Military career: Starting with a recruitment letter

Chapter 161 The Three-Month Term: This is a Grand gesture! (Part 2)

Judging from the Army Academy's hasty preparations for the base's structure, it's clear that this experiment has been delayed for far too long.

Those in power are also eager to see results.

Seeing Chen Mo sitting in a Volkswagen Santana, he left with the leader without turning his head.

This made the trainees at the light weapons firing range, who were gritting their teeth and pushing their way up the slope, feel increasingly resentful.

Damn it, why do I have to be roasted by the scorching sun while that scholar is so comfortable?
Wang Bo, in particular, was on the verge of tears, mainly because Xiucai was not participating in the following training, and he had taken over all the heavy equipment.

Forget about charging uphill, everyone else is carrying a gun.

He carried two swords on his back, wiping away sweat while cursing the damned scholar in his heart, gritting his teeth as he sprinted forward.

We have no choice but to go for it.

Captain Fang Huai kept a close eye on these veterans, giving them no chance to slack off.

Just as chaos erupted on the training ground, with grumbling and muttering under their breath,

the other side.

Chen Mo, accompanied by Tao Ruichang and Lin Yanhua, had arrived at the entrance of the Jing'an Teaching Building.

The people from the military region are different from others, especially considering Tao Ruichang's rank.

As soon as they got out of the car, Zhang Jinnan, the vice president of the Army Academy, greeted them with a smile.

"Haha, Lao Tao, it's been more than half a year since I last saw you. You still look as vigorous as ever."

Zhang Jinnan and Tao Ruichang clearly have a good relationship in private. When the two met, they did not appear reserved because of their different ranks.

"Heh, it's nothing like you, Lao Zhang. I think the Lu Academy is developing better and better than when I came here two years ago."

Tao Ruichang responded with a smile, and the two walked into the building side by side, chatting and laughing.

As a student, Chen Mo naturally couldn't get a word in edgewise. He followed the others straight to the conference room on the fourth floor.

Fortunately, no one paid any attention to him along the way.

Upon entering the conference room, I discovered that it wasn't just the same group of old instructors I'd seen at the last meeting.

Principal Yuan Shansong and Political Commissar He Jinping were both present.

Besides the two of them, the other person that Political Commissar He was chatting with was a leader who was around fifty years old and also had a gold star in his military rank.

Chen Mo also recognized him as Wang Xiaohu, the chief of staff of the 38th Army. He was probably here to discuss the establishment of a training base.

The number of attendees was not large, only about twenty people in total, but the lowest-ranking person present was a colonel.

People like Chen Mo, who are still just trainees, definitely won't have a chance to sit at the table.

He quietly walked to the right side of the conference table and stood there like a pine tree.

Waiting for the meeting to begin.

When these old buddies meet, they have to spend a long time exchanging pleasantries to build rapport.

I waited for about ten minutes.

The noise in the meeting room gradually subsided, and He Jinping, the political commissar of the Army Academy, raised his hand and tapped the conference table: "Alright comrades, we've gathered you all here today because there's something we need to discuss."

"Um, Chen Mo."

"To!"

"Don't just stand there, find somewhere to sit."

"Yes."

When the political commissar spoke, Chen Mo immediately strode to the far end of the conference table, occupying half of the chair with his buttocks, and still sat upright.

There was an officer nearby responsible for distributing documents.

A batch of printed information about armored units, an overview of the past three years, and some details about the Army Academy's training base were distributed to everyone.

Chen Mo glanced through it, but he wasn't very interested in looking at it. After all, he was someone who had lived through the future, and there was really nothing to see in the exercise data.

Since the late 1980s, there has been an unwritten rule for large-scale exercises.

That means the Blues must lose and the Reds must win.

If the Blue Army fails to deliver troops according to the script, resulting in the Red Army units' ineffective resistance, the Blue Army units will be held responsible.

Calling it a drill is inappropriate; it would be more accurate to call it a performance.

As for small-scale drills, it's not that they were ineffective, but it's difficult to see any significant improvement in unit combat effectiveness from the data.

Chen Mo brought these things up to draw the college's attention, as things at the grassroots level had remained unchanged for over a decade.

If the Blue Army is going to conduct an experiment, what constitutes success?
How do we measure success?

In this environment, without changing one's thinking logic, the experiment has no chance of success.

This has nothing to do with the system, but rather with cognition.

To succeed, you need to see a clear difference.

We definitely need this pre-collected data as a basis for future reference.

Otherwise, even if the Blue Army camp is well-organized, these academics can keep arguing with you for years without getting tired of it.

