sea is now guarding the distant northwest desert. Every time she dreamed, there would always be "gushing white waves" in her dreams. The sand sea and the sea are also endless, but in Cheng Lin's heart, they represent different directions.
It has been nearly 2 years since she came to the company, and Cheng Lin has experienced countless "firsts". She found that it was this sand-like countless "first", refining the appearance of her soldiers and connecting them into her military growth path.
- Editor
Cheng Lin (back row, first from the left) was with her comrades in the female platoon
"I would like to be a ziwei plant rooted in the desert"
Half dreaming and half waking, the plane has crossed thousands of mountains and rivers. Flying from the north of the Yellow Sea to the west-northwest, this is a route through the territory of China.
Through the porthole, overlooking the earth, Cheng Lin's vision ushered in a desolate, and her mood could not help but be a little heavy. Everything is not as easy as I thought when I was assigned a graduation.
The "post-90s" was born in Haiyang, Shandong Province, a small coastal town with a pleasant climate. At this moment, the Taklamakan Desert under the wing, known as the "Sea of Death", is dry and water-scarce, and one-third of the year is a windy and sandy day...
"Look ahead, do a good job!" On the eve of rushing to the northwest, her mother called Cheng Lin, and her words were both distressed and encouraging.
On the way to study, Cheng Lin has always been surrounded by luck: after graduating from high school, she was admitted to Beijing Institute of Technology with excellent results; after graduating from college, she was guaranteed to go to the National University of Defense Technology for graduate school with the first place in her major... Today, overlooking the desolation under the wing, this former "school bully" can't help but feel a little weak.
It wasn't until she arrived at the company that Cheng Lin's anxiety eased slightly.
Hearing that the new women's platoon leader had arrived, the officers and men greeted him warmly. Some helped her with her luggage, some guided her way, and some introduced her to the company. Walking into the dormitory, she suddenly felt a kind of home warmth...
"The desert is lonely and the sun is setting." Before coming, Cheng Lin had imagined this magnificent scene countless times. As she stepped into the company, she realized that the days that followed were by no means simply "poetry and distance." For all the search data in Taklamakan, she will test it one by one with her youth.
The communications company she was assigned to was a mixed company of men and women, responsible for the wired communications support of the garrison barracks. The work is repetitive and trivial, but the responsibility is great. Eating, living, training, laboring, and entertaining with her comrades-in-arms became her whole life.
Cheng Lin still clearly remembers the scene of the first 3 km run. The sun scorched the earth, and she endured the discomfort of the wind and sand sucking into her lungs, gritting her teeth and running forward. Sprinting to the finish line, the cheeks slipped down to make no difference whether it was sweat or tears.
The first time I talked to the soldiers, the recruits cried with her and complained about homesickness, she didn't know how to comfort her, but felt empathy, accompanied by the new recruits to cry together...
The road to study is smooth, how did you get to the company and not open your fists and feet? This rebellious girl with a rebellious feeling in her sensibility was overwhelmed for a moment.
Company Commander Zhang Wenjun looked into her eyes and talked to her about his personal experience. At this time, Cheng Lin learned that the company commander and her had a similar life trajectory - after graduating from the local university, enlisted in the army, and then assigned to the desert border pass, there was pain and confusion, but finally chose to face it strongly and grew up step by step.
The example stood in Cheng Lin's heart. She threw herself into the company and asked the company commander, instructors, and veterans for advice if she didn't understand. The first time in the barracks for the New Year, she and her comrades-in-arms stuck to their duty posts, pasted window flowers and dumplings with the soldiers, and laughed and laughed throughout the company.
The unit has just moved to a new camp, and the company has organized officers and men to green the environment. Cheng Lin and everyone turned over the sand, picked up stones, and planted saplings.
Female soldiers love flowers, and the officers and men of the whole company deliberately planted a row of ziwei in front of the dormitory building. As the sun sets, the light is like fire, and everyone takes pictures in front of the Ziwei tree despite their fatigue, and the smile blooms like a flower...
