Military career: Starting with a recruitment letter

Chapter 196 Deputy Squad Leader, what outrageous thing have you done this time?

Outside the Seventh Brigade's training ground.

The surrounding area was filled with smoke and the pungent smell of diesel fuel permeated the air.

A battle.

Although they won the first round, it was not a glorious victory. They lost the second round, but the defeat was shameful.

The soldiers from the two companies lined up at a distance, while the officers hung their heads, and many of the sensors on their bodies were still emitting white smoke.

Wei Jin'an was furious.

He said coldly, "Take that piece of junk off me. Is it something to be proud of to have it on you?"

In general.

The brigade commander wouldn't reprimand a company commander or platoon leader in person; if he did speak up, it meant he was genuinely furious.

Battalion Commander Liu Hongyun was startled and quickly kicked the company commander in front of him a few times, cursing, "Damn it, go clean up yourselves, you're making a fool of yourselves."

"Fuck off!"

With the battalion commander speaking, the officers who hadn't wanted to gather there in the first place scattered in a panic.

It's mainly embarrassing.

This is incredibly embarrassing. Our workplace was raided, and we don't even know how the higher-ups will deal with them. We were hoping to put on high alert and salvage the situation.

It's fine now.

The fighting was indeed quite impressive, but the command of the 1st Company was seized by the dog scholar. With an outsider in command, the 2nd Company was routed and ultimately wiped out.

To be honest, the Second Battalion has never been as humiliated as it was today.

After everyone left.

Battalion Commander Liu Hongyun and Political Instructor Lou Shuhai stood before the brigade commander, bracing themselves against the raging storm.

"Tell me, why is no one on duty in the operations room?"

"what?"

"Is it okay not to be on duty during lunch break?"

“I think you’ve gotten used to being lazy. Did you hear what Chief of Staff Luo said earlier? He said we have problems with our work style.”

"Damn it, you still have the nerve to stand here in those military uniforms?"

“If this were before, I would have killed you all.”

Wei Jinan's scolding wasn't loud or harsh, but the label of "moral conduct" was far too heavy.

Battalion Commander Liu and Political Instructor Lou, standing closest to the brigade commander, were being berated by him like a small boat in a raging storm, unable to cope with their own predicament and remaining silent with their heads down.

Meanwhile, the two company commanders who had just removed the sensors from their bodies heard the brigade commander's scolding. They pulled down their hat brims, their eyes red, feeling extremely aggrieved.

A soldier.

Every day, we strive for honor—personal honor and organizational honor—and we remain vigilant in upholding discipline, never daring to relax our guard in the slightest.

If their 7th Brigade were like some other units, with lax discipline, stealing and selling oil, and driving around doing business, then it would be acceptable to scold them.

The issue is.

Since September of last year, the 7th Tank Division has been transferred from the 28th Army to the 63rd Army. Its organization has been reduced, its number has been changed, and it has been involved in every round of troop reductions.

Even so.

The battalions and companies under the Seventh Brigade were all holding their breath, just to avoid bringing shame to the old Seventh Division. But today, they were scolded by the former leaders of the Seventh Division for having problems with their conduct.

Only those cadres who have come this far truly understand the grievances they have suffered.

Battalion Commander Liu Hongyun, too, had his head turned away, looking resentful and defiant.

As a battalion commander, you can scold or beat him, but you can't say that the troops he leads have bad discipline.

This kind of scolding almost negates the efforts of all the soldiers in the entire battalion.

Wei Jin'an was aware of the situation in the Second Battalion. After scolding the soldiers in front of them, he simply waved his hand and said, "Alright, I'll remember this."

"You all heard what Chief of Staff Luo just said, right?"

"In the middle of next month, there will be a military exercise in the Northwest. The higher-ups have requested that their base send a unit there, and your 2nd Battalion will be the main force going with them."

"Battalion Commander Liu."

"arrive!!"

“You’re a veteran comrade now. We’ve been talking about reform for the past two years, and we’ve been constantly implementing reforms.”

“This trip to participate in the military exercise may be an opportunity to go out and see the world, and also to learn how the Army Academy transforms us into an informationized force for combat.”

"Understand?"

"Yes, Commander!!"

Liu Hongyun straightened his back, his gaze fixed firmly ahead, and saluted!
"Alright, notify the troops to bring it back."

Wei Jinan didn't say anything more. He patted Battalion Commander Liu on the shoulder, turned around, and got into his car to leave.

