Bahrain Samba Logging
Nie Long
The days of joining the army have gone with the wheel of time. The more than a thousand days and nights stationed at the border pass are neither long nor short. Memories have been torn apart. However, some experiences are difficult to forget for a lifetime, deep in the heart.
Among the comrades who participated in the logging was the comrades-in-arms
Mid-October 1984. It is late autumn in Yadong. The maple leaves that spread over the mountains stained Yadonggou red. The morning and evening weather is already mixed with a hint of coolness. Autumn in Yadong is also destined to be a sad season. In the season of retirement, many comrades-in-arms who have been in the army for several years are like swallows. The feathers are getting richer. Flapping his wings and flying south. Then integrate into society, self-reliance, multiplication. Completion of the rehabilitation process. Our company sent away 26 veterans at a time. That year, the company held a grand farewell ceremony. It is also dawn. The whole company's playground is assembled in line. The departing comrades and the comrades who stayed in the team shook hands and hugged warmly. At that moment there was a lot of crying. Even the drivers of the transport team and the people nearby were infected with tears. Farewell, my company, farewell to my comrades-in-arms! When the comrades who remained in the team were still immersed in the sad moment of parting, I was transferred by the company to the second platoon and the fifth shift as the squad leader. I haven't had time to familiarize myself with the situation in the class. The company received orders from the regiment to go to Bahrain Samba to cut firewood.
Veterans have left the team, and recruits have not been replenished. Except for leave to visit relatives and study. Only about 30 men remained in the company. The task assigned to us was 70 truckloads of firewood. It must be done before winter arrives. In this way, the company commander Hye Joon-hyun led more than twenty of us to ride to the Balin Samba Ravine. The logging site is about ten kilometers from Yadonggou. Primary forest at an altitude of about 3800 meters. Arrived at the logging ground. Build a temporary kitchen along the riverbank. Level the grass and set up a tent. The grass is full of white pupae. Pick up branches and lay the floor. Above that was our futon. More than a mile up the ravine flowing with the stream is the lumberyard. Our task was to cut down the waist-thick trees on the hillside, and then saw them into two or three meters long logs and carry them into the ditch. One by one, they threw themselves onto the highway.
Eat a meal of rice every morning. Vegetables are fried lotus white. At noon, when you don't go down the mountain, each person carries two steamed buns in his pants pocket for lunch. What kind of bun is that? And noodles do not ferment. Steam directly on the pressure cooker. Wait for the cold. It is as hard as a stone and has no boiling water, so it is difficult to swallow. Often in the evening down the mountain and brought back. Once I came down to the mountain. Captain Hui also teased me jokingly. Say you put the bun in your pants pocket. Can jier still eat when he fights around? My company commander is a man!
Winter comes quickly at high altitudes in Yadong. In early November the mountain had begun to freeze. Everyone works silently every day. The empty mountains occasionally hear the cries of the police falling down the mountain. Immerse yourself in hard work only to complete the task as soon as possible and go down the mountain. When the fallen trees are slowly gathered into the ravine. The weather is already relatively cold. It was only then that the real suffering began. The ravine stream was frozen and we didn't have rain boots. Only wearing liberation shoes stood in the cold water and lifted the wood down. A pair of gloves per person freezes hard once soaked in water. You can only hold your hands so that you don't freeze your fingers and gloves together. Eyes see mid-November. The nights get very cold. It wasn't cold when I went up the mountain. Comrades-in-arms basically did not wear cotton clothes and hats. In a thin tent. When sleeping, the coat covered with the quilt is still cold. The altitude is high and the air is thin. You can't cover your head with a quilt. You can't breathe at all. One of my comrades-in-arms in the tent was named Li Daiqiang. The head is really cold. Just wrap your head in a towel and go to sleep. That's funny and heart-wrenching. During construction. Unfortunately I had a cold due to the cold weather. The tonsils are so inflamed that they can't even swallow water. There were no anti-inflammatory drugs at the time. When I was thirsty, I would break a section of the ice skate hanging from the cliff and eat it like a popsicle. Two days later the tonsils actually got better! Young is good. Strong resistance! Is it that the stream on the mountain has an anti-inflammatory effect?
The company did not bring any vegetables with it when it went up the hill. I only brought some lotus white and dehydrated dried vegetables Bought from Shigatse. Every day is fried lotus white. So I discussed with the second shift leader, Yin Chenglin, to replace the cooking class. Find a way to improve your diet. Also let them go to the mountains to exercise. The two comrades in charge of the cooking class readily agreed. So the second squad leader and I decided to steam a bun for our comrades every day. In order to be able to make good noodles. I poured some vinegar into the noodles first. Then let it go outside and let the sun shine. Wait until it is up and put in the alkali noodles. I rolled out his bag. Talk as you go. During this time, I saw the Tibetan Ajia grazing on the mountain. We also asked each other if we wanted to go back to love and play friends? In unison: Think! Wait for your comrades to go down the mountain. The steaming buns are out of the basket. I clearly remember the happiness of my comrades-in-arms! Queues, must queue. Two per person. The next day it was made as it was. The buns are smoothly cooked. When the barometer rises to 1.2. I instructed Liu Gang, who had come from the sapper company to prepare for guerrilla warfare (that is, the people who walked around the cooking class to get something to eat before the troops did not have dinner) and prepared to come out of the pot. When his finger just touched the deflation valve. With a thud the pressure cooker lid flew up. The sudden explosion instantly knocked Liu Gang to the ground. The full pot of buns was all gone, filled with fillings and skins. Watching my comrades-in-arms coming down the mountain. Dinner was gone. We were in a hurry. I had to hurry up and make another face. Repack and find the pot lid on the roof of the tin house. But the pressure cooker has been damaged. Had to not bolt on. Steamed under atmospheric pressure. After our inspection, we found that the pressure cooker was used for a long time. Bolt deformation slips off as the air pressure increases. For this matter. The company commander scolded us fiercely. No further explanation will help. Naturally, rice cannot be made. The next day we went back up the hill. A few years ago, I met with the old company commander Hui Junxian. In advance, I reassured him that we didn't leave the kitchen and go out
Play makes the pressure cooker explode. He believed. Otherwise, you will have to carry the black pot for a lifetime. Hehe!
