Be a good lookout on the strategic mast -- Zhang Zebin, a staff officer of a certain bureau of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission

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On the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the Central Propaganda Department and the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission jointly released 12 "most beautiful revolutionary soldiers in the new era". They have firmly remembered their original mission, shouldered the heavy responsibility of strengthening the army, and made extraordinary achievements in ordinary posts, which is a typical example of the advanced youth emerging in the whole army units resolutely fulfilling the missions and tasks entrusted by the party and the people and striving to promote the cause of strengthening the military in the new era. From now on, this newspaper will set up a column entitled "The Most Beautiful Revolutionary Military Style in the New Era" to tell the story of the "most beautiful revolutionary soldier in the new era" of strengthening the army, to reflect in a concentrated way the people's army's bold loyalty in safeguarding the core and obeying the party's command, and to show the lofty style of the officers and men of the whole army in striving to strengthen the army and making meritorious contributions to their posts. Stay tuned!

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"As a staff officer of the Central Military Commission, you must not only study and work hard, but also think hard." Zhang Zebin, a staff officer of a certain bureau of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, often said: "We must closely follow the trend of new military changes in the world and strive to be a good observer on the strategic mast." ”

After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, he closely followed the changes in the situation, collected research materials, and organized re-examinations to "carry out research on battles at the speed of war." Not long ago, a core journal of military science recommended the research results of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict written by Zhang Zebin as the key article of the current issue.

At the beginning of a certain year, he saw a short message that the military of a certain country had organized a seminar on combat issues in a new field, and the full text was only 200 words.

With a peculiar sense of professional smell, he felt that there must be something hidden in it. Therefore, he tried to find relevant information, and through analysis and comparison, he found that this seminar may be just a blindfold, but in fact, the country has conducted a real-combat exercise around this new field.

At that time, domestic research in this field was just beginning, and there was little relevant accumulation. Zhang Zebin found a large number of foreign language materials, tracked and studied for more than half a year, and formed several research reports around such issues as "how to look at the present", "how to do in the future", and "how to build strength". Relevant opinions and suggestions soon entered the research and decision-making at the national and military levels, laying a foundation for our military to prepare for responses in related fields.

When Zhang Zebin was transferred to the central military commission, he was one of the youngest staff officers at that time. Although his position was not high, he quickly provoked a big beam and became the backbone of the training activity planning organization.

On one occasion, he allowed the Blue Side to conceal the evacuation of more than half of its troops under the initial conditions of the exercise, resulting in the Delay in achieving the Effect of the Red Side's Fire Strike. The commander of the Red Side approached the Director's Department and argued that such an exercise was unfair. Zhang Zebin quoted the latest military intelligence research results, analyzed from multiple angles such as the blue side's operational thinking and combat capabilities, and pointed out that such a situation is completely possible, and the commanders of the red side had to be convinced by one remark.

"The directorial department is the overall designer of the exercise and the promoter of the exercise war situation, and it must construct dangerous, difficult, and dangerous situations, increase the mental load of the trainees, and improve their planning and command capabilities." He wrote in a summary report submitted to his superiors. In that year, Zhang Zebin was awarded the second class merit for his outstanding performance in major training activities.

One year, Zhang Zebin went with the team to a certain direction to organize a joint training and appraisal in the theater, which was the first major test of the joint combat capability of the troops after the reform of the leadership and command system.

After 5 days and nights of high-intensity, fast-paced and continuous evaluation, the results show that they are all excellent participating troops in their own individual examinations, but their results are not satisfactory.

This result has a great impact on the evaluation team. After the evaluation was completed, the bureau quickly set up a research group to specifically tackle the problem of joint combat capability generation. During this period, Zhang Zebin organized five forums with experts from theaters, branches of the armed forces, and relevant academies and universities, went to the front-line units for investigation and investigation six times, and participated in the writing of the first draft of the "Outline of Joint Operations." After repeated demonstration and revision, at the end of 2020, the first "Outline of Joint Operations" of our army was officially promulgated, which effectively promoted the transformation of the joint operations of the whole army from "shape and alliance" to "god alliance".

To some extent, Zhang Zebin and his colleagues shoulder the heavy responsibility of studying and designing future wars and testing and training troops. Over the years, they have been constantly climbing new heights on the road of training mode innovation.

