Text/Green Years
Picture/From the Internet
Note: In order to facilitate your smooth reading, the article contains some fictional plots
At the beginning of December 1970, the winter conscription for that year began. After learning the news that the army had come to our commune to recruit soldiers, I, who had reached the age of eighteen, actively responded to the call, enlisted in the army, and entered the army.
Our group of soldiers was the first batch of soldiers who enlisted in the 70s, but according to the convention, it was still counted as soldiers in 1971. At the same time, our group of soldiers who enlisted in December 1970 also served as recruits for two full years after joining the army (there was no conscription at the end of 1971).
After joining the army, the first thing we faced was a three-month training for new recruits. During the three months of living in the recruit company, it can be said that there was both bitterness (the daily training intensity was very high) and sweet (the company commander, instructor and veteran squad leader were very good to us). But what impressed me the most was a written exam organized by Lianli at the end of the three-month training.
I remember that the day of the exam was the afternoon of the rest day, because I had been in the army for three months, and I had not had a haircut once, and my hair was very long, and I thought that I was about to leave the company, so I hurriedly found the barber in the company to give me a haircut. But just as I was getting a haircut, a whistle sounded, and immediately after, I heard someone shouting: All the recruits should assemble in the canteen (because of the constraints, our recruit company did not have a conference room at that time, and the canteen was generally used as a conference room).
So I hurriedly asked the barber to finish cutting my hair, and then trotted all the way to the dining hall. When I got to the door of the dining hall, I pushed open the door and saw that all the recruits were sitting inside, and they were all very quiet, all of them were holding pens, writing something hard. Hearing my voice, the instructor walked up to me and asked me what I was doing and why I was so late.
So I told me about the fact that I hadn't had a haircut for three months since I came to the army, and then I had just been getting a haircut. After listening to my words, the instructor nodded, didn't say anything more, and then pointed to the back and asked me to go over and find a place to sit down. When I got to the back and sat down, the instructor came over and handed me a piece of letter and a pen, and then he pointed to the blackboard and said, "That's the exam question (the exam question is only two words: autobiography).
Although I came late, I was still very calm at that time. After all, before I came to join the army, I had just graduated from high school and had taken many exams in school. So I picked up my pen and copied down the exam questions. Looking at the two words of autobiography on the letterhead, I thought about it for a moment and began to write it in a flash. Because I loved writing essays in middle school, I was ready to write in less than half an hour. At that time, I was the last to enter, but I was the first to turn in the papers.
After handing in the papers, I was also full of confidence, and I felt that my essay was very good, and I should be among the best in my grades, maybe I could be a clerk directly after leaving the company. But what I didn't expect was that although I was indeed ranked first in the results the next day, when I was assigned to the company, I was directly appointed as the supply officer of the second company, which was really far from my goal of being a clerk.
In the 70s, at that time, the company's supply officer, as everyone generally called him, was generally called "sergeant", and his usual task was to be responsible for the company's food and vegetable procurement under the leadership of the secretary general.
Why is there the title of "sergeant", it is because before the abolition of the military rank system (in June 1965, the mainland abolished the military rank system), most of the company's supplies were veterans at the level of squad leader and deputy squad leader, and they were usually sergeant ranks, so in peacetime, everyone also habitually called their military rank - sergeant. However, after the abolition of the rank system, the title remained unchanged, and the title of "sergeant" was used instead of that of the supply staff in all units.
Although I became a supply clerk by mistake (thousands of miles away from my goal of becoming a clerk), I went down to the second company, and after a short adjustment of my mentality, I was again full of enthusiasm and devoted myself to the work of "sergeant". Because I know in my heart that as long as I persevere and work hard, no matter what position I am in, I will have the opportunity to stand out and stand out.
So, I began to work steadily in the post of "sergeant". And this work is three years. In the past three years, many things have happened, but there is one winter training experience that I will remember the most. It was the winter of 1972 (my second year in the army), and as instructed, our troops began camping exercises. During the training of the troops, the secretary of the department led me and the cooking team to actively prepare for the company's food work.