Chen Mo didn't look at the exercise data much, but he did study the outline of the training base quite carefully.

According to the information provided.

The Army Academy has indeed been busy for the past two weeks. The Fifth Engineering Division under the Kyoto Military Region has received its mission and is ready to conduct survey and construction work at any time.

Telegrams have already been sent to all military regions, including the water and electricity corps under the jurisdiction of the military region.

Not only that, the 239th Communications Regiment of the Kyoto Military Region, engineering and transportation units, and the 93773 Military Industrial Factory were all notified.

without any exaggeration.

Once the Army Academy determines the location of the training base, the engineering division can build a base covering at least several hundred thousand square meters within half a month.

The Hydropower Corps can simultaneously lay hydropower networks, and the Communications Regiment can also keep up with the construction speed by laying military fiber optic cables for the base.

Even military factories can provide the base with specialized ammunition for training.

It must be said that the importance of information-based warfare is truly remarkable.

The Army Academy has really invested a lot of money.

Holding the documents in his hand, Chen Mo couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement. Damn it, with this much activity, wouldn't it be better to just build a school?
However, he also knew in his heart that the construction of the Blue Army camp was not the only big event this time; the previous four events were also quite significant, but confidentiality documents were signed for all of them.

The organization that's busy with these matters simply doesn't disclose it to outsiders.

The preparations for a secret experiment are no less than those for a large-scale military exercise. During the experiment, air traffic control and traffic control around the base will be basic operations.

Chen Mo didn't spend too much time looking at these big-picture directions. He focused on the organizational framework of the training base, as well as its academic affairs, teaching, and administrative systems.

The Army Academy staff meticulously categorized the specialties, including those at the training base.

There are basic training courses for armored infantry, operation and maintenance of radar reconnaissance equipment, tank maintenance, engineering vehicle driving and maintenance, battlefield medical first aid, general firearms maintenance, and so on.

It is highly specialized and targeted.

Even Chen Mo had to admit that although the Army Academy's experiments had failed several times, their professional abilities were truly impressive.

It's much better than my own half-baked background.

Even with so many specialties corresponding to non-commissioned officers, he couldn't have compiled such a comprehensive list without going to the grassroots level to collect information.

This time, Dean Lu really put in a lot of effort.

Because the documents distributed this time contained too much information, after the meeting began, apart from the representatives from the Army Academy, no one read them carefully.

The soldiers from the 63rd and 38th Armies were flipping through the pages one by one.

More than forty minutes had passed since Chen Mo finished reading the documents, and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief and put down their files.

Political Commissar He Jinping, who was in charge of presiding over the meeting, straightened up with a smile after seeing everyone's actions and said, "This time, we've troubled the comrades from the military region to make a special trip."

"It's impossible to explain things clearly over the phone. Since everyone has already seen the documents, I'll elaborate a bit more."

"To ensure the advancement of information-based warfare experiments, Comrade Chen Mo proposed building a training base, starting with recruiting soldiers."

"The leaders of the Kyoto Military Region have also made it clear that they will only look at the final result. At present, everything is ready, including the construction location of this training base and the issue of recruiting soldiers."

"Old Tao, Old Wang, you two shouldn't keep anything to yourselves."

"If you have any good suggestions, please bring them up so we can discuss them together."

Upon hearing this, Tao Ruichang smiled but did not rush to express his opinion. He had gone to see Chen Mo beforehand to learn about the impact of the training base construction on the military region.

So he was in no hurry.

Don't think that Tao Ruichang's approach is too petty. It's just a training base, there's no need to be so cautious.

Don't forget, this isn't the first or second time this kind of information technology experiment has been conducted.

This time, armored units were also involved. The armored brigade of the 63rd Army was disbanded after the armored units of the 28th Army came over in July 1998.

Now that only the 7th Armored Brigade remains, what if this experiment fails again? Will the higher-ups shift the blame to the academy?
That's obviously unlikely.

It is highly likely that the problem lies with the experimental unit, which is currently at a critical juncture where 30 armored personnel have been reduced and resources are being cut.

If the experiment fails, the higher-ups might just disband the entire 7th Armored Brigade. During a period of massive military downsizing, nothing is impossible.

Even if the experiment is carried out in the form of a training base, it will no longer involve an entire unit.

However, the recruits are still drawn from armored units, and whichever military region the base is located in, that military region is responsible for all logistics.

If the experiment succeeds, everyone will be happy. But what if it fails?

Old Tao had no choice but to be cautious.

Chen Mo's claim that the combat effectiveness of grassroots companies could be improved by at least 30% after training is indeed tempting.

The problem is, the cost is too high.

