Military career: Starting with a recruitment letter

Chapter 182 Formulating a Plan: A Merciful Commander Cannot Lead an Army
Pei Shuaijun arranged for the reconnaissance company members to be assigned dormitories and handle check-in procedures.

Actually, there are advantages to having an entire unit transferred like this.

At least for things like equipment storage, equipment depot duty, and duty assignments, the academy staff don't need to be specifically instructed.

Cheng Dong can handle things efficiently on his own. If anything is missing, he will contact the military region's logistics unit to negotiate and gradually make up for it.

It can save the higher-ups a lot of effort.

The officers of the reconnaissance company would handle everything themselves, including changing the food rations, cleaning the training ground, and installing training equipment.

It really made things much easier.

Following Luo Yaowu to the director's office, we found that since the base had just been established, the staff were all temporary.

The office space was somewhat cluttered. The office was only 30 to 40 square meters, and you could smell a strong odor of paint as soon as you entered.

Besides the desks, chairs, sofa, and coffee table, the most eye-catching thing in the room is the stack of kraft paper documents wrapped in accordion on the floor.

I can tell.

Yesterday, Director Luo didn't come to his office at all. He walked into the room, first opened the back window to let in some fresh air, and then pointed to the sofa in the distance: "Sit down."

"Yes!"

Chen Mo straightened his chest and strode over to the sofa to sit down.

Luo Yaowu walked to the office chair, sat down, pointed to the leather accordion bag on the ground, and said, "Take these documents back with you and look at them one by one."

"After you've looked through it, sort it by major, label it, and put it in this cabinet over there."

"Yes!"

Chen Mo quietly turned his head to check the number of file packages, his eyes twitching slightly.

No wonder Pei Shuaijun would bring him a bunch of stuff so often; it turns out the source is right here.

If you wanted to read and understand all of what's on the ground, it would probably take several months.

After their brief conversation, the two concluded.

Director Luo took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it leisurely, stared at Chen Mo for a long time, and then frowned and said, "Don't you have anything to say?"

"what?"

Chen Mo looked up, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.

No, when I came to the office, wasn't it you who called me?

His moment of stunned silence only fueled Luo Yaowu's anger.

His eyes narrowed as he said, "Weren't you quite capable last night? Shouting that you'd give me three months, and you were jumping around downstairs just now, weren't you having a good time too?"

"What, you want my advice? I've given it to you. Shouldn't you report to me your next plans?"

"Currently, there are not enough instructors for each subject, so not all courses can be offered. The Armored Academy, Military Medical Academy, Army Command Academy, and Staff Academy will not be able to come until next month."

"What do you plan to do now?"

After Luo Yaowu rattled off for a while, Chen Mo finally realized that Director Luo lacked confidence in the subsequent arrangements.

But no wonder.

Not everyone is like Chen Mo, who has witnessed what information technology is and what the scale of sea, land, air, space, and cyber warfare is.

The information technology experiment failed several times. These things might seem like obvious flaws and problems to Chen Mo personally, but for people in this era...

They're trapped in the mindset of the times and can't break free.

Knowing what the director was worried about, Chen Mo tugged at his clothes and stood up. He originally intended to pull up a chair to sit down and report, but after looking around, he couldn't find one.

He simply sat down again.

Luo Yaowu misunderstood; he thought the kid wanted a cigarette. He grabbed the cigarette pack and threw it at him irritably: "Spit it out if you have something to say, what are you babbling about?"

"Yes."

Chen Mo organized his thoughts, trying to make his words less offensive, before speaking: "Director, do you feel that even now, the specialist instructors from the Armored Academy, the Staff Academy, and the Army Command Academy have all arrived?"

"If we divide the comrades downstairs into different professional groups and teach them, can we really wage a war that is sufficient to prove the power of information technology in just three months?"

"What do you mean?" Luo Yaowu frowned, but this time he didn't get angry; instead, he genuinely asked.

"Director, what I mean is that teaching alone is useless."

Chen Mo looked up and stared directly into Luo Yaowu's eyes, and continued, "If you want to see results from information technology, the first step is synthesis."

"The college is currently focusing on professional training, which is not wrong, but the direction is somewhat biased."

"Combined systems are systems, not specialties. Even if you train tank soldiers, infantrymen, communications soldiers, snipers, and artillerymen to become professional non-commissioned officers and put them together in one unit, it would still be a stitched-together unit at best."

"It's still far from being a composite unit."

Luo Yaowu was a little confused. He waved his hand and said, "Stop talking about such high-sounding things and get to the point."