Cheng Lin likes Ziwei. Her hometown of Haiyang, Shandong, belongs to Yantai, and the flower of Yantai city is Ziwei. Thousands of miles away from home, she thought of home when she saw the Ziwei tree, and when she missed home, she looked at the Ziwei tree. "I would like to be a ziwei plant rooted in the desert." She said.
Cheng Lin's sunny smile.
"Every tear is a light,
The darkest places also became brighter."
Six months after Cheng Lin arrived at the company, the team organized a battlefield party. She was assigned to participate in a male and female vocal recitation program to tell the history of the red of the troops.
At the thought of standing in the spotlight and reciting with deep affection, the tension spread throughout Cheng Lin's body.
She sat in front of the window, and when she looked up, she caught a glimpse of the ziwei tree that she had planted herself. Seeing Ziwei's gratifying growth, Cheng Lin couldn't help but be a little moved: she didn't expect that Ziwei, which was leafy in her hometown, could grow warmly in the desert.
"Could it be that I have to lose to Ziwei?" Cheng Lin was no longer nervous. She plunged into the history of the army, and was soon deeply attracted by the brilliant course of the team and the fighting spirit of her predecessors.
"More than 50 years ago, a command post of the Air Force stationed in Xinjiang sent 18 warriors up the mountain to pioneer the wilderness and build the world's highest artificial weather navigation station - the Hongqiraf Meteorological Navigation Station - in the forbidden area of life..."
Reading this text, Cheng Lin felt that there was a kind of power that stirred in her heart through time and space.
At the scene of the party, the team's historical images were displayed frame by frame on the background screen, and Cheng Lin clutched the microphone and emotionally told the history of the song and tears.
"Suffering for pleasure, nameless dedication, and the airwaves that never disappear are our lifelong pursuits"... These company training company logos posted in the corridors of the company had to pass through many times a day before, thinking that they were just slogans. At this time, Cheng Lin truly felt the mission, responsibility and glory contained in the post.
She began to devote herself to business, management, and quality. Performing the exercise support task, she stood in the machine room and fought with the combat service personnel, and one order after another instructed them to pass to the battlefield through the communication lines they had set up; the female soldiers had ideological problems, and she was as close to care and patient as the company commander and the instructor cared about herself; in the case of a business competition, she and her comrades-in-arms reviewed and tackled the key problems together...
2020, for Cheng Lin, is a sea of growth and frustration.
Because of the distance and the barrier of mountains and rivers, she broke up with her boyfriend who had been in love for many years. She adapted strongly to the side of life, but also digested tears and pain.
Desert nights, often windy, the temperature plummeted, because with the company of comrades-in-arms, those cold nights became warm and tender.
Fast forward to the end of the year, Cheng Lin had a dream on a snowy night: she sat next to her grandmother and peeled walnuts for the old man to eat. Her grandmother, who loved her the most, touched her head and asked her if she was happy or not in the army, how she worked.
She woke up and looked at her watch, at 4:30 a.m. She could no longer sleep, and on the phone a week ago her mother said that her grandmother, who had been bedridden for many years, was not in good health.
Finally staying up until dawn, Cheng Lin hurriedly dialed her mother's phone. Her mother told her with tears: "Grandma has passed away. I can only see my grandmother in my dreams..."
Cheng Lin's heart was like a knife, and she couldn't cry. On that day, coinciding with the year-end communications business assessment of the troops, she served as an invigilator. She tried to calm her mood, but she couldn't hold back the tears...
"Every tear is a light, and the darkest places become bright." At the end of last year, Cheng Lin was commended by the General Order for her outstanding work achievements.
Gazing at Ziwei who stood proudly in front of the barracks, she worked hard to absorb the strength in her bones, and strengthened her choices and dreams.
During the Dragon Boat Festival, Cheng Lin posted dinner in the WeChat circle of friends.