Tao Ruichang remained silent because he came from a political background and was able to keep his composure.

Wang Xiaohu, the chief of staff of the 38th Army, pondered for a moment, then leaned forward and said, "Let's put the construction issues aside for now. Lao He, you keep talking about training non-commissioned officers and asking us for manpower."

"You need to provide a specific plan regarding the number of people required."

"Also, what are the arrangements for placement after the training? Will they return to their original units to continue their duties, or will a batch of equipment be transferred directly to the base to form a new information technology unit?" This is crucial.

Soldiers are actually easy to recruit. As long as you don't draw from an entire brigade, you can just select a battalion or a regiment from a military region.

This number of men is easy for both the 38th Army and the 63rd Army to handle.

The key issue, which is the affiliation of the newly formed unit after the training, is what Chief of Staff Wang is most concerned about.

If it takes a little effort, and we can eventually get a fully-fledged informationized military force, who wouldn't be happy to have it?

It's time to discuss terms.

Political Commissar He Jinping of the Army Academy had a smile on his face; he had long anticipated that there would be obstacles at this step.

Therefore, he did not directly answer Chief of Staff Wang's question.

Instead, he looked directly at Chen Mo, who was sitting at the end, and smiled, "Chen Mo."

"arrive!!"

Upon hearing the political commissar call his name, Chen Mo jumped up from his seat.

"Hehe, no need to be nervous." He Jinping waved his hand: "You heard Chief of Staff Wang's doubts just now."

"If you have anything to say, you can share your thoughts."

"Yes!!"

Chen Mo, stand at attention and salute!
Then he said loudly, "Reporting to the commander, regarding the personnel plan, what do you think is the minimum staffing required for an information-based unit to exert its due combat effectiveness?"

"ask me?"

As the chief of staff of the so-called "Long Live Army," Wang Xiaohu had never encountered a young man who dared to question him so directly.

He leaned back in his chair and said with interest, "A battalion."

"Yes, sir. To ensure that we can exert sufficiently dazzling combat power, a battalion-level organization is the most appropriate."

"It would be best to set the number of people at the training base at around two hundred."

Hearing Chen Mo give such a detailed count, Wang Xiaohu paused for a moment, then looked at He Jinping with a questioning gaze.

After all, the training base was established not long ago, and not everyone is aware of the reasons behind it.

Facing Chief of Staff Wang's questioning gaze, He Jinping smiled and said, "He is Chen Mo, the one who proposed building the training base."

"Oh? That's novel. A hero emerges from among the young."

Wang Xiaohu was taken aback upon hearing this.

"Thank you for the compliment, Commander!" Chen Mo was good at seizing opportunities. He was afraid that the compliment would fall to the ground, so he immediately caught it.

"Stop talking nonsense."

Wang Xiaohu was also amused by Chen Mo's shamelessness and continued, "Since this training plan was proposed by you..."

"Then tell me how you plan to resettle them after the training? Will you send a batch of weapons to your base, or what are your plans?"

"Two hundred men are not enough to form an armored battalion."

“There’s no need to form an armored battalion,” Chen Mo said confidently. “Commander, you’ve misunderstood something.”

"Actually, my initial suggestion was to establish a non-commissioned officer academy, which could continuously train veterans in grassroots units and provide them with a future."

"Whether it's a sergeant academy or a training base, the comrades who are ultimately trained don't all need to be gathered together."

“We will arrange for some non-commissioned officers to be transferred to a fully-fledged armored battalion. They will only need a week to get used to each other.”

"They can take over the combat coordination missions of an entire battalion."

"Take it to the training ground and let it fight against a combat battalion of the same size. We'll know the results once we see the data."

“The training base is not much different from the Army Academy in essence. It is not that you have to return to your original unit after graduation to make the most of your skills because you come from a certain place.”

"The purpose of the training is to fully embrace information-based warfare, from habit to cognition."

"You mean, as long as the recruits are trained, this experiment can be conducted in any unit?"

This time, it wasn't Chief of Staff Wang who spoke, but Tao Ruichang, who had been listening in, who took over the conversation.

"Yes, Chief."

"I guarantee that as long as the trained sergeants can change their mindset and understand the new system's combat methods, they will be able to succeed."

"There's no need to find a specific unit to conduct the experiment. Just select a group of people from the base to assist any unit, and you can get the same results."

Chen Mo spoke with great conviction and confidence.

It's no wonder he's confident. The foundation of information technology is synthesis, and it's easy to see from the professional aspects assigned by the Army Academy that the academy has long been conducting research in this area.

With the current combat strength of the armored main force battalion, Chen Mo was fully confident that even with just a stitched-together combined arms battalion-level unit, he could easily wipe out an armored main force battalion.