Recently.

With the political commissar absent and the brigade busy, Brigade Commander Wei simply didn't have the energy to give too many instructions.

But he knew that selecting the Second Battalion as the main force this time might be an opportunity for the entire Seventh Brigade.

the other side.

On the way back with Chen Mo, Luo Yaowu was in a good mood the whole time, for no other reason than that.

Just because of Chen Mo's performance just now.

There's a saying that goes something like this: war isn't actually that complicated, and neither is the composition of an army; it's simply a matter of academics and those who are actually in the field.

The academic school is for those with ability and talent, while the practical school is for those who survive.

This is a bit of a mouthful, but that's roughly the gist of it for high-ranking military officials.

In Luo Yaowu's mind, Chen Mo had always been the kind of person who was interested in exploring new things, was willing to learn, and was willing to endure hardship. He thought that Chen Mo might be able to make a name for himself in the research field in the future.

It was because of this idea.

Luo Yaowu had planned to lead the military exercise in the Northwest, with Chen Mo accompanying him to learn and serve as a casual advisor.

Consider it a learning experience.

But today, Chen Mo's performance really gave him a big surprise.

Whether we admit it or not.

A private who has just been awarded the rank of lieutenant, without having participated in any military exercises, can make on-the-spot adjustments to battlefield maneuvering, combat assaults, and other operations based solely on a few months of classroom learning.

This ability indicates that Chen Mo has an extremely high talent for understanding the dynamic balance of the battlefield and the relationship between the enemy and ourselves.

Commanding a battle sounds easy.

It's easy to set up in advance.

But once you engage in battle, the enemy won't react the way you expect.

Every tactical order adjustment must be based on the broad battlefield space and time, and then perfectly combined with the degree of combat damage, infantry-tank coordination efficiency, assault mode, fire support, terrain features, and so on.

We cannot fight a war blindly.

"Taking it step by step" is not just a few words that can be uttered.

That was a war that required the lives of soldiers to pay for; there was no room for error, and commanders were not allowed to make mistakes either.

Doing all that is no easy feat.

"Chen Mo."

"arrive!!"

Chen Mo, who was sitting in the passenger seat looking at the scenery around him, suddenly heard the director in the back call him. He hurriedly turned around to look at the back.

"It's nothing, relax, let's talk." Luo Yaowu smiled and said, "I just heard from the people in the company that you are in command. Tell me your reasons."

the reason
Chen Mo scratched his head and thought for a moment, then said with certainty, "Commander, if I had to give a reason for that situation, I could only say it was because I was exhausted."

"Oh? Tell me."

"Yes."

"I was unaware beforehand that the First and Second Companies had the same organizational structure, and the triangular matrix assault formation was not suitable for deployment at the company level."

"Since it's a mobile warfare, whoever gets to the combat zone first will take the initiative. The triangular matrix assault chain is not only slow, but also lacks sufficient armor to cover its flanks and rear, making it easy for the enemy to tie it down."

"Go on," Luo Yaowu nodded noncommittally.

"Another problem is that combat intelligence is too difficult to obtain. The two companies are fighting entirely based on the commanders' intuition. Whoever has stronger insight, senses the battlefield one step ahead of others, and can accurately issue orders to individual tank crews will have the advantage."

"With this command method, as long as the commander is always in a state of readiness, the combat effectiveness of individual combat units can be brought to an extremely high level. However, if the commander makes a mistake, the limitations will be very great."

"The overall combat effectiveness of the company will be greatly reduced."

Seeing how serious Chen Mo was, Luo Yaowu did not respond immediately.

Because he didn't quite understand what kind of "weakness" Chen Mo meant.

It's understandable that the company commanders of the Second Battalion had overly simplistic command strategies, lacked adaptability, and were generally ineffective.

But combat intelligence is the same for all combating forces.

After all, war is all about intelligence; without it, what's the point of fighting?

For example, if the enemy sends a division and you have no intelligence, are you going to send a battalion?

A few years ago, when it came to sending troops abroad for peacekeeping, the higher-ups asked for more than 30,000 troops, including one infantry division and two armored divisions. This was simply because of the intelligence asymmetry.

However, it's understandable that Director Luo doesn't understand, because unlike Chen Mo, he didn't stick his head out of the tank to observe the situation.

They have never experienced the real-time display of battlefield situation on a terminal in the information and digital age.