"Yes."

Chen Mo was also helpless; it was indeed too early to talk about synthesis now, and it had deviated from the topic.

Because the information warfare of this era is fundamentally different from the combined arms battalion warfare of later generations.

"Director, if you ask me, it's easy to train a soldier to drive a tank, and it's also easy to train them in communications. The reconnaissance company is basically all-rounder; they can do everything."

"Instead of sitting in the classroom listening to theoretical knowledge, we should learn how to fight. As the saying goes, the onlooker sees most of the game. We've collected so much data and information on armored unit exercises. Why don't we take advantage of the fact that the instructors haven't arrived yet and distribute this data to the soldiers and officers first?"

"Let them watch, sort out the reasons for the failure of the exercise, and write a report to submit themselves."

"Even if we lose, we must let them know where they went wrong and why they lost."

“In the past, the biggest problem in the military was that when someone lost a battle, the responsibility was always attributed to insufficient training. When officers made mistakes in command, the responsibility was also attributed to insufficient training.”

“If this continues, everyone will only have one thought: to train harder after a defeat. No one will ever consider why they lost. This is an act of escapism.”

"Information technology is a warfare model that requires massive computing power and the involvement of everyone in the campaign. It's no longer an era where everyone rushes in at the sound of the bugle."

"Director, if you want them to learn how to fight, you must first make them understand why they lost."

Chen Mo shared all his thoughts.

Luo Yaowu pondered for a long time, wanting to nod but feeling that something was not quite right. After thinking for a while, he frowned and said, "What you said makes sense. Then what is the point of the training base?"

"If you can fight a war just by looking at some post-mortem materials, what's the point of your enthusiastic suggestion to organize training?"

"Director, you can't get fat in one bite."

As Chen Mo got into the conversation, he didn't hold back anymore. He grabbed the cigarette that had been tossed to him earlier, lit one himself, and continued, "Everyone has a different perspective and different leadership skills."

"If any of them can spot the mistakes in the data analysis, then they'll naturally learn the skills they need to learn, right?"

"For example, some soldiers can analyze tank coordination problems, so they receive training in armor; others can analyze communication problems, so they are given specialized training in communications."

“By focusing on their talents and training them, and given that they are already veterans, we can see significant changes in less than three months.”

"The commander only needs to learn and thoroughly understand the three elements of information warfare to command a battalion-level battle against a current armored main force battalion, which can be said to be a piece of cake."

"Information warfare, for our experiments, is nothing more than a battle to change our mindset. To put it more bluntly, isn't it just different dogfighting modes for tank battalions?"

Although Luo Yaowu still couldn't fully understand the extent of the impact Chen Mo's talk about changing mindsets had.

But this did not prevent his heart from being in turmoil, and his expression changed repeatedly.

Yes. The Army Academy has been researching information technology for seven or eight years. Starting in 1992, Blue Army battalions were constantly being created and eventually disappeared.

The academy has always wanted the scale of aerospace like the Americans, but it has overlooked the essence of information-based experiments, which is just a battle for armored units to change command thinking.

Thousands of tall buildings rise from the ground.

If a battalion can change combat thinking, then it will gradually extend to a regiment, a division, and an army, and sooner or later, they will all change their thinking.

But right now, the most important thing is to first fight a brilliant tank battle at the battalion level.

Such a simple truth, yet it ultimately required a student to enlighten him. It would be hard for Luo Yaowu not to feel some emotion.

"Alright, I'll let the college know, and we can get all the paper documents and computer archives from the debriefing done here by noon today."

"Go back and write me a detailed plan. Go now."

"Yes!"

Chen Mo stood up, just as he was about to leave.

Suddenly, I remembered the veteran from the third cohort that I saw hiding in the dormitory building with his dog acting suspiciously on my way here.

Chen Mo hesitated for a moment before asking, "Director, the reconnaissance company was transferred as a whole unit, so there should be no problem with their discipline."

"Those are the ones who came with us yesterday."

"Alright, do you think I don't know what you're thinking?" Luo Yaowu waved his hand before Chen Mo could finish speaking: "Wasn't there a lieutenant leading the team just now?"

"We put everyone under his command, including those from the academy. Without rules, there can be no order. No matter who violates discipline, the military will submit their names to the training department."

"Anyone from the academy, drag them all to me. Do I really need to explain this trivial matter of 'a kind heart cannot govern an army' to a slippery person like you?"

"Hehe, no need, no need." Chen Mo grinned, picked up a row of accordion cases from the ground, and got up to leave.

