Military career: Starting with a recruitment letter

Chapter 175: Changing Majors, Approval to Go to the Base
Chen Mo's anxiety didn't last long. Yang Shilei had already reached the entrance of the audio-visual building when he turned around and saw Chen Mo still standing at the bottom of the steps.

Yang Shilei frowned and urged, "What are you looking at? Hurry up."

"Yes!"

Hearing the noise, Chen Mo quickened his pace and followed them into the audio-visual building.

Chen Mo wasn't very clear about the audio-visual education major at the Army Academy, nor did he quite understand what this building was specifically for.

However, Lu's educational technology is quite famous.

Founded in 87, it has become quite famous and has trained many undergraduate, master's and doctoral students to specialize in research on military-related slides, projections, films, television and computers.

To put it bluntly, the various offensive and defensive systems used by later informationized and integrated military forces were all developed by these people over time.

Things like visualization terminals and simulated adversarial modeling all started with this group of top students majoring in electrical engineering.

It was precisely because Chen Mo knew all this that he was even more puzzled as to what use Yang Shilei had brought him here.

Regarding the field of electrochemistry, he only has theoretical knowledge, but no practical skills whatsoever.

Taking advantage of the break while going upstairs, Chen Mo quickly caught up with Yang Shilei and grinned, "Squad leader, what brings us here?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?"

"I didn't come looking for you, just come with me."

Upon hearing this, Yang Shilei responded irritably and led Chen Mo directly to the multimedia room on the left side of the third floor of the audio-visual building.

It was called a multimedia room because when you walked in, the first thing you saw was a bunch of big CRT computers, and many officers in military uniforms were sitting in front of them.

The interior space is quite large, about 200 square meters, and there are 30 to 40 officers here alone.

During my time as a clerk in the Kuchi Reconnaissance Company, I wasn't even provided with a single computer, but here there are dozens of them.

It must be said that in terms of funding, the military and military academies are indeed far behind.

"Just sit here and wait. Someone will be looking for you later. Don't wander off."

Yang Shilei led the group to the back of the multimedia room, pointed out a random spot to Chen Mo, gave him a few instructions, and then hurriedly left.

Chen Mo didn't look around, because he recognized the leader who was speaking at the front of the multimedia room.

It was Luo Yaowu, the former chief of staff of the 7th Division, who is now the director of the Department of Strategic and Operational Studies at the Army Academy. I had met him before at the military training ground.

Chen Mo could understand the main points of the meeting.

It seemed to be a debriefing after an exercise. The officers present all had stern faces and moved in perfect unison, making everyone afraid to even breathe.

Chen Mo was brought in halfway through, and he didn't know what to do. The person who brought him also ran away.

He could only follow suit, straightening his back and staring blankly at the black computer screen, listening to the instructions on it.

It's unclear exactly how much time has passed, but Chen Mo was staring at his reflection on the computer screen, almost dozing off, when he heard a clattering sound of a chair being pulled out.

The meeting is over.

The officers present all began to get up and leave. Chen Mo hurriedly raised his hand to rub his face, trying to look more alert, and then stood up as well.

Not long after.

Luo Yaowu walked towards the back with a serious expression, holding a white ceramic cup.

Chief of Staff Luo, who was formerly of the 7th Division, was someone who had been transferred from the field army to the military academy. He was different from Vice President Zhang and the other instructors.

He lacked that refined and scholarly air.

Just by walking over, he exuded an imposing aura. Chen Mo straightened his posture again, quickly saluted, and shouted, "Greetings, Commander!"

"sit."

Luo Yaowu waved his hand and placed the porcelain cup on the adjacent table. Behind Director Luo was a captain who helped pull out a chair and placed it behind him.

"Stop with all that. Go turn on the computer next to Chen Mo and retrieve all the modeling data from earlier."

"Yes."

The captain nodded in agreement, then quickly went to Chen Mo, turned on the computer, and took out a CD he was carrying and inserted it into the host.

After a flurry of random clicks, a series of modeling patterns and various data from the exercise debriefing quickly appeared on the computer screen.

Chen Mo only glanced at the data to get a general idea of ​​the battle situation. This thing wasn't that difficult, especially the data after the review.

Everything is clearly marked.

Anyone who has served as a staff officer or a junior commander in the military can easily understand it.

After retrieving the modeling data, the captain sat down a little further away, leaving Chen Mo alone staring at the screen.