Naturally, they couldn't understand what this "lack of strength" actually meant.

The conversation between the two did not last long.

After returning to the Second Battalion's camp, Luo Yaowu told Chen Mo that he could look around and wander around.

He then returned to the operations duty room and began communicating by phone with the Army Academy and the military region.

After all, transferring an entire battalion isn't something a director like Luo Yaowu can accomplish with just a few words.

The procedures for the transfer, personnel arrangements, and even the venues for subsequent exercises and rehearsals must all be arranged in a unified manner.

The Second Battalion was transferred so that it could be taken to the battlefield in half a month. Time was very tight, and many details could only be discussed and planned at a meeting back at the base.

The director is busy.

Chen Mo, on the other hand, was fine. The First and Second Companies hadn't returned yet, and they were probably going to get a scolding from him.

The Third Company remained at the camp and did not send anyone out, but he didn't know anyone from the Third Company.

After wandering around for a while, Chen Mo simply chose a tree that provided some shade and sat down to rest.

At the same time, Chen Mo is also considering participating in the Northwest military exercises.

With such a large-scale exercise, there must be quite a few troops participating. The base sent the Second Battalion as the main force. Can they make a splash?
Although the Second Battalion's overall execution was acceptable, its equipment was terrible.

The only thing we could boast about was those twenty-odd tanks.

If we add the reconnaissance company from the base, along with those eleven technical sergeants.

The logistics, maintenance, engineering, chemical defense, reconnaissance, infantry, transportation, and other auxiliary combat units of the Second Battalion are most likely to be in good working order.

To achieve information warfare capabilities, one must first have self-defense capabilities. The entire Second Battalion had neither air defense equipment nor long-range equipment; it didn't even have radar or artillery.

If we calculate it this way...

The main battalion needs at least one more howitzer company and one anti-aircraft machine gun company to maintain overall equipment mobility and assault capabilities.

These alone are not enough.

Drones, early warning equipment, and even long-range rocket artillery platoons need to be equipped.

The difference between informatization and mechanization lies in the fact that the former has the foundation of information technology, enabling it to detect the enemy first, conduct long-range attacks, and carry out precision guidance on the battlefield.

To put it simply, mechanization encountering information technology is like cavalry encountering a Maxim machine gun squad.

No matter how powerful a cavalryman's bow and arrow are, they can't compare to a heavy machine gun.

But it's easier said than done. Chen Mo recalled a large-scale joint exercise that took place in 1996.

At that time, it was a full-scale assault, with medium, low and high-altitude artillery and tanks, helicopter groups, artillery groups, rocket groups, infantry and armored groups, tank groups, bomber groups, plus battlefield logistics supply, maintenance, engineers, chemical defense, air defense, communications, radar, transportation, etc. during the assault.

The demonstration involved 2 personnel and showcased the mobile assault equipment.

A 14-hour frantic maneuver covering 400 kilometers, followed by a 4-hour strategic assault covering 200 kilometers.

With this kind of momentum, let alone a small group of enemies, even if Godzilla blocked their way, they would probably be hammered into "Dizilla".

The above refers only to the "cavalry" in the previous analogy; the assault division does not possess information technology capabilities.

As Maxim, the pressure of defeating such cavalry was immense.

This is not just Chen Mo worrying unnecessarily.

In the past two years, there has been a large-scale reduction in the military, and most of the Class B divisions have been assigned to the People's Armed Police or the Marine Corps.

Those who remained were the most elite Class A divisions, truly the best of the best, the ace of the ace.

The Northwest military exercise takes place right next to the National Day parade ground, so you can imagine how impressive the participating units are.

Ordinary small-time Karamis are simply not qualified to go up there.

As a result, the Kyoto Military District, under these extreme circumstances, ordered the base to send an informationized unit to fight.

Think of this.

Chen Mo couldn't help but raise his hand to rub his temples; this whole thing was really giving him a headache.

He and everyone at the military academy wanted to achieve a good result, but it wasn't that easy.

With a hastily assembled battalion, a single mistake could lead to its being torn apart by the main division.

We need to think about how informationized forces should be deployed in the future.

Training is secondary, because you can't learn it in half a month. Being able to barely achieve fire coordination is already quite impressive.

No wonder the previous experiments always failed.

Chen Mo is now experiencing the difficulties as well. He had previously thought that if he used his battalion to challenge a regimental-level unit, he would be considered successful.