At that time, our troops had to march about seventy or eighty miles a day, and sometimes they had to train for rapid marches and night marches. You must know that the winter in northern Hebei is very cold, so cold that the masks we wear are frozen into hard shells. The secretary, I, and the cooking team not only had to march all day during the day, but also had to make dinner and prepare for breakfast every day after arriving at the camp at night, which was very busy and tiring. After a few days, each of us had seven or eight blood blisters on our feet, and when we saw this, we all jokingly said that now, we have really become "bubble soldier company commanders".
One afternoon, our troops were trained to a small mountain village. The villagers were very welcoming, and before we arrived, they ran to the entrance of the village early to greet us. The comrades-in-arms who fought at the front station had already numbered the house, and the fellows gave us the best rooms. There was even a fellow villager who vacated the new house where his son had just gotten married and let us live in it. When I saw this scene, I was very moved.
And I, together with a few comrades-in-arms from the cooking class, was arranged to live in a fellow villager's house. The owners of this house are a middle-aged couple about 50 years old, the male owner's surname is Xu, and when we arrived at his house in the evening, Uncle Xu had already boiled us to wash our feet. As for Aunt Xu, when she saw that we had blisters on our feet, she immediately went out to find horsetail silk and instructed us how to pierce the blisters. In addition, Aunt Xu also brought a lot of firewood and burned the kang for us. When I was lying on the warm kang, my heart was really touched. Uncle Xu and Aunt Xu treated us as if they were their own sons.
The next morning, before dawn, we got up (because we had to prepare breakfast). When I got up, I saw that Aunt Xu was busy in front of the stove, so I walked over to take a look. But when I approached, I couldn't help but be stunned, because in the big iron pot where Uncle Xu's house was cooking, it turned out to be the insoles of several of us. It turned out that Aunt Xu got up earlier than us, and after she got up, because she knew that we all had blood blisters on our feet, in order to make our shoes more comfortable, she washed our insoles cleanly, and the time was pressing, and now she is baking us with a cooking pot.
Knowing Aunt Xu's intentions, I said excitedly: "Aunt Xu, how can this work, how will you cook in the future." Listening to my words, Aunt Xu smiled and said, "There's nothing that can't be done, the pot will be clean." If the insoles are not washed, you are wearing wet shoes, how can you walk today? After listening to Aunt Xu's words, I stood in place, choked up and unable to speak. Then, several comrades-in-arms who rushed over when they heard the sound also shed tears of emotion when they saw this scene.
Time flies, and today, more than 50 years have passed in a blink of an eye, but this tear-jerking scene still remains in my heart forever and I will never forget.
During the three years of working in the "sergeant" post, under the leadership of the secretary general, I raised the overall food standard of our second company to a higher level. When I first came to Erlian, although I could eat enough, every meal was clear soup and little water, and there was a lack of oil and meat. After three years of hard work, our second company has been able to achieve the food, so that every soldier can eat meat at every meal.
Therefore, in March 1975, after our chief of affairs was promoted to deputy company commander, I was directly appointed as the new chief of the second company, level 23, with a salary of 52 yuan per month. $52 may not sound like much now, but at the time, it was undoubtedly a lot of money. I still remember the night when I received my first month's salary after I was promoted to become the secretary general, I held the 37.5 yuan tightly in my hand, and I didn't sleep all night happily (although the salary was 52 yuan, I had to deduct the food expenses of 14.5 yuan per month, so the actual payment was 37.5 yuan).
As a child from the countryside, after four years in the army, I was able to successfully promote myself to stay in the army, in addition to my own persistence and hard work, I am undoubtedly lucky. After 12 years of work and life in the army, I believe that if a soldier wants to be promoted, the first condition is that he must have top-notch ability. The second is to see again whether it has been determined as the training object of the company, which is commonly known as the cadre seedlings. If it is determined to be a training object, it will be followed by a period of training and inspection and assessment, and after all this is passed, you will have to wait for the opportunity.
This timing is to see if there are vacancies in the company, if it is an ordinary position, it is okay, if it is a special position, it is even more necessary to be patient. Once there is a vacancy in the post, it is necessary to immediately undergo a physical examination, and after passing the physical examination, the regimental leaders will collectively study and discuss, and after the examination is passed, the battalion-level cadre in charge (instructor) will go to the company to read out the order for the promotion of cadres, and the order will take effect after it is announced. Therefore, at that time, if a warrior wanted to improve, strength and luck were indispensable.
-ENDS-
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