In recent years, Zhang Zebin has summed up the experience and practices of group training, and studied and proposed a new model of confrontation training of "command + real soldiers": no frame restrictions, completely independent confrontation, and fully stimulate the potential of commanders and troops.

At the beginning of a certain exercise, the key facilities of the Red Side were violently attacked by the Blue Side, accusing most of the facilities of disability. Although they tried every means to counterattack, they were still faced with the passive situation of being beaten by ships and planes, rising war losses, and losing control, forcing the Red side to seek a way to break the "enemy."

During the 60 hours of continuous fighting day and night, the red and blue sides fought hard and wits, and the initiative on the battlefield repeatedly changed hands, and the battle situation was extremely fierce. After the exercise, commanders on both sides said: "Real training can be obtained through real moves, and real confrontation units have been forced out of real ability." ”

At the beginning of one year, the preparations for the new annual training activities were in full swing. However, staff officer Yang Yang found that Zhang Zebin, who was in the same office, had a long time, and every night after overtime, he had to stay and play computer games for an hour or two. Yang Yang muttered in his heart: The exercise design task is so heavy, the work is so busy, and there is also the heart to play games, this does not seem to be Zhang Zebin's style.

At a business research meeting in the bureau, when everyone was discussing how to design the new annual exercise activities, Zhang Zebin opened his laptop, turned the screen to everyone and introduced: "This is called 'modern sea and air operation', which is a real-time strategy game launched by a company, and military academies in several countries use it as a simulation training platform. I have been thinking about it recently, and I think that the intelligent response function is of great reference significance for the development and application of our training system. Then, he gave a demonstration on the spot, and everyone agreed.

In this regard, the bureau leaders let Zhang Zebin take the lead in starting the project research, and the next year, the intelligent response module was loaded in the training system, which greatly improved the quality and efficiency of the group training.

In recent years, the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission has closely followed the evolution of the war pattern, focused on the preparation of strong enemies, and created a series of major training activities in the whole army, leading the whole army to achieve a new leap in the ability and level of fighting wars in the whole army.

Just when everyone felt that major training activities could go all the way along the current mature model, Zhang Zebin came up with a new idea: "We are the general organ for grasping war, and if we are all the same every year, it will be difficult for the whole army to make a big breakthrough in training." The bureau leader thought he had come up with the idea and encouraged him to come up with a new plan for the annual drills.

Zhang Zebin organized a team of more than 30 people, who were both directors and popular parties, and also played the blue side, and experienced each role several times. After more than 1 month of hard work, a new set of training models were put forward and put into practice in the major training activities of that year. During the review of the exercise, experts commented that cutting-edge technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence were injected into the training activities and became the "boosters" leading the transformation of the training system of the whole army.

"In recent years, we have focused on high-end warfare, aimed at strong opponents, and organized and implemented a series of major training activities." Zhang Zebin said.

In a certain year, a certain exercise activity of our army has completed the concentration of troops and will soon be fully launched. Suddenly, a certain country organized a large-scale live-fire exercise in front of our predetermined exercise area, and fighter planes frequently took off to conduct cross-line reconnaissance and harassment, and troops of multiple services launched actual combat deployment. Its commanders took a tough stance in the interview, their provocative intentions were obvious, and the regional security situation was suddenly tense.

Will the drill continue as planned, or will the programme be adjusted to avoid escalation? During the discussion, some comrades said: "Now that stability is the mainstay, I think we can still push back in time, and there is no need to stand up to the bull." Some comrades also said: "It can be adjusted to other regional organizations to prevent misjudgments and guns from being misplaced." In the face of this sudden situation, Zhang Zebin, who is responsible for the planning and design of the exercise, immediately launched a countermeasure strategy deduction with special squad personnel, and worked overtime to judge the direction of the situation.

Zhang Zebin and his comrades-in-arms analyzed the possible impact of various countermeasures, and then wrote in the special response report: "Avoidance will not make the opponent rational, and compromise cannot be exchanged for peace." It is recommended to strengthen the design of targeted drills and test and temper troops. ”

"Organize the drill as planned!" As soon as the report was approved, the drill activities were immediately launched, and the units participating in the exercise took the hands-on action as a real situation and prepared them for practical training, thus mobilizing their opponents, disrupting their rhythm and deployment, and achieving new results in the exercise.

China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Zheng Tian, correspondent Hu Andong, Li Qi

Source: China Youth Daily