Looking at the boldness and decisiveness of the arrangements made by other military regions, I realize that I was too petty.

What's needed isn't small-scale success, but rather to open up a completely new path.

It's difficult, extremely difficult.

Chen Mo raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but when he reached down, he realized that he had been thinking about problems the whole time.

On a sweltering day with temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius, I was wearing such thick spring and autumn clothes and didn't sweat at all.

Perhaps because he had never commanded armored units in combat before, he had always oversimplified the issues.

After experiencing it once, you probably have some insights to share.

With something on his mind, he couldn't sit still.

Chen Mo got up, intending to check if Director Luo had finished his call, but before he could even move...

Rumble.
The location of the entrance to the Second Battalion's barracks.

Four Type 141 troop carriers led the way, followed by four Type 63 armored personnel carriers, and then two companies of tanks.

The convoy returned to camp amidst the heatwave.

Chen Mo stood aside and watched for a while. Just as the convoys were returning to their respective companies, it was time for him to leave as well.

Two soldiers ran quickly towards them from a distance.

"Deputy class leader!!"

"Old Chen!!"

The two ran and waved as they went. When they saw who it was, Chen Mo smiled.

He was quite familiar with these two.

It was Zhu Gaituan and Feng Junling in the Second Battalion.

Old Zhu had just run into Feng Junling at the entrance of the ammunition depot. It had been a long time since he'd seen Feng Junling; the guy was still the same as before.

He was over 1.9 meters tall, as thin as a stick, and apart from being a bit darker than before, he hadn't changed much.

"How did you two get here?" Chen Mo asked with a smile, then looked at the companies in the distance returning to their units in an orderly fashion.

The exercise just ended, but nothing happened.

The tanks need to be inspected and cleaned, and the firearms also need to be maintained. Squad meetings and company meetings will be held one after another.

Regardless, after putting in so much effort to fight a battle, the unit can't possibly arrange for anyone to rest; there's still so much to do.

"Haha, the class monitor specially granted us an hour's leave to come and see you."

Zhu Gaituan raised his hand with envy and touched Chen Mo's shoulder insignia, saying with emotion, "Squad leader, how did you become a lieutenant? I heard you were just promoted not long ago."

"It's just a temporary need. I've only changed the shoulder insignia so far. The records in my file and at the school should still show me as a trainee, so it won't be updated so quickly."

Chen Mo made an excuse to change the subject, and then looked at Feng Junling. He hadn't seen this guy for several months, and when they met again, he just grinned like an idiot.

Noticing Chen Mo looking at him, Old Feng grinned and said, "Old Chen, was that really you who was commanding the company just now?"

"Wow, military academy is awesome. You've only been there for a few months and you're already commanding battles."

"Damn it, I'm in the repair team, and I still can't knock the tracks off."

"You're just weak in the hands, all that big of a crap." Zhu Gaituan glanced at Feng Junling, then reached out and started groping Chen Mo's pocket.

Previously, they were all from the recruit training class.

Chen Mo knew what kind of guys they were, so he immediately took out all the cigarettes from his pocket and handed them to Zhu Gaituan, saying, "How have you two been doing in the company lately?"

"I think the battalion commander here is a pretty good guy, he should be able to adapt, right?"

"fart!"

"How could I possibly adapt?"

When this was mentioned, Feng Junling was alright; he simply lit a cigarette, sat on the ground to the side, and squinted as he puffed out smoke.

Zhu Gaituan, however, looked bitter and resentful, and cursed angrily: "Damn it, just a month ago, a lot of veterans said that you, the squad leader, raised some opinions at school, and wanted to collect exercise archives and such."

"These sons of bitches, they can't find you, so they're taking all their anger out on me."

“Every day during drills, they made me carry five or six guns. I was in an infantry squad, and they made me dismantle tanks and do cleaning. For a whole month, they made me wipe cannon barrels, smash tracks, and change batteries every day.”

“Look at this,” Zhu Gaituan said, stretching out his hands with a resentful expression to show the blisters on his hands: “Sometimes during extra training, they either make me carry batteries or carry artillery shells.”

"I'm exhausted! By the way, class monitor, what outrageous thing did you do at school this time?"

Chen Mo: What do you mean by "again"?

"Have a smoke," Chen Mo said, lifting Zhu Gaituan's hand to encourage him to continue smoking.

Try to say as few words as possible.

