Military career: Starting with a recruitment letter

Chapter 186 Railway Deployment: Isn't This a Living Death?

The Army Academy is quite efficient.

The paper records of the exercise were only transported to the base before lunchtime.

Pei Shuaijun gathered more than twenty cadets and managed to compile all the relevant information on railway mobile equipment during their lunch break.

Consider this as an initial course.

At 3 PM, the entire base was notified to begin classes.

As the one who proposed the course, Chen Mo couldn't escape it either; he had to learn along with the reconnaissance company and the people from the army.

Actually, in the initial stage, according to the plan, it's not quite appropriate to call it "taking classes".

The paper archives were only used to familiarize soldiers with how armored units fought and why they were defeated, so that they could analyze the results and specialize in different areas.

In this type of situation, the instructor will not participate in the teaching at this stage.

Chen Mo and Pei Shuaijun were responsible for handling most of the work.

However, these details make no difference to soldiers who need to access save files.

Whether it's a lecture by an instructor or watching on your own, it's all quite novel.

They spend all day in the company, training every day, living with the loess soil and the sun, only to be suddenly notified that they need to sit in the classroom, doing clerical work in air conditioning like cadres.

This made some of the reconnaissance company members quite excited.

After receiving the notification.

Some soldiers would change into their best uniforms, wash their hands and faces, and groom themselves before heading to the classroom.

The classroom, which was originally mostly occupied by cardboard boxes, was cleaned up in the afternoon. Some of the boxes were sorted and stored in other rooms, while others were moved away entirely.

A group of people rushed into the classroom and saw desks covered with red velvet cloth and files in brown paper bags. Many veterans stood in the aisle and did not sit down at the desks.

Chen Mo arrived a little late.

After squeezing through the crowd and finally getting into the classroom, he saw many veterans staring longingly at their seats, not moving an inch.

He asked with some curiosity, "What are you all standing there for?"

"Just find somewhere to sit."

"This doesn't need to be divided into classes or platoons, does it?" A veteran pointed to the classroom.

"No need, please sit anywhere." Chen Mo waved his hand.

After hearing his words, many soldiers smiled, and soon the crowd was mostly seated.

My first class.

Chen Mo naturally couldn't expect them to write much in terms of experience. After all, you can't rush things, and training isn't something that can be rushed to produce results.

He strode to the podium at the front of the classroom, looking down at the veterans below who looked like elementary school students, sitting there with their backs straight and meticulous.

Some veterans, who arrived a little late, would stand at the door and report their arrival.

Overall, the atmosphere at the start of the class was quite harmonious.

Cheng Dong and Huo Linshan also arrived at the classroom, along with the platoon leader from the company; everyone was present.

Chen Mo glanced at the audience below the stage, and seeing that almost everyone had arrived, he began to speak: "Comrades, I know that many of you still have doubts about coming to the base this time."

"I don't understand what we're supposed to do, or what we'll actually learn in class."

"Here, I'll give a unified explanation: we will be building a brand new information-integrated force in the future."

As Chen Mo spoke, he picked up the chalk and wrote those words down on the blackboard exactly as they were written.

As a former confidential secretary, Chen Mo had good handwriting with a fountain pen, and fountain pen and chalk both belong to the category of hard-pen calligraphy.

Writing "Informationized Integrated Forces" is truly a pleasure.

After finishing writing, Chen Mo threw the chalk on the table, clapped his hands, and laughed, "You might not understand what I mean by information technology or synthesis."

"However, let me give you an example to make it clear. Let's take a standard armored brigade as an example."

"The role of armored brigades on the battlefield is usually to react quickly and penetrate into the enemy's front lines, disrupt the enemy's breakthrough operations, and buy time for their own side."

"When this brigade is deployed, it will arrange mixed units to cooperate in combat. For example, an armored brigade has four main battalions. Based on the needs of the battlefield and the analysis of the enemy's firepower, we need to deploy two tank battalions, while a single main battalion is easy to be targeted."

"When the main force battalion is deployed, the necessary coordination is required from the mechanized infantry company, artillery, logistics, and reconnaissance units. It also involves flank maneuvering and forward guidance. All of these can be referred to as 'combination'."

"The informationized forces we will build in the future will definitely be battalion-level units that integrate multiple branches of the armed forces."

"As for informatization, it is about overturning the existing thinking of armored unit combat, making command more streamlined, achieving the goal of 'detect and destroy,' and enabling a single branch of the military to call in the rear firepower in the shortest possible time. In short, informatization is about enabling the commander's thinking to be applied to every soldier in wartime."

"Comrades, do you understand what I mean?"

Chen Mo stood on the stage and talked on and on for a long time, while a group of people below the stage looked up, blinked, and were completely dumbfounded.

Fortunately, not everyone could not understand it.

One of the veterans raised his left hand and shouted, "Scholar, after all you've said, are you implying that our company will not only have reconnaissance soldiers in the future, but also artillery and armored soldiers?"

