In the 80s of the last century, I was just sent to the barracks by my parents as an adult.
Due to my outstanding performance, I was promoted to the position of deputy battalion commander after only 9 years in the army.
This content is a short fictional story, please watch it rationally, if there is any similarity, it is purely a coincidence
Once, the battalion organized training and asked me to take the recruits to learn how to throw grenades.
I remember very clearly, because the armorer was also a newcomer, and he had a crescent-shaped birthmark on the left side of his forehead, and we all called him "Bao Qingtian".
He does things, the least worry-free, loses three or four all day long, and pits his teammates first.
The night before, I told him: "I need a total of 20 grenades to prepare for tomorrow's training." ”
"Okay, deputy battalion commander!" the kid said yes quickly, but he turned around and left the kettle in my office.
"Take your stuff away!"
I was a little impatient at the time, and I always brought new recruits in those days, and I lost my temper easily, but I didn't mean to target him.
I arranged everything, didn't think about it that much, and went to bed early.
The next morning, the barracks whistled, and I took the recruits to the training grounds.
It stands to reason that the first practice of throwing grenades is to use a fake imitation projectile.
Simulated shells are safer, and they are not filled with gunpowder, so you don't have to worry about novices making mistakes due to nervousness.
However, next month, the troops will arrange a military competition, and in order to carry out the following projects normally, they have no choice but to speed up the pace of training.
Before the training started, I noticed a strange phenomenon.
The armoryman had a very ugly face last night, perhaps because I had lost my temper at him, and I had been thinking about it.
The armorer wasn't from our team, he was only responsible for handing over the grenades to our squad, and he didn't even look at me when he handed them over.
At the beginning of the live ammunition throwing, I gave the recruits a brief introduction to the precautions for handling grenades.
They had never touched a grenade before, so everyone listened very carefully.
In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, fire extinguishers and large earthen pits are specially prepared on site, in case any pig teammate slips his hand, he can hide in the pit.
As is customary, I first pulled a grenade to demonstrate to the recruits how to easily throw the grenade to a target point outside the low wall.
This is to tell the recruits that grenades are not as scary as they think.
As long as you overcome your psychological fears, it's basically the same as throwing a stone.
"Zhao Tiezhu!"
"Here!"
The recruits came out of the ranks, and I took out two grenades from the wooden box and handed one to the recruits.
I pulled the pin open and held the fuse tightly so he could learn how to throw.
It should be explained here that offensive grenades are generally used in troop training.
Despite the loud explosion, there was no shrapnel and the damage range was less than 5 meters, which was relatively safer.
After the pin is unplugged, the fuse will bounce off, and then hit the fuse, which will explode after 3~4 seconds.
Theoretically, as long as the grenade fuse is held tightly, the fuse will not ignite and the grenade will not explode.
I have even seen experienced veterans insert the pin back as it is, which requires a certain amount of guts.
And the lesson of grenades is precisely to exercise the courage of recruits, and it is too important for soldiers to have strong psychological qualities.
So, like the other instructors, I asked the recruits to hold the safety sheet while explaining the action of throwing mines.
That's when the unexpected happened.
After the recruit opened the safety pin, the grenade actually emitted a wisp of white smoke and made a "hiss~" sound.
I realized that it was the fuse that ignited, and this should not have happened.
Without further ado, I wanted to grab his grenade quickly, but the recruit was nervous and scared, and pinched it even tighter.
In order to save my life, I instinctively jumped into the sand pit and heard a loud "bang" behind me.
Immediately afterward, the slag splattered everywhere, and a strong smell of gunpowder wafted over.
I heard the grenade crunching scream, and the soldiers were all stupefied and didn't know what to do.
After a long pause, I slowly crawled out.
However, the scene in front of me almost made me vomit the overnight meal, and I had a nightmare for half a year.
The soldier's arm was blasted open, half of the snow-white bone was exposed, and the scene was in shambles.
I quickly dialed the unit's rescue number, and soon a military vehicle drove over and picked up the child.
After the incident, I was subjected to several rounds of investigation, and the post of deputy battalion commander was temporarily suspended.
The final investigation revealed that the quality of the grenades was substandard and that the fuse was abnormally ignited, and the grenades exploded unexpectedly.