"Weren't you in the armored squad? Why did you go to the infantry squad?"

"What's so strange about that? We revolutionary soldiers are like bricks; we'll be moved wherever we're needed."

After responding nonchalantly, Zhu Gaituan sighed and said, "Damn it, I want to drive a tank too, but since we got the new equipment, a tank squad only needs three people. I'm the redundant one."

"I guess I'll have to go carry a machine gun."

"But today was really awesome. You wouldn't believe it, sergeant. On the way back, I was sitting in the back of the truck and I could hear the battalion commander yelling at the company commander from inside the armored vehicle."

"Just imagine, the two vehicles were several meters apart, and the armor plating was soundproof, yet I could still hear the battalion commander cursing at him. It was fucking exhilarating!!"

Listening to my old buddy complain.

Chen Mo simply handed him a cigarette silently. This silly kid, so innocent.

The battalion commander gave your company commander a thorough dressing-down, what's there to be happy about?

The company commander was seething with anger, but who could he vent it on?
In the end, it wasn't the soldiers of the first company who were the luckiest, as they were the last ones to be rescued.

However, Chen Mo didn't mention these unpleasant things.

To be honest, he quite enjoyed sitting and chatting with his fellow soldiers from the same year.

Because Feng Junling never considers training or what he should do in the future, since he knows he can't learn it anyway.

He was only thinking about whether the lunch would be more palatable and whether the dinner would be any different, since the armored soldiers' food was indeed quite good.

The training is too demanding, so when the army's food standards were first set, armored troops were classified as the fourth category of mess halls.

Overall, even if it can't compare to the dog sergeant, it can at least rank among the top in the army.

Zhu Gaituan was much better; this guy also had his own dreams, except that he hoped the veterans in the company would give him less trouble.

Old Zhu also hopes to stay in the army in the future, just like Old Pao, and become a respected veteran sergeant.

Chat with the two of them.

Chen Mo could feel much more relaxed, at least he didn't have to think about the formation of the informationized forces, nor did he have to think about how to select the auxiliary combat units.

It was quite relaxing.

They talked for almost an hour, and the three of them smoked a whole pack of cigarettes before Zhu Gaituan got up from the ground with some regret.

"Squad leader, we have to go back now. It's not easy to see you, and I really don't know when we'll see you again."

Take care.

"quickly."

Chen Mo stood up, dusted off his pants, and laughed, "You two should take the time to rest these next couple of days. If nothing unexpected happens, you probably won't have a chance to rest for the next month or two."

"What do you mean?" Feng Junling was taken aback; he was most afraid of doing manual labor.

Actually, it's not just him; armored soldiers are most afraid of their tanks being deployed, because once they're deployed, there's always endless work to be done.

On sunny days you'll be covered in dust, and on rainy days you'll be covered in mud—there's no escaping it.

It would be slightly better if the chariots didn't move.

Unfortunately, once Chen Mo recommended the Second Battalion, it was impossible for them to remain stationary for the next month or two.

Even minimizing movement is impossible.

"It's okay, go back. Trust me, I'll probably be very busy lately."

"Take a break whenever you have the chance and get some sleep to recharge your energy."

Chen Mo patted Feng Junling on the shoulder and watched the two walk away.

He then ran to the battalion headquarters to find Director Luo.

Who would have thought that when Chen Mo returned...

After looking around, I didn't run into Luo Yaowu. I only saw Pei Shuaijun standing downstairs in the battalion headquarters, bragging to a few other officers.

"Old Pei, where's the commander?"

"Oh, the director and Staff Officer Wang have both gone to the brigade headquarters. They said we should go back first."

"Hurry up, we're waiting for you."

“Hey, Xiucai, I overheard the director on the phone just now. He said he wants to move several of the college’s 206s over.”

"We'll be doing joint training these next few days, so we'll have something to do."

206? What the heck is 206?

Upon hearing this, Chen Mo paused for a moment before realizing what he meant and said, "The 206 you mentioned is a vehicle-mounted drone?"

"Oh, what else!"

Pei Shuaijun nodded, looking as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Chen Mo clicked his tongue. It seemed that Dean Lu had prepared far more than what was written in the experimental records.

Drones in this era are not easy to maintain. There is only one drone maintenance sergeant in the entire military region, and he is only at the sixth level.

This shows how difficult it is.

Unexpectedly, Dean Lu was well-prepared and could summon several aircraft with just a few words.

(End of this chapter)