"Can you understand it?"

Luo Yaowu took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. Wisps of smoke rose, and soon the air was filled with a strong smell of tobacco.

"I can understand a little bit." Chen Mo nodded.

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Luo Yaowu seemed quite surprised. After taking two puffs of his cigarette, he smiled and said, "If you can understand it, then explain it to me."

"Yes!"

"Judging from the data, this is an exercise of an armored regiment."

"It should be mountain warfare. After the exercise, the logistics, fuel, ammunition, and fresh water were lost by 86%, the three-level communication radio stations, vehicle radios, and high-frequency handheld radios of the regiment, battalion, and company were lost by 100%, the core position defense line of each unit was lost by 60%, the effective advance and assault capability of the whole regiment was lost by 70%, and the whole regiment almost lost all combat power."

The numbers were shocking; Chen Mo's eyes twitched slightly as he looked at them.

It should be noted that in regular exercises, if a unit loses 70% of its combat effectiveness, the directing department will determine that the entire unit has been wiped out.

The extent of the devastation suffered by this armored regiment far exceeded the directing department's regulations.

Behind these sets of data lies an armored regiment of about two thousand men, with a survival rate of less than five hundred, and most of them being logistics personnel.

If an exercise escalates to this point, the commander should be dismissed.

Chen Mo felt the data was devastating.

Luo Yaowu even paused in his smoking motion. He hadn't expected that Chen Mo's "understanding a little" meant this kind of interpretation.
"Someone just mentioned that the reconnaissance department has produced a student with some command talent. I wondered who it could be."

Luo Yaowu shook his head, then gestured to the modeling data on the computer screen and asked, "Do you know which unit this is?"

"I don't know." Chen Mo replied honestly, "But this should be data from a unit of the 38th Army, and it was collected from the 63rd and 38th Armies some time ago. It's one of the data from armored forces exercises over the past three years."

In fact, Chen Mo's understanding is very simple.

He was the one who originally proposed this idea; he knew best the dismal data from the exercises conducted by grassroots troops in recent years, data that was almost unbearable to look at.

There's nothing we can do about it; he's a former confidential secretary.

In his previous life, a large portion of this data was due for destruction, and Chen Mo had seen some of it while overseeing the destruction process.

Currently, the 63rd Army does not have any armored regiment-level units, so it can only be the famous 38th Army.

“It is indeed the 6th Tank Division of the 38th Army.” Luo Yaowu nodded, then seemed to realize something was wrong and corrected, “It’s not called the 6th Tank Division anymore, it should be called the 6th Armored Division.”

"And the data you just saw is the result achieved by the 24th Regiment of the 6th Armored Division in September 1997."

"The military headquarters requires this training base to cooperate closely with the 6th Armored Division, focusing on digital transformation. Of course, that's for the future."

"By looking at this data, can you see exactly where the 24th Regiment went wrong back then?"

This time, responding to the inquiry will be much more difficult.

Chen Mo was not a member of the 24th Regiment, and had not experienced that exercise.

While it's not impossible to reconstruct the entire operation based solely on the data from the post-mortem analysis, it certainly wouldn't be immediately apparent.

Therefore, Chen Mo did not respond immediately.

He kept pressing the keyboard to drag out the subsequent data, checking the tank company under his command, personnel, and vehicle damage.

When we saw that two of the tank companies had lost their battlefield mechanical repair capabilities in the latter half of the exercise, with battlefield repair and hoisting vehicles either breaking down or stalling, it resulted in a loss of overall organizational and mobility efficiency for half of the regiment's main force.

Chen Mo guessed what had happened.

Keep in mind that if organizational mobility is reduced by half, the loss would be even more severe if it were a matter of offensive capability.

After all, the mobile group is unlikely to be lost under relatively favorable conditions.

Without mobility, how can an offensive form combining infantry, tanks, and mechanized systems be launched?

It just collapsed.

This is only the loss of two main companies; the other main company suffered even greater losses.

The entire company, from the company commander to the political instructor, lost six officers in the later stages of the battle, and nearly 60 soldiers were killed in action. The company was then taken over by a sergeant (who was a conscript in 1997).

By the end of the exercise, the company's combat effectiveness had been reduced to almost 100%. This was not just a matter of total annihilation, but a true total annihilation.

The entire company couldn't find a single logistics soldier who could fire a gun in retaliation.