The poor soldier saved his life, but was left with a lifelong disability and returned home to recuperate.
Because of this accident, a senior official was also implicated, first punished, and later dismissed from his position.
Although the responsibility was not on me, the army still made me do a review, and everyone used me as a negative teaching material.
It didn't take long for the matter to settle down, and everyone, as usual, began to busy with the new life of the troops.
This incident has become a psychological shadow for my whole life, lying in bed at night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
"How can there be a quality problem with the grenade, a veteran who has been in the army for more than 20 years has never encountered such a rare thing, it's really unlucky!" I whispered to myself.
After thinking about it, I think someone must have done something, and the armorer is the most suspicious.
Taking advantage of the weekend break, I found the handover book in the office, which recorded the names of the ordnance officers.
It turned out that his name was Sun Cannon, who had just arrived in the army for two months, and was a logistics officer in the battalion next door.
In order to find out the reason for this incident, I went to his unit, but I couldn't find anyone after looking around.
Later, the personnel officer told me that shortly after the grenade accident, he left the unit through the back door and was never heard from again.
It is important to know that recruits must have completed two years in the army before they can be transferred, unless they are physically present or forcibly disarmed by the staff.
It was unusual for him to leave in such an unknown way, but there was no conclusive evidence that he had done something on the grenade.
After about five or six years, when my children reached school age, I decided to retire from the army and spend more time with my family, so I could change to a new environment.
Of course, I was not idle, and found a job near my child's school, although the salary was not high, but it was more convenient to pick up and drop off my children.
That company is in charge of property, and it is usually very leisurely, and it is only a few days a month at most.
As a result, I have a lot of time to do what I love to do.
One day, an urgent task came from the bureau and I was asked to organize an all-staff networking event.
It was a great opportunity to show off and I decided to make a big splash so that my colleagues would remember me as a newcomer.
So, I started planning this special sorority and invited various departments to participate.
As soon as the event was announced, it immediately caused a commotion.
Colleagues in the bureau formed teams one after another and began to busily put up lights and prepare various creative programs.
During the preparatory process, I often consulted with the Deputy Commissioner to seek his advice.
Whenever he looked at my enthusiastic expression, he always showed a puzzled smile.
The deputy director is a mature middle-aged man, who has long since gotten rid of that naïve and immature temperament.
I thought that I must make this event an unforgettable feast and create an atmosphere of "Little Spring Festival Gala".
On the day of the event, the scene was very lively, and each colleague carefully prepared the program he was best at.
My group, on the other hand, put on a hilarious nonsensical sketch that made everyone laugh when it imitated various obsolete ordnance.
Just when everyone thought that the event had reached its climax, I suddenly announced a mysterious link: the director and the deputy director of the bureau went into battle in person.
Suddenly, the audience was in an uproar, and everyone speculated about what kind of bizarre show this was.
The director and deputy director of the audience were also at a loss, and the two looked at each other for a while and made a "spread hands" action.
Seeing the two directors squirming and pinching, their colleagues began to coax, making it impossible to get off the stage.
In desperation, they walked onto the stage and put on bulky old military uniforms as instructed by the host.
In order to hide their embarrassment, the directors also picked up ordnance props and made funny gestures.
But the deputy director was dumbfounded when he came to power, because one of the props was a grenade, and it looked very realistic.
For the audience in the audience, this must be a fake grenade, after all, real grenades are not accessible to ordinary people.
The props team explained that the two directors were asked to pull out the pins at the same time and throw them into the sky.
The chief quickly did so, and the grenade exploded in the air, and the sky was covered with beautiful colored paper.
However, the deputy director's movements were half a beat slower, and it could be seen that he was afraid that the grenade would injure himself by mistake.
The deputy director didn't want to ruin the fun, so he threw the grenade out with fear in his heart, and covered his ears tightly.
Seeing the two directors in front of everyone in such a state, the laughter in the audience was even more endless, and some people rolled on the ground with laughter.
After the whole event, I had a new nickname called "Contemporary Chaplin".
And the deputy director also showed a more cordial side to his colleagues because of this performance on stage, and the working atmosphere was obviously much more relaxed than before.
Since then, I have successfully become a legend of the unit, and all my colleagues in the unit know my name.