"Yes, that's roughly the idea."

"Oh, I see. It means that after we are assigned to specialties, we will no longer be reconnaissance soldiers, but will be assigned to artillery or other branches of the military."

"That's true, but if you're going to be an artilleryman, why not just go to the artillery battalion? I know people in the anti-aircraft artillery battalion. It's better to learn there than to just read books here."

"You don't know anything. Didn't you hear what the scholar just said about information technology being flat and disrupting some kind of thinking? Go to the artillery battalion, the gun barrels are all round, not flat."

"Damn it, you idiot, that flattening refers to command, not the gun barrel, fuck!"

A group of veterans were discussing something in the classroom.

Chen Mo stood on the stage, looking at the students from the Army Academy and Pei Shuaijun and Liang Hongjie, who had a little understanding of information technology, and sat there with a black line on his face.

He grinned.

To be honest, he knew from the beginning that teaching wouldn't be easy.

If they understood information technology, how could the Army Academy's experiment have failed?

Any success is inevitably accompanied by thorns along the way. It is impossible to correct the ingrained mindset of a group of veterans without putting in a lot of hard work.

Chen Mo had no intention of interfering with the discussion in the classroom.

Cheng Dong, with his fiery temper, couldn't hold back any longer. He slammed his hand on the desk with a "bang," glared at it, and yelled, "You son of a bitch, what are you yelling about?"

"Trying to show off your skills, huh?"

"Listen carefully to the scholar's lecture. What do you know? Do you think you're hunting just because you have a dead rat stuck to your waist?"

It has to be said that what Chen Mo said to Company Commander Cheng in the dormitory at noon really worked.

Regardless of whether Cheng Dong understands or not, at least in terms of his thinking, he is completely on Chen Mo's side and supports him unconditionally.

The company commander spoke up.

The veterans who had been freely expressing their opinions in the classroom all shut their mouths in embarrassment, not daring to say another word.

Fortunately, that's pretty much the explanation.

Chen Mo stopped mentioning the concepts of informatization and synthesis. He picked up the chalk and rewrote the words "Railway Mobile Equipment" on the blackboard.

He then continued, "Comrades, you don't need to write any reflections today. The documents in all the bags on the table in front of you record the details of the rail transport deployment of armored units."

"We don't need to worry about the specifics of how armored warfare is conducted for now, but the most basic thing is to transport the troops to the front line before the battle."

"Similarly, railway mobility is a subject that every student in the advanced pre-research class of the armored command system, that is, the graduate class, must master."

"Do you think I'm exaggerating a bit?" "No, not at all. According to the current equipment conditions of our railways, a train can transport half a battalion's worth of equipment at a time. It would take 15 to 20 trains to carry the equipment of a heavy regiment."

“We need to learn these most basic things from paper archives because we don’t have that much time to go to the office and look at them bit by bit.”

"When railway equipment is being organized into groups, command flags are needed to move tanks, armored vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, as well as engineering hoisting machinery and personnel."

"Railway maneuver preparation, as one of the training exercises most prone to major safety accidents, requires flag signaling as a basic skill for armored commanders and is also one of the subjects that most tests the psychological qualities of commanders."

"If the pace is too slow, it will delay the departure time set by the superiors; if the pace is too fast, accidents are likely to occur; if the pace is chaotic, accidents are inevitable."

"Since information technology is based on armored composite systems, we must master the specifics of how to do vehicle formation, loading of flatbeds, adjustment and reinforcement, camouflage design, and air defense establishment."

"Alright, now everyone, let's start taking them apart and taking a look."

At Chen Mo's prompting, the veteran sitting in the classroom began to flip through the documents and examine them carefully.

At first, everyone was really engrossed in watching, probably because it was a novel experience.

Occasionally, when I see a familiar military unit designation, I'll discuss it with the people around me.

But as I watched, my condition deteriorated.

After all, most of these archives are in the form of data, without specific textual descriptions; they are mostly statistics on mobilization speed, mobility organization rate, and the like.

For soldiers who train all day, seeing this thing is far less enjoyable than running a couple of laps around the training field.

It will take about half an hour.

The classroom was filled with yawns, and everyone was slouching and leaning to one side.

Let alone soldiers.

Even Company Commander Cheng was propping his head up with his hand, squinting his eyes, unable to concentrate at all.

In half an hour, he went out for a smoke eight times. Basically, he had barely sat down on the chair when he was yawning and going out again.

Chen Mo sat in front without saying a word.

He simply observed everyone silently.

Of course, not everyone is like someone with a corn on their butt who can't sit still at all.

Some veterans watched the document very attentively and even exchanged documents with those around them.

After all, the reconnaissance company also has armored vehicles, and they occasionally use trains for long-distance maneuvers. Those who can see into the company are mostly veterans like the vehicle commanders.