To be honest, even when the war was so fierce a few years ago, it was rare for an entire company to be wiped out.

Nowadays, with increasingly complete equipment and more and more firepower, they can still achieve this result.

There really is no one else like him.

No wonder when Chen Mo came in, he saw so many officers sitting upright like wilted eggplants.

So they were all reviewing the battle. What I need to analyze now is probably the same report those officers were writing.

Seeing Chen Mo sitting there blankly, Luo Yaowu glanced at him and asked, "Did you figure it out?" "Report, I figured it out a little," Chen Mo quickly puffed out his chest.

Upon hearing that it was "a little bit" again, Luo Yaowu looked up and gestured, "Tell me about it."

"Yes!"

"Based on this data, I personally believe that there are two main reasons for the failure of the exercise."

"These data do not mention who the opponent is, but it is speculated that it should be a fairly strong main force regiment. Tactically, the 24th Regiment either overestimated or underestimated the enemy, which led to an eagerness to advance. Before the battle even started, the heavy-armored troops suffered heavy losses."

"In addition, the mountainous terrain is not conducive to armored assembly and mobility. The excessively long and dispersed defensive lines, coupled with the rush to advance, also resulted in low combat coordination efficiency among the rear companies and combat units."

"Report, this is all I can understand."

Upon hearing this, Luo Yaowu's expression turned serious, and as he sighed, a sense of vicissitude emanated from him.

After a long pause, he finally spoke: "Yes, that's all you can understand, but what you've said is already very clear."

"This regiment is severely dogmatic in its operations. They don't use their brains, they don't analyze, they don't think. Do you know why we sent you here?"

"It's precisely because the grassroots level urgently needs a group of talented and capable commanders to be brought into the units as soon as possible, so that these battles won't be fought so poorly."

"I think there aren't many people left who know how to fight."

Luo Yaowu angrily lit another cigarette and took deep drags on it.

Chen Mo had no way to answer this question.

Times have changed, and so has the way of training.

He also complained that the military exercises of this era were all based on a script, but what's the use of complaining?
Does the country have the money? Does it dare to let all units operate freely and fight openly?
Let's take a step back.

Even if things are liberalized and not followed according to the script, many officers at the grassroots level are officers who were directly transferred from volunteer soldiers, and many company commanders and battalion commanders do not have a high level of education.

They didn't even know which way the military academy's gates faced. If they went all out to fight, what would they have to fight with?
Dogmatism is a product of its time and cannot be changed by one or two individuals.

To put it more bluntly...

Armored weapons began to be equipped by various units in the early 1990s. Now, almost ten years later, do many units really understand how to use these weapons?

The answer is not necessarily.

Much of the learning at the grassroots level is limited to knowing how to drive a tank and fly a helicopter, but not how to properly use these weapons of war and coordinate operations.

The vast majority of people at the grassroots level simply don't know how.

In war, the most important thing is not the equipment, but the people who operate it. Just like these exercise data, armor doesn't break down on its own.

What needs to change is the mindset.

It's about figuring out how to prevent a modern army from falling into rigid, inflexible operations.

If you don't let your troops lose their armor, they will lose their fighting spirit.

Chen Mo's suggestion to establish a sergeant academy stemmed from this very point, and he proposed drawing on data from armored unit exercises conducted by the military region over the past three years.

However, this is precisely to make this original intention more convincing.

Clearly, Luo Yaowu, or rather the leaders of the Army Academy, after long-term observation and analysis by the Department of Strategic and Tactical Studies, had come to realize what Chen Mo had said back then.

To find a future for the soldiers.

This future is not just about individuals; in other words, it's about creating a brand new future for those at the grassroots level.

Because if this inherent thing doesn't change, dogmatism will never disappear.

Soldiers and officers who have all received training, how can those who haven't been trained compare?

There's a reason why the national defense student policy can be implemented; it's just that Chen Mo defined its scope more precisely.

Without training, don't expect the experiment to succeed; there are far too many obstacles that can hinder it.

The conversation has temporarily come to an end.

The atmosphere in the multimedia room was somewhat tense. It was already very late at night, but the director of the Strategic and Operational Studies Department of the Army Academy still had a furrowed brow.

He smoked three cigarettes by himself.

Luo Yaowu finally let out a long breath and said, "I was in a meeting just now and I didn't hear the details of the Chongshan assessment."

