Source: Learning Corps, PLA News And Communication Center, Media, Author: Fei Shiting Niu Hui
This was the garrison of the 78th Army Group, a slightly cramped, ordinary barracks, without the embellishment of the horticultural landscape, without the drag of the altar jars, and the elite troops who were waiting for the pillow could be ordered to go out from here at any time.
In the camp area, the most eye-catching line is the line of large red characters at the top of the office building: "Strive to build a powerful modern new army." This is the goal that this force has been diligently pursuing, and it is also the threshold that must be crossed. Towards a modern new type of army, they have a mission on their shoulders and are marching in a sonorous manner.
The journey is long, how far we have come and how to do better
This is a heroic unit from the war years - a synthetic brigade still preserves an old photograph: a stone tablet is engraved with the words "Jute Uprising Site", always showing future generations that this unit was born in the revolutionary flames.
This is also a vanguard brigade that strives to be the first in the modernization journey and constantly leaps forward -- at the beginning of the founding of New China, this unit was reorganized and restructured, from a single-branch unit in the past to an infantry division synthesized by various arms, becoming a symbol of the people's army's realization of the transformation from a single service to a multi-service synthesis; in the 1980s, this unit was reorganized from an infantry division to a motorized infantry division, making great strides in the direction of elite troops, synthesis, and high efficiency; at the end of 2013, this unit once again ushered in adjustment and reform. In 2017, a new round of deepening national defense and army reform was further deepened to "below the neck", and the scale structure and force of this unit were further optimized, and then thousands of miles were transferred to the defense and equipped with new main battle equipment.
"Why have we been able to succeed in the past? How can we continue to succeed in the future? This is a major topic that the units of the group army have repeatedly pondered in studying and implementing the spirit of President Xi Jinping's "July 1st" important speech.
Looking back at the road ahead, from mule-horse, motorization, mechanization to informationization, and closely following the pace of the development of the cause of the party and the people, this unit has cut through thorns and thorns all the way, and has walked in a very down-to-earth and very confident manner.
Looking forward to the future, the process of national defense and army modernization must be adapted to the process of national modernization, and officers and men firmly said that building a modern new type of army is our dream and pursuit, and it is also our mission and responsibility.
Standing at the intersection of history and shouldering the mission and task of the new era, they asked themselves: The journey is long, how far have we come, and how can we do better?
In the golden autumn season, the grasslands in the north of The Saibei are full of smoke and the drill is in full swing.
A crack army that has completed the transformation from traditional infantry to a new type of synthetic infantry has fought against an information-based blue army with few defeats, and staged a wonderful multi-dimensional three-dimensional offensive and defensive battle.
Red side aviation raids, artillery strikes, mobile mines, unmanned aerial vehicle raids and other means took turns on the stage, blue electromagnetic interference, network attacks, precision strikes, firepower blockade and other tactics frequently appeared; fighters, helicopter gunships, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft roared in, ground-to-air missiles, anti-tank missiles, new self-propelled artillery took turns to fire... The new and sharp forces with the characteristics of a modern new army have shown great combat effectiveness.
"The form of war is accelerating its evolution, and the modern army is not new!" After returning from the military exercise ground in northern Saibei, Zhang Hongcan, political commissar of a certain brigade, was deeply touched: The modern new type of army should be new in operational thinking, new in institutional organization, new in weapons and equipment, and new in the quality of talents. Some of these goals have already taken a big step, and some still have a long way to go.
During the interview, the officers and men of the unit listed to reporters the following phenomena: In the study of online tactics, they directly tapped on the keyboard to communicate when they had a plan, but some officers were not comfortable and had to put on the microphone and shout a few words to feel it; although there was a battlefield information network, some commanders were still accustomed to face-to-face when planning operations, and they always felt that they would not stand up to the bottom without personally staring at it and conveying it personally; some units exercised, and the electronic map and electronic sand table were right in front of them, but they still managed to set up a big tent, pile up a sand table, and hang up the map.
"These phenomena may seem inconspicuous, but they should not be underestimated." A leader of the Political Work Department of a certain service support brigade said: Along with the modernization of weapons and equipment, the mode of operation, the theory of operation, and the habits of operation must also be modernized; modernization cannot lie on the existing achievements and stand still, the pace of exploration cannot be stopped, the momentum of responsibility cannot be loosened, and the mentality of waiting and resting cannot be had.