The relationship between me and the deputy commissioner has also become more cordial, and he gave me a thumbs up after the event.
"I didn't expect you to be a troublemaker!
But no one knew that the "director interaction" part of the sorority that night was actually deliberately arranged by me.
I just want to recall the old armourer, who doesn't recognize me now, but I knew him all back then.
He was the same armorer who killed me, and he had a crescent-shaped birthmark on the left side of his forehead, which was a sign of iron.
After the sorority, I did not let go of my suspicions about the old ordnance officer Sun Cannon.
I certainly knew that this seemingly hilarious interactive session might evoke memories for him.
As the days passed, my work became easier at the workplace, and my colleagues appreciated me even more.
In my spare time, I am also quietly investigating the true face of Sun Dacang.
I found that there were many problems with Sun Dacang's style in the bureau, including suspected corruption, favoritism, etc.
It seems that the reason for his departure from the army was not as simple as I initially suspected.
To confront him face-to-face, I reached out to my military colleagues who had been in contact with him and got more information from them.
So, I decided to go to him personally and say that I wanted to find out the truth about the grenade incident that year.
That night, I deliberately worked late and waited until the rest of the staff had gone home from work, and I quietly walked into the deputy director's office.
As the deputy director, Sun Dacang is leisurely all day long, he makes a reclining chair in the office, and usually closes his eyes on it to recuperate.
"Sun Cannon, is that you?" I walked up and said straight to the point.
He looked me up and down suspiciously, then nodded, "Well, I am, you...... How did you know my real name?"
"I was the deputy commander of the barracks back then, and we had an unpleasant experience. I pretended to be light-hearted.
He narrowed his eyes, as if remembering something, and after a moment, his face suddenly became very unnatural.
"Ah, you were the deputy battalion commander at that time. He stammered.
"Yes, I am. I've always been haunted by the grenade incident and wanted to get to the bottom of it. ”
Sun Cannon was silent for a moment, and then sighed: "I'm really sorry for that incident." It was a lot more complicated than you might think. ”
I motioned for him to sit down on the couch and asked, "What the hell is going on? I almost went to jail that year!"
He was silent for a moment, and then told the whole story from beginning to end.
When he joined the army that year, he was actually instructed by someone to bring down our team so that we could catch up.
He knew that I was the deputy battalion commander, so he tried every means to cause an accident and put the blame on the senior officer in charge of the ordnance.
I have to say that Sun Cannon's mission went very smoothly, and it didn't take long for the ordnance officer to be punished and his position was not guaranteed.
However, the mastermind behind the grenade incident was promoted early, filling the gap in this position.
Sun Dacang admitted that he had moved his hands and feet in the grenade back then, and a normal grenade would not have such a strange explosion.
However, he did not expect that the consequences of the accident went far beyond what was originally planned, and the soldier lost half of his arm.
He felt guilty about this, and fearing that he would be implicated, had to call on his connections and leave the army in a hurry.
As for why Sun Dacang later became the deputy director, it also relied on the relationship between his family and his handle as an ordnance officer.
Sun Cannon said to me with a look of grievance: "I really regret that incident, I was also forced, and now I also live an ordinary life, and I really want to forget that past." ”
After listening to his explanation, I had mixed feelings in my heart, and I had a feeling that I couldn't put it into words.
It turned out that it was not entirely his fault, he was also a pawn to be used.
From that moment on, it occurred to me that each of us has a difficult time.
Perhaps, the past grievances should really be put aside, life still has to look forward, and let the past pass.
Sun Dacang and I sat together and began to talk about the life of the army, and while talking and laughing, it seemed that all the unpleasantness had disappeared.
When leaving, Sun Dacang looked at me and said, "I'm sorry, I hurt you back then and made you suffer." ”
I shook my head: "That was all in the past, and we had no choice then. ”
I walked out of Sun Dacang's office, and a stone in my heart was finally put down.
Perhaps, forgiveness is not so difficult, as long as you treat each other sincerely, there is no contradiction in the world that cannot be resolved.
After returning to the unit, I continued to live the life of an ordinary citizen, leaving all those past events behind.
The only thing left is only a faint memory of the past.
Text: Uncle Luo Ying
Edited by Uncle Luo Ying