It was already quite remarkable that Luo Yaowu was persuaded to cooperate.

It's only just begun, so he's too embarrassed to ask for too much.

I came down from the faculty office building.

The dormitories for the reconnaissance company should be mostly arranged. Many veterans have borrowed brooms, mops, and rags from the armed police and are cleaning the dormitory building.

These buildings were recently constructed and their hygiene standards are far from satisfactory. In many corners, there is still dried cement and speckled gray dust.

Cheng Dong stood with his hands on his hips, giving orders like a head butler.

Seeing Chen Mo carrying a bunch of leather bags and coming from a distance, Company Commander Cheng stopped with his hands on his hips and strode over to check if anyone else was following behind Chen Mo.

He then lowered his voice and asked, "Scholar, what did the Chief of Staff say to you?"

When can we start classes?

"Damn it, I haven't seen what a classroom looks like in over twenty years, and you son of a bitch dragged me here."

Seeing the company commander's eyes shining with anticipation, Chen Mo didn't mention the exercise debriefing documents.

Because he knew very well that the three years of paper-based review data from the 6th Armored Division of the 38th Army and the 7th Armored Brigade of the 63rd Army, including all the data from exercises, confrontations, armored tanks, gun-tank, and combined infantry-tank training, would be crucial once transferred to them.

That's not something one or two people can carry; it would probably take at least three or four troop carriers to transport it.

This is only possible because some of them can be archived using computers; otherwise, even ten trucks wouldn't be able to hold them all.

With so much stuff, once it's delivered, it will need to be disassembled piece by piece for initial learning purposes. What if Cheng Dong finds out?

I reckon this company commander, who loves his soldiers like his own children, would take off his shoes and chase himself around the base ten times over.

That workload was truly like a mountain pressing down on your head.

Since the director had said that the transfer wouldn't be completed until noon, Chen Mo didn't plan to let the company commander know so soon.

"Company Commander, there's no rush with the class. There might be something planned for the afternoon. Don't worry, it'll be very easy."

"It's almost time to eat, go and eat."

"Eat shit."

When Cheng Dong got down to business, he put his hands on his hips again, looked up and gestured around: "Look at these sanitary conditions, how can this be considered military?"

"I'll have someone go to the logistics department in Jinyang to get this bulletin board later, and then find someone to paint it and put up more slogans."

"And all the grass in the distance has been pulled. You seem quite busy, so go ahead and do your work. Let me know if you need anything."

"Alright, all set!!"

Chen Mo didn't bother the company commander anymore and continued walking towards the dormitory with the documents in his arms.

He understood why Cheng Dong was so eager to prove himself.

After all, he had been a reconnaissance company commander for so many years. Although he was quite arrogant in the brigade and didn't respect anyone except the political commissar.

But this isn't a new place; I was still selected by the military region to take on the important task of training. It's inevitable that I feel a little lost and am trying my best to integrate.

Actually, there's no need to rush.

Because the academy isn't entirely ready, everyone is still figuring things out, and Chen Mo is probably the only one who's truly confident.

If you asked him to form a combined arms battalion similar to those of later generations, he wouldn't dare to make the decision even in six months, let alone three.

The combined arms battalion requires over a hundred different types of troops and specialties, many of which are currently beyond the reach of modern technology.

But information technology is much easier to implement.

To reiterate, current informatization is merely a shift in the mindset and patterns of dogfights between main armored forces.

It has a future synthetic form, but does not possess the core of synthesis.

There's no need to overly pursue the scale of the US; only what you have yourself is truly in line with the system.

Chen Mo was thinking about the report.

As he walked into the dormitory building, he heard the chant of "one, two, three, four" coming from the open space in the distance.

Turn around and look.

Liang Hongjie was supervising the group of veterans' morning exercises. Liang was a man who could listen to advice. Unlike in the reconnaissance company, he did not accompany the soldiers during the exercises.

However, the situation on the ground wasn't much better.

There were only forty-odd people participating in the morning exercises, but they stretched the track to nearly a hundred meters. Some of the veterans weren't even running.

I was just wandering around and killing time.

Chen Mo looked down at the pile of documents he was carrying, then at the formation of the students doing morning exercises in the distance.

Think about how the reconnaissance company was working hard to improve the environment.

He sighed.

It seems that the learning team needs to be thoroughly purged before the review materials are transferred.

Otherwise, when it comes time to actually review the materials and write the self-criticism for the major, I won't have the energy to keep an eye on these people.

Director Luo is right; a kind heart cannot command an army.

When it's time to take action, there's no need to hold back.

(End of this chapter)