In the past few years, with the continuous deepening of actual combat training, officers and men have a deeper understanding of modernization: Modernization is a process of rebirth and rebirth, and it is also a process of phoenix nirvana. Difficult transformations and gorgeous turns are bound to be accompanied by pain. From adapting to adapting, from unfamiliar to familiar, for our generation of soldiers, the pace of modernization cannot wait, cannot be slow, must face the challenge head-on, dare to abandon, let the steps of modernization be fast, fast, and fast again -
Accelerate the modernization of command methods and means, accelerate the modernization of combat force construction, accelerate the modernization of the actual combat training model, accelerate the modernization of the training of new types of talents, and accelerate the cultivation of thinking and behavior habits that are compatible with modernization. During the visit to this unit, the reporter learned that this series of "accelerations" is some in the direction of the target, some are entering the construction plan, and some are becoming practical measures.
A strong country must have a strong army, and only a strong military can national security. Walking through the seat camp areas of the White Mountains and Black Waters, this reporter strongly felt that under the strong leadership of the party, from "iron feet" and "wheels" to "track boards" and "informationization," from horse-drawn artillery vehicles and rifle bayonets to long-range artillery and armored fighting vehicles, and then to the new generation of main battle equipment embedded in the information network, the people's army has not forgotten its original intention, kept its mission firmly in mind, and constantly made solid strides on the road of building a modern new type of army.
With the change of concept, the road of transformation can become smoother and broader
History is a mirror and the best textbook.
In the 1950s, the predecessor of a composite brigade participated in a live-fire exercise.
The Liaodong Peninsula is filled with smoke. At the scene of the exercise, their superiors coordinated the provision of combat support for the naval and air force units, which was the "first experience" of their mission under the conditions of joint operations. It was this experience that enabled commanders at all levels to have a profound understanding of the change in the army's operational philosophy and combat style, and planted the seeds of new ideas for the subsequent transformations.
Take history as a mirror and create the future. Combined with the study and education of party history and the profound understanding of the spirit of Chairman Xi Jinping's "July 1st" important speech, the party committee of the group army came up with such enlightenment: Building a modern new type of army is an all-round and deep-seated change, and the key to influencing and ultimately determining its success or failure is whether ideological concepts can keep pace with the times!
Three years ago, Wang Chong, director of the political work department of a certain brigade, visited the officers and men in the front line of the exercise and asked them what difficulties they needed to solve. A soldier in the command and control battalion reported that he was in charge of the data link, and whether the brigade could contact a friendly air force brigade to turn on the radar and test the effectiveness of his training.
At the beginning of last year, the new equipment of the electronic countermeasures company of the combat support battalion of a certain brigade was successively put in place, and with the hardware support of joint exercises and joint training, officers and men were particularly eager to carry out joint training together with the Air Force and other services.
For a traditional army unit that has come from motorized mechanization and has just undergone unprecedented reforms, the desire of officers and men is gratifying, which reflects from one side that the concept of joint training in joint operations has quietly taken root at the grassroots level.
To build a modern new type of army, in the final analysis, it is necessary to win a modern war. Integrated joint operations are the basic form of operations in modern warfare, and whether officers and men have the consciousness and concept of joint combat training is undoubtedly one of the indicators that test the degree of modernization of the troops.
"In recent years, the pace of equipment upgrading has accelerated, the troops have basically realized mechanization, and the informationization construction has taken a big step forward." The leaders of the group army were both happy and sober-minded: "The transformation and reshaping cannot only look at the number of weapons and equipment, whether they are advanced or not, but also look at whether the minds of officers and men can keep up with the changes of the times." ”
——In terms of construction concept, it has changed from quantitative scale to quality and efficiency, and manpower-intensive to science and technology-intensive. Sun Xiangjiong, a certain missile company company, said that the company has changed four kinds of equipment in four years, from towed artillery and portable anti-tank missiles to anti-tank guns and new anti-tank missiles, with fewer and fewer operators, more and more powerful equipment, and a geometric increase in combat effectiveness. In the past, the construction concept of fighting for quantity and relying on scale must be abandoned, and we must focus on quality and efficiency to carry out construction and grasp training.
-- In terms of training concept, it has changed from gradual synthesis and gradual formation of combat effectiveness to system integration and element integration to the formation of joint combat capabilities; from mainly relying on real-force training to strengthening simulation training... When Tian Han, a training staff officer, was a company commander, he relied on multimedia simulation training scenes to organize and carry out simulated training in rifle and anti-tank rocket shooting in the corridors. This, he says, is an initial attempt at simulated training.
-- In terms of operational concept, it has changed from a single-fire strike at close range to a long-range joint firepower strike; from independent reconnaissance to joint reconnaissance; from single-service operations to multi-service joint operations; from land and air battlefield space to multi-dimensional battlefield space; from focusing on quantitative and large-scale operations and general command to precise reconnaissance, meticulous planning, precision strikes, and crack troop assaults.