Hui Junxian, the company commander who led us to cut wood, and Liu Yong, the fourth squad leader
I remember one day it was suddenly cloudy. We hurried down the hill. Running and running goose feathers heavy snow came all over the sky. Can't open your eyes and can't see the road. Climb down the hill with a rolling belt. That bitter, can't say!
On the most dangerous occasion, early in the morning, I went up the hill to see that the wood in the ravine had frozen on the surface. I was stupid enough to wonder if I could drill into the wood pile and stare hard, maybe it would have the effect of a thousand horses rushing down. You don't have to pull it down one by one. So I went to the middle of the wood and pedaled with all my strength. The wood didn't move at all. Thankfully, the lines didn't move. Otherwise I'll be smashed flat by the logs that poured down. Fearful!
Fast forward to late November. The task is not yet complete. There are no supplies. The company commander asked our group of seven or eight comrades to go down the mountain and return to the company to carry the main food. The picked back line returned to the regimental headquarters and heard that the regimental auditorium played movies at night. So we discussed watching a movie and then going back to our place of residence. A movie ticket for five cents. At that time, the group began to sell tickets to watch movies. The film is called "Life" by Lu Yao's work. The love story of Gao Garin and Liu Qiaozhen is quite touching. So in the hazy moonlight. A group of several people walked and stopped in their mouths to imitate Qiaozhen's voice shouting Qiaozhen's voice, Qiaozhen! Wow, Qiaozhen! Shouts echoed through the mountains. Startled a few birds in the forest. Arrived at the place of residence at 12:00. The company commander didn't sleep waiting for us. Naturally, I was scolded again!
During the construction period, Liu Yong, the fourth squad leader who was very good with me, was notified to return to the mainland to visit his relatives. The boy was overjoyed. Watch as he slowly walks down the hill with his back. Suddenly, I don't know which tent radio Ula heard Dong Wenhua singing "Fifteen Moons". Strangely enough, it is generally difficult to hear the signals of national radio stations in East Asia. When Liu Yong left, the signal of the Tibetan Radio Station was unusually clear for a while. Fifteen moons, shining on the border in the hometown...
Fast forward to the end of November, and the mountain has reached a cold of more than ten degrees below zero. Every day we look forward to the day when the group will let us go down the mountain. Although the 70 truck mission is not yet complete.
Pan Ya Pan finally waited for the logistics staff to check the progress of the task. When he walked three steps and one toe to the middle of the mountain, he had not yet seen the firewood that had not yet been transported. Immediately notify the company commander to evacuate quickly. Perhaps the staff officer felt compassion when he saw the soldiers shivering in the cold wind. Later I heard gossip. The regiment was so busy with work that it forgot about the hundred artillery companies that were still logging on the mountain. I also heard that the soldiers of which company of the direct subordinate unit complained about the cold weather. The regiment leader said you have a hundred artillery companies cold on the mountain? Moved back to camp. I was physically and mentally exhausted at one point. So much so that stayed in the health team for a few days. And not long. Daunting construction tasks followed. Hit the cement bricks to start... In retrospect. The experience of the 1984 Samba logging in Bahrain. It was the hardest and hardest month of my life! Now that I think about it. What beliefs were supporting me at that time? The simple idea is that soldiers take obedience to orders as their duty. In the early 1980s, Tibet spent three years building border defense. The comrades-in-arms who participated in the meeting were really heroes who defended the frontier and built the frontier. Both soldiers and civilian workers in uniform. But I am also thankful for that experience, which made me understand bitterness better. After I retired from the army, I often wondered, can I still have the bitterness of Baring Samba logging? Helpless to have that ice sculpture of Bahrain Samba even helpless? Dong Wenhua's fifteenth moon was loud in his ears: the fifteenth moon shone on his hometown and shone on the border. Quiet nights you miss me and I miss... The prosperity of the motherland has your contribution and my contribution...
Returned to the company in 2020
(Note: The illustrations in this article are provided by the author.) ）
About the Author:
Nie Long is a native of Jingyang County, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province. He joined the army in November 1981 and served in the 82nd Unit of unit 56189 of the Tibet Military Region, successively serving as a soldier, deputy squad leader, and squad leader. During his service, he published works in the Battle Flag Newspaper of Chengdu Military Region. He is now a stomatologist in Jinghe New Town, Xixian New District, Shaanxi Province.
Author: Nie Long