"I heard that your second squad's strategy of using matrix sniping and saturation attacks during this mountain assault was your idea?"

"Yes!"

"What's your basis for this? How do you understand this tactic?"

"Reporting to the commander, I once served as a clerk in a reconnaissance company and inadvertently came across information about the Battle of Gelago fought by the 131st Motorized Infantry Brigade during the internal strife in 1995."

"Faced with a well-organized regular army, the armed personnel in Gecheng used a trap to easily allow the armored vehicles of the 131st Brigade to advance unimpeded, causing the armored vehicle convoy to pile up at the start of the battle and unable to perform its due function."

"In 60 hours, the entire 131st Brigade was wiped out."

"After watching it, I learned some basics. I also used decoys to expose the firepower on the mountaintop in advance, and then used a matrix cross-sniping technique."

"I just didn't expect that."

Chen Mo tried to explain his thoughts at the time more clearly.

But Luo Yaowu doesn't seem to have that much patience.

He only heard half of it before bursting into laughter, "Excellent, excellent, excellent battle of Gecheng!"

"You're pretty smart, kid. You managed to connect these things together. I was wondering how you came up with this tactic."

"The Armored Academy's loss was not unjustified. None of the many people in our Strategic and Operational Studies department had thought of such a method."

Luo Yaowu seemed extremely interested in this mountain-climbing assessment. He laughed for a while before getting up and saying, "How about this, you go back to the dormitory and rest first."

"Get up first thing tomorrow morning and write a transfer report. The reconnaissance and command department is not suitable for you. Transfer to armor and communications."

"The training base you mentioned is nearing completion, and armor and communications specialties will be established simultaneously within the base."

"The college originally intended for you to come and study there. As one of the main people in charge, you should submit your report to the fourth floor of the teaching building tomorrow, and then pack your things and come with me this afternoon."

"Let me take you to see the construction progress of the training base you suggested. As for the subsequent teaching staff, they will arrive in batches by early June at the latest."

"Go back and rest."

After saying that, Luo Yaowu, without waiting for Chen Mo's response, stood up with a smile and strode away.

Chen Mo was also caught off guard by this sudden arrangement.

Am I going to have to change my major?
And will they be moved to a different training base?

Before he could react, the captain who had been sitting silently in the distance walked over and said with a smile, "Hello, Comrade Chen Mo, I am Director Luo's assistant. It's fate that we met. My job is similar to that of a clerk in the army."

"My name is Pei Shuaijun. Where is your dormitory? I'll come and get you before we leave tomorrow."

"Good day, Captain Pei."

Upon hearing the question, Chen Mo quickly stood up, stood at attention, and saluted.

"I'm in dormitory 402 of the third cadet building. Thank you, Captain Pei."

"Yes, it's alright. You should keep up the good work with Director Luo. I haven't heard him smile this happily in a while."

"Yes!"

Chen Mo straightened his chest and watched Pei Shuaijun leave.

When he was the only one left in the multimedia room, Chen Mo was still immersed in the things that Director Luo had just told him.

In this mid-year assessment of the Army Academy, I tried my best to perform and did everything I could to get first place.

All I ask is that the academy not forget me.

This is ridiculous! Such an important assessment, and none of it was arranged arbitrarily by a director. That carries even more weight.

Chen Mo shook his head, ignoring the lights and power switches in the multimedia room.

I packed up quickly and left.

Anyway, there should be someone specifically in charge of this in the audio-visual education building.

Back in dormitory 402, unsurprisingly, Xie Yong and Ding Zeliang were already asleep.

The assessment will continue tomorrow, and everyone needs to be on high alert and prepare.

The snoring was deafening.

Chen Mo didn't disturb them. After a quick wash, he climbed to the top bunk, looked up at the dark ceiling, and listened to the chirping of crickets outside.

He was not at peace.

If you change your major, you can go to the training base, which means that the first batch of people will all go.

It's been a long time since I've been in touch with the company.

I wonder if Company Commander Cheng can come to this conclusion; this is a rare opportunity.

With the old 7th Division's leaders in charge, the current 7th Armored Brigade will definitely receive some support in terms of personnel, right?
And what Director Luo said about cooperating with the 6th Armored Brigade of the 38th Army—how exactly will this be done?

You'll only know after you attend the training.

However, no matter what, all the efforts made to come to the Army Academy were not in vain.

The first step towards success has finally been taken.

(End of this chapter)