The reason is actually very simple.

Can an armored battalion equipped only with tanks outperform a unit equipped with tanks, artillery, infantry, and other multi-service units in terms of mobility, firepower, long range, and close range?

That's obviously impossible.

Especially with the addition of early warning radar and the cooperation of engineers, they can dig trenches dozens of kilometers away and wipe out the main armored battalion in complete darkness.

Ultimately, they were wiped out in a muddled way.

The Gulf War is a prime example; it was a clear case of overwhelming force.

The reason why the Blue Army battalion failed in the past was that the Army Academy's research on informatization and joint operations was only half-baked.

They merely adopt the guise of information technology, blindly copying Western weapon configurations and uniforms, but lack any real coordination capabilities. On the battlefield, each unit has its own unique ideas.

Without a unified understanding and a unified way of thinking, it would be a miracle if a decent information warfare could be waged.

The purpose of the training is to first unify thinking and tactical direction, and to familiarize people from different professions with each other.

That way, we won't produce data that turns out to be a mistake.

The problem is, no matter how reasonable Chen Mo's words are, or how confident he is.

The gap in understanding still made it difficult for some of those present to comprehend.

After all, failure is the most common occurrence in so many information technology experiments.

In the trainee's words, it became that simply sending a few people to take over a new unit would achieve the effect of information technology.

Who would believe that?

Seeing how confident Chen Mo sounded, Tao Ruichang hesitated for a moment before saying, "How about this, Lao He, on behalf of the military region, I will fully assist the academy in building the base."

“We will provide the local resources and the manpower. I trust Comrade Chen Mo’s judgment.”

Whether you believe it or not, everyone present could see that Old Tao was trembling inside.

What can we do if we don't express our opinion?
The documents that were just handed to me demonstrate the determination of the higher-ups to conduct this experiment. If they don't express their opinion, someone in Kyoto will naturally call them over.

They appealed to the emotions and reason with the military region, demanding their cooperation.

It would be better to make our stance clear now.

Seeing that Tao Ruichang agreed, Wang Xiaohu pursed his lips, but ultimately did not try to take it from him.

It's not a good thing.

What if the base is built, and all the manpower, financial resources, and massive effort are poured into it, but it still ends up being abandoned in the end?

Wouldn't that mean not getting to eat fish and instead getting covered in fishy smell?

Tao Ruichang's statement naturally pleased the leaders on the Army Academy's side.

After all, it would be a win-win situation if the issue could be resolved through negotiation in a meeting. If everyone just avoids the issue and pushes it back and forth, the college will ultimately suffer.

He Jinping smiled and patted Tao Ruichang on the shoulder, saying, "Alright, Lao Tao, since you've put it that way, I'll report it to my superiors."

"You should select a location soon and negotiate with the local authorities. The sooner construction begins, the better."

"As for Comrade Chen Mo from your military region, he can certainly serve as an instructor in the base's teaching affairs department."

Chen Mo has been thinking about how the academy should accommodate him for some time now.

Now, I hear the political commissar telling him to go to the academic affairs office.

Chen Mo immediately straightened his chest and said loudly, "Don't worry, Political Commissar, as long as this training can proceed in an orderly manner."

"Three months, we'll definitely see results in just three months."

"When the time comes, I will hand over a portion of the comrades who have been trained to lead the team. I am confident that I can launch a brilliant information-based large-scale operation."

The atmosphere in the meeting room was quite good after the matter was settled.

A group of old men were laughing and chatting happily.

However, Chen Mo's sudden voice caused the harmonious atmosphere to freeze instantly.

Several people were staring at him with furrowed brows.

An army is an army, after all.

The system between different levels is very strict. Construction is imminent, and the academies and military regions have just reached a consensus. This is not the time to make grand pronouncements or issue pledges.

This kind of behavior, at least, is somewhat inappropriate for the occasion.

But Chen Mo seemed completely oblivious, still standing tall with his eyes fixed intently ahead.

Having served as a confidential secretary, he knew very well what to say and in what situations.

This was a last resort.

The base is about to be built, and it won't do if he's not involved at all.

He wants to improve and achieve results, and sometimes he should seize opportunities.

He really shouldn't be speaking in this situation.

But it is indeed a rare opportunity. If we miss this chance, who knows when the next one will come?
Chen Mo ignored the slightly displeased looks from the surrounding leaders; he was lost in thought.

Building such a big project as a training base, with the opportunity to conduct information-based warfare experiments in March, will surely be something our senior leaders have heard about.

I think I'll be there then?
(End of this chapter)