-- In terms of support concept, from plane support to three-dimensional support, from regional support to global support, from extensive support to precise support, from resource-intensive to intensive efficiency; barracks construction has changed to combat preparation, military training, and mobile...
From the motorized "group confrontation" to the mechanized "steel competition" to the informationized "silent contest"; from the "individual soldier skill" to the "swarm wisdom" to the "system support", the officers and men said that the change of concept has driven the road of transformation to become smoother and smoother, and the road to transformation has become broader and broader.
The core of the transformation is the reshaping of generations, and the answer to the new "examination paper" must have new skills
"Chinese youth in the new era should take it as their duty to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation..." President Xi Jinping's earnest teachings to the vast number of young people have made the officers and men of the group army feel proud and feel a heavy responsibility.
"Soldiers in the new era must take it as their duty to strengthen the army and rejuvenate the army." Officers and men said: At present, the most direct and realistic task is to face the challenges of the times head-on, squarely face up to the shortcomings in quality, and answer the new "examination paper" for the transformation into a modernized new type of army.
What is the Challenge of the Times? At present, new changes have taken place in China's security environment, the situation of military struggle, the mission and tasks of our army, the organizational form of our army, and the goals and tasks of national defense and army modernization. To speed up modernization, we must face changes in the form of war, changes in the battlefield environment, changes in the style of operations, and changes in weapons and equipment.
Hao Jianxiong, commander of a certain composite battalion, had a deep understanding of this: "When I was a company commander, every time I exercised, the width of the front of an attack of a company was only about 1 kilometer, and there were only more than 10 kinds of tactical dispositions that were anticipated in advance. At present, a composite battalion has dozens of posts in multiple branches of the armed forces, the tactical handling of battalion company commanders is more complex and diverse, the command coordination is from planning to random, and the battlefield space is also expanded from plane to multi-dimensional, which puts forward an all-round test for the commander's knowledge structure and ability quality. ”
What is a quality shortcoming? Some commanders do not have a high level of joint attainment, some units have low efficiency in organizing and commanding operations, and some officers and men have a weak quality of modern science and technology. In a word, the quality and ability to win modern wars are insufficient.
Wang Hongzhi, commander of a certain command and control company, experienced such embarrassment: In the past, when troops had to build a battlefield information network and have the equipment in place, the "net" could not be woven, and from the group army to the brigade, the command and communication had to rely on labor. Why? A car is connected to more than a dozen main battle equipment, each equipment has one or several IP addresses, and an oversight by the operator may affect the entire equipment, as long as there is a problem with the IP address of the terminal, an equipment or even a combat unit is lost. In the final analysis, the quality of personnel operating information equipment is not up to par.
The core of the transformation is the reshaping of generations, and the answer to the new "examination paper" must have new skills. There have been some gratifying changes in this group army: the level of academic qualifications of commanders at all levels has been greatly improved, the proportion of college students and soldiers is getting higher and higher, and directly recruited non-commissioned officers have successively taken up professional and technical posts.
At the same time, this unit has also intensified the cultivation of qualified personnel: Cadres of the group military organs have taken part in closed training in staff operations and systematically learned new command information systems and online command operation methods; technicians from new equipment manufacturers have been invited to the troops to pass on their help and train professional backbones in the form of "masters and apprentices"; each brigade has sent a certain number of officers and men to academies and factories every year to study in academies and factories to cultivate reserve talents on a regular basis; the group army has concentrated the small, special, and new specialties of radar, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other small, special, and new specialties of each unit. Unified organization of professional training, unified organization of skills training...
To strengthen the army and revitalize the army, we must win people. In the historical process of modernization, compared with the goal of comprehensively building a world-class army, cultivating high-quality new-type military personnel also requires a broader vision and more effective measures, which is also the direction of the group army's efforts.
"Defend national sovereignty, security and development interests with stronger capabilities and more reliable means!" "Strive to win greater glory for the party and the people!" In the midst of the White Mountains and the Black Waters, through the in-depth study and implementation of the spirit of President Xi Jinping's "July 1st" important speech, the officers and men of the group army are full of pride and high morale: We will certainly live up to the times, live up to Shaohua, strive to be the vanguard force in speeding up the modernization of national defense and the armed forces, and only strive to advance toward the goal of building a modern new type of army day and night.
(Produced by the Media of the Learning Corps and the People's Liberation Army News and Communication Center)