"Only desolate desert, no desolate life"
Children who grew up by the sea have a special love for catching the sea from an early age.
The desert wind is not as wet as the sea breeze, but the sand sea has the vastness and magnificence of the sea. Sometimes, when the wind blows and the yellow sand rolls, Cheng Lin will think of the fishy smell of the sea breeze and the joy of catching the sea with her parents.
The professional progress of the telephone service is obvious, the single release time of the recruits is several months earlier than in previous years, and the level of internal affairs of the female soldier platoon is among the best... In the desert years, Cheng Lin worked hard and grew all the way, and from time to time she would announce good news to her family, just like the joyful harvest on the sea road. She slowly realized the transformation of cadets into officers of the army, and her work became more and more handy, and praise and praise poured in.
One day, Zibigu, a female Uyghur soldier of the company, handed her a note with a red face.
Cheng Lin unfolded the note, and a line of handwriting came into view: "Platoon leader, before dinner last night, you were in the hall, I was in the duty room, and when you looked at me and smiled, I thought you were particularly cute." I hope you are happy every day. ”
At that moment, her heart was filled with the warmth of the desert sun, and she felt closer to the hearts of sisters of various nationalities from all over the world, and closer to the border military camp.
Time flows like water. When she first arrived at the border, she had no equipment, no data, and no need to revise her papers, which made her feel uncomfortable. Now she finds that every day she comes here is a grind, and it makes her youth bloom hotly.
The communication battalion set up a soldier examination training team, and Cheng Lin served as an instructor. She gave full play to her own advantages, compared with previous years to review the main points, sorted out and summarized the knowledge system, and taught and counseled the soldiers preparing for the exam. In the end, all the comrades who applied for the non-commissioned officer school were admitted to the military school.
The team distributed new communication equipment, the superior business department organized the operation training, and Cheng Lin took the initiative to invite Miao to participate. She explored and worked together with technical personnel and combat backbones to solve problems, and found out the "temperament" of the equipment.
The team selection staff participated in the rules and regulations knowledge contest organized by the superior, she participated as a seed player, repeatedly rehearsed with her teammates, passed five levels and six generals on the competition field, and won the second place trophy for the team...
"There is only a desolate desert, no desolate life." Cheng Lin had seen a slogan standing in the Taklamakan Desert and felt that she had spoken her heart. It was in her youth, learning was endless, and she was afraid of failing to live up to her golden years.
In the autumn of last year, the business department of the organ advanced a number of tasks, and she was transferred to participate. The first time she was exposed to a new business, she felt that she could not start.
When she was anxious, she thought that Zhou Bo, the commander of the communication battalion, was an experienced veteran institution, so she dialed the phone to ask for advice. The battalion commander, who was leading the troops on a mission in the plateau, patiently and meticulously passed on her experience, teaching methods, and rational ideas.
The battalion commander's words made Cheng Lin warm and moved: "I have two daughters, and you are also someone else's daughter." From your father's point of view, I hope you are happy and make progress every day. ”
In the Taklamakan Desert, Uyghur means "you can't go in and out", but Cheng Lin gradually feels that the "Sea of Death" is actually the "Sea of Hope".
Not long ago, Cheng Lin was adjusted from the women's platoon to the communication battalion repair station as an assistant engineer.
In early summer, she was ordered to participate in the communications staff training organized by the Air Force of the Western Theater. The use of communication equipment, the preparation of operational documents, the formulation of action plans... Cheng Lin was hungry and thirsty, studying hard one by one.
From the sea to the "sand sea", in the past two years, the belief in Cheng Lin's heart has become more and more firm: go, go to ride the wind and waves, the most beautiful scenery in life is the calm and calm in the heart.
In Cheng Lin's eyes, the back of the comrades-in-arms was the most beautiful.
On June 20, female soldiers had a video call with Cheng Lin, who was on vacation at home.
(This article was published in the 11th edition of the People's Liberation Army Daily on June 21, 2021)
Source: China Military Network