Compared to other armored unit exercises, the efficiency of the deployment was assessed.

This sudden change, from sweating it out to sitting and reading documents, is indeed quite difficult to adapt to.

Chen Mo understood that these veterans needed a transition and an adaptation process.

This is why he never intended to have these veterans replace the regular troops when the experiment was conducted.

Because after three months of study, I simply don't have that ability.

At most, they can take over command nodes, understand information technology adaptation, and link together the temporarily assembled battalion-level firepower.

Just supervise them to fight back.

If you want to see results from an information technology experiment, three months is enough.

But to form such a team would take at least a year or two, let alone even think about it.

As Chen Mo was planning his next move, he looked up and saw the company commander get up for the ninth time, yawning, clutching a cigarette case, about to go out for another spiritual nourishment.

He also got up and followed behind, strolling to the open space at the back of the classroom.

Cheng Dong, with his trousers pulled up, had just sat down in the shade and struck a match when he looked up and saw Chen Mo following him out. He casually flicked out the match, took a few deep drags on his cigarette.

He finally spoke, "Scholar, you son of a bitch, this kind of work is really exhausting. I haven't even looked at the exercise data much in the company. I never expected that I would come all the way here just to see it."

"It's just a train set up, do we really need to look into it? Anyone can do that."

"You can't say that, Company Commander," Chen Mo chuckled.

He knew that Cheng Dong would be short of living expenses by the end of the month, so he simply took out one cigarette from his pocket and put the rest in front of the company commander.

After offering a small bribe, he finally spoke: "Mechanized assault operations can decide the outcome of the battlefield in five minutes."

"Rail transport is of paramount importance."

"For example, if the exercise command does not pre-determine positions and relies entirely on the two units to actively transport troops, what will happen to the unit that arrives at the battlefield first?"

Cheng Dong was taken aback when Chen Mo asked the question.

Because all the current exercises are planned, it doesn't matter who arrives at the battlefield first or last; the exercises can only begin after listening to the news on the public radio.

If the directing staff doesn't interfere, those who arrive on the battlefield first will inevitably be able to suppress and beat the troops that arrive later.

There's absolutely no comparison between them.

One side was well-prepared and had the advantage of waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out, while the other side had traveled a long distance and was exhausted, and was likely to be wiped out before it could even regroup upon arriving at the battlefield.

Seeing that the company commander seemed to understand the reasoning, Chen Mo pressed on, "Company commander, you know about the Arab-Israeli tank battle, right?"

"Ah, I know."

"Yes, the Arab-Israeli tank battle was the largest tank battle since World War II, with 1,800 tanks on both sides participating."

"In that battle, the Israeli armored forces mobilized quickly and their mobility and organization efficiency was on average 12% better than that of the Arab coalition forces."

"The artillery hit rate is 6% higher than that of the Afghan army."

"The tactical infiltration was carried out three times. The armored group adopted a deep flanking attack pattern, first to the north and then to the west. The battlefield shifted to a high-speed blitzkrieg in all directions, with heavy forces encircling and quickly dispersing, ultimately achieving victory."

"In this battle, both sides deployed nearly ten divisions, and the fighting ended in a single day."

"A total of a thousand tanks were destroyed. The reason why the Israeli army was able to achieve such a major result is that its mobile organization efficiency is faster than that of the enemy."

"Did they prepare in advance and arrive at the battlefield first?"

Chen Mo's erudite and well-researched explanation left Cheng Dong completely bewildered.

A good, long time passed.

Company Commander Cheng nodded slightly: "So, according to you, the deployment of trains is quite important."

"Of course." Chen Mo nodded sincerely, knowing that if he wanted the reconnaissance company to learn well, the prerequisite was that they had to serve the company commander well.

After all, only this vicious wolf can keep the pack in check.

It seems they have realized the importance of railway equipment.

Cheng Dong flicked the cigarette butt away, patted his butt, and stood up, saying, "Scholar, I know you've grown a lot in the month you spent at the Army Academy, but when it comes to leading troops, you're still not as good as me."

"With the group of people in the room right now, it's pointless to let them sit there and enjoy the air conditioning."

"Listen to me, starting tomorrow, we'll set up the classroom in the training field. When you're looking at the materials, you'll be squatting down. Whoever has finished looking at them can submit a report and come to the classroom to write in the air conditioning."

"If you do it this way, I guarantee it will be more efficient than it is now."

After Cheng Dong finished speaking, he ignored Chen Mo's reaction and strolled towards the classroom with an air of indifference.

Chen Mo, who remained where he was, was completely dumbfounded.

Be good! !
It has to be said that Cheng Dong's method might actually work; at least in terms of efficiency, it's much better than sitting in a classroom.

Chen Mo considered himself to be somewhat cunning, but compared to the company commander...

That guy is the real living devil.
This method will work!!
(End of this chapter)