Text/Hu Yundong
Every August 1st Founding Day, everyone who has been a soldier will naturally recall their military career.
I am proud to have had a naval submariner experience in my life, and although it was only five years, the impact on me was a lifetime.
Forty years ago, in 1976, the Air Force "recruited flights" throughout the country. With my near-perfect health and excellent comprehensive quality, I became one of the three qualified people in Yichang County at that time.
Due to the limited number of recruits, I was mistakenly transferred to the Navy's submarine force, and became the only naval submarine force in the Great Yichang area that year. Although he failed to "go to heaven", he was also lucky to be able to "go to the sea".
After a year of rigorous training at the Qingdao Naval Submarine School, I was assigned to a submarine detachment of the East China Sea Fleet at the end of 1977 and served for four years on hull 258 submarine (number quite auspicious).
In the eyes of ordinary people, the submarine is like a huge water monster lurking in the water, and like the submarine soldiers, it is covered with a mysterious veil.
I have the privilege of unveiling this veil: First of all, in addition to being as strict as pilots, the physical conditions of submariners also require "good teeth, good ears, and good psychological quality." Good teeth are to ensure that submariners can bite the respirator tightly when escaping underwater; good ears are to ensure that the air pressure difference generated when the submarine floats and dives can be adjusted and balanced through the eardrums; good psychological quality requires submariners to have extraordinary psychological pressure bearing ability for long-term underwater closed life.
I went from radio soldier to squad leader on the boat, and also served as the secretary of the regimental branch and the cultural instructor of the whole boat. The officers and men of the whole boat are truly in the same boat, and they are as close as brothers; when they go to sea to train, they are in the same boat under the sea and sail underwater, and life and death depend on each other. The reason why the comradeship is particularly deep is because it is condensed in this special environment.
Submarine life is particularly special. For example: fresh water is the most precious when going to sea, washing water is limited to two cups per person per day, a cup of brushing teeth, a cup of wet towel to wipe the face, and no unconditional bath;
The bed is narrow, stacked on three floors, each bed is about 60 cm wide and 60 cm high, only enough for the human body to enter and exit horizontally, and in case of wind and waves, it must be tied to the body to sleep;
The toilet in the boat is very special, to open and close several valves many times, if the order is wrong, you will encounter the embarrassment of "spraying feces";
Sailing underwater day and night, only by relying on the 24-hour clock can day and night be judged;
Encounter long-distance training, do not surface for more than a month, and live a monotonous and boring life completely isolated from the world;
Although the food is good, the long underwater life makes people want to vomit when they see big fish and meat, especially canned food. If you encounter a typhoon and a large wave of seasickness, you can make people vomit even bitter bile
Nevertheless, we must persist in work, duty training, and technical operations must not be sloppy, let alone make half a mistake. The iron discipline, fine style, and tenacious will of the soldiers are also tempered in this environment.
The life of a submariner is brave and passionate.
Every time we go to sea, we fight with the sea, there will be the disturbance of the waves, there will be dangerous situations, and even there will be a test of life and death, but we have nothing to fear;
Every time we are prepared for a long voyage, we will compete with the enemy situation, and at any time there may be enemy situations from the sky and water, and we will encounter the attack of suspicious targets, but we maintain concentration, high vigilance, and calm response.
In the depths of the sea, there will be all kinds of difficulties and accidents that we want to get, or even think of, and we must stubbornly fight, calmly cope with and resolve, and resolutely complete every combat readiness training task, because we are well aware of the glorious mission and sacred duty shouldered by submariners.
The life of a submariner is romantic and poetic.
Although submarines are underwater most of the time, the occasional sea anchorage and surface navigation can bring us unlimited comfort and pleasure, both to breathe the fresh air on the sea, but also to enjoy the beauty of the sea and blue sky.
I especially like the leisurely nature of the submarine when facing the morning sun or sailing on the surface of the water with the sunset, the iron armor and the waves, the masculine and gentle intertwined, and the original romantic sea adds a bit of poetry.
It was during such a period that I couldn't help but pick up my pen and start learning to write poetry. This year, I finally published my first book of poetry, and perhaps that's the seed that was sown forty years ago.
I was fortunate to be able to live and fight on the 258 boat for four years.
It is not an exaggeration to say that it was a heroic and glorious submarine, because it gave birth to a vice admiral, Xu Hongmeng, who became the captain at the age of 26, becoming the youngest submarine captain in the navy at that time.
Under the leadership of Captain Xu, who is both wise and courageous and handsome, the 258 boats completed the full training subjects as quickly as possible, served as a combat readiness duty, repeatedly completed important tasks such as crossing the Taiwan Strait, the Bashi Strait, breaking through the first island chain, and cruising the western Pacific Ocean, becoming the "underwater sharp soldiers" of the Chinese Navy. Captain Xu was also rapidly promoted as a result.
Unforgettable, General Xu trusted and cared for himself, and his teachings benefited a lot, and even though he had been separated for many years, he was in a high position and still maintained close contact with each other. In April this year, I also hosted General Xu and his family in Yichang on a tour of the Three Gorges Dam.
Looking back now, the relationship between officers and soldiers and the friendship between comrades and soldiers in the army in those years were so true and pure that they were unforgettable and unforgettable!
Fast forward a few decades, and I have changed from a submariner to today's tourist.
On my travel route around the world, I have also set foot in Okinawa, Taiwan, Guam and Hawaii... If you think about it, these places were the seas that my comrades and I used to fly in submarines, but the difference was that they were only underwater.
Now it seems that the two heavens on the water and underwater can't help but make people sigh and sigh.
However, looking around at the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea today, no sea area is tranquil, and none of them is worrying for Chinese, because the United States, Japan and other countries are always coveting China's maritime rights and interests.
We long for peace and do not want war, but without the backing of a strong national defense, all wishes for peace can only be wishful thinking and even wishful thinking.
I am convinced that at this moment, in the above-mentioned vast sea areas, there must be a new generation of Chinese submariners or nuclear submariners, who are vigilantly cruising in the depths of the sea as we were then, fulfilling the sacred mission of defending the motherland's maritime rights and interests.
On the occasion of the Founding Day, I, an old sailor, salute them!
Do not forget the original intention, always vigilant, defend the motherland, this should be every new and old soldier, always maintain the mentality and action.
August 1, 2016
(This article was originally published in the 2016 Three Gorges Daily' August 1st Military Day Literary and Art Supplement)
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