Starting from the deputy company commander of the Soldier Assault Team

"Deputy Company Commander, do you know? Looking at San Duo, it's easy to think of the first soldier I personally trained, especially since he was seconded back this time." Shi Jin seemed a bit sentimental today.

Zhang Anbang understood his emotions and struck up a conversation, saying, "I'm quite interested, tell me about it."

Shi Jin wiped his eyes and began to ramble on.

"That child is from a rural area under Xingtai. His name is Tiewa. He is a bit dull, but better than Sanduo."

At that time, I didn't have much experience, and I was afraid that I wouldn't do something well enough, so I often asked Sergeant Ma for advice. I guess you could say I made progress by stumbling along the way...

I did a good job raising that last child; he was very outstanding. Unfortunately, something happened in his family, so he didn't serve beyond his term and went home to get married.

Seeing that Shi Jin's mood had improved, Zhang Anbang opportunely changed the subject, "Going home to get married is a good idea. Squad Leader Shi, you're not young anymore, when are you planning to get married?"

In the story, Shi Jin retired from the military, returned home, married his childhood sweetheart who had been waiting for him, became a tour guide, and had a son. Their life was very happy.

Shi Jin's expression changed rapidly, from being sentimental to extremely shy. "Deputy, Deputy Company Commander, why, why are you suddenly bringing this up?"

Zhang Anbang threatened him, "You, Shi Jin, still not honest? At your age, you're either married or have a partner back in your hometown."

"You look so caught off guard, could it be that you're the kind of guy who starts something and then abandons it?"

"No, no," Shi Jin hurriedly tried to explain, but when he turned his head and saw Zhang Anbang barely able to hold back his laughter, he could understand even more what Gao Cheng meant when he said that Zhang Anbang sometimes had a very wicked sense of humor.

"Deputy Company Commander, I have a girlfriend. Xiaoyan has been waiting for me for five or six years. We keep in touch frequently. After this exercise, I'm thinking of taking a leave of absence and going back to get married."

Shi Jin became a little embarrassed as he spoke.

Zhang Anbang wasn't laughing at him. Men should marry when they're of age and women should marry when they're of age. In this day and age, if someone Shi Jin is still unmarried in the countryside, it's considered a great hardship.

However, such phenomena are neither numerous nor rare in the military.

These are usually the backbone squad leaders of elite companies, who devote most of their energy to leading, training, and completing various tasks.

Although I have holidays, I rarely go home and don't have much time to see my parents, so how can I find time to date? And so, I dragged it out until I was twenty-eight or twenty-nine.

"That's great! Is the marriage certificate ready?"

"It was prepared a long time ago, and it's already been approved," Shi Jin said, a hint of longing on his face.

Zhang Anbang didn't know what this thing felt like. After all, he only had theoretical experience in both his lives and was all talk. He didn't know exactly what this thing felt like.

"That's great. Your sister-in-law has waited for you for five or six years. You get three days of basic marriage leave, seven days of late marriage leave, plus thirty days of family visit leave."

Oh, by the way, I remember you didn't take any leave last year, right? You can take fifteen days off this year, so you can take them all at once and spend some quality time at home with your sister-in-law and parents.

A blush crossed Shi Jin's dark face as he nodded and said, "Yes, that's what I think too. It's fifty-five days in total. I'll spend some quality time with Xiaoyan at home. I've always felt bad for her all these years."

Military leave is different from civilian leave; these 55 days are a full 55 days, excluding travel time.

Furthermore, round-trip travel expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with regulations, and basic salary, military occupational allowance, living allowance, regional allowance, and seniority allowance will all be paid normally.

Unless the leave exceeds three months, in which case the position and post allowance will be suspended from the fourth month onwards, the allowance will be paid normally.

Zhang Anbang glanced at Shi Jin, thinking, "What kind of work does your sister-in-law do?"

Shi Jin's voice always changes when he talks about his girlfriend. "Xiao Yan graduated from a nursing school and works as a nurse at the county hospital in our hometown. She's a full-time employee."

Shi Jin's tone was full of pride, and indeed she had reason to be proud. In those days, being a full-fledged nurse at a county hospital was an extremely prestigious position in the local area.

It's a highly regarded job in the county, considered a "secure job" by everyone. Whether in the marriage market, neighborhood opinion, job stability, or social status, it's considered to be in the upper-middle range of the county's job hierarchy.

This job is one of the best that children from ordinary families can get. Apart from being a bit tiring, it's pretty good in every other way.

In particular, if they are able to accompany their unit, they can be directly assigned to a formal nursing position in a military medical clinic or a public hospital near their station, in accordance with the policy of transferring personnel with their unit.

Furthermore, their employment status is retained, their seniority is continuous, and this is a special preferential policy jointly formulated by the military and local authorities.

"It's a great job. Nurses and soldiers are a highly compatible match in the marriage market. We are protecting our country and obeying orders, while they are saving lives and sticking to their posts. They can understand our difficulties."

Zhang Anbang raised an eyebrow and continued, "In just over two months, you'll be on your fourth term. Four terms is four years. What are you thinking? Will you stay in the team or leave the military afterward?"

Shi Jin didn't hesitate. "I still want to stay in the army. I like this simple life. I can gradually adapt to the outside world, but it's still a bit more complicated than the army. It's just that the fifth term is not easy."

"Let's work hard first. It's a four-year term. You can get married and have children, and your family can help take care of the kids. If you transfer to the fifth term, your sister-in-law can bring the kids to join you in the military."

The regimental compound has a kindergarten, and meals can be taken at a special canteen window—it's cheap and hygienic. My sister-in-law can also work at the regimental clinic or a nearby public hospital.

Zhang Anbang's words were very calm, but it was precisely these calm words that made Shi Jin yearn for them. If he could stay in his favorite unit and bring his wife and children over, he would be very satisfied just thinking about it.

No, no, I'm overthinking it. Shi Jin shook his head. This is something that happened after he transitioned from Phase 4 to Phase 5 in terms of efficiency. He's not married yet, he doesn't have a wife or children.

"Deputy Company Commander, there are even fewer spots available for the fifth cohort. Do you have any suggestions?" Shi Jin asked humbly. He wasn't an outsider, so why not ask? Although he already had a general idea, it would be better to hear the leader's advice.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Anban realized that there were only a few paths to transitioning from Phase Four to Phase Five: either teaching and training key personnel, or technology and ensuring the success of key personnel training.

Given Shi Jin's current position as an instructor in the training team, he is best suited to teaching and training key personnel.

This is the most mainstream five-stage promotion path for grassroots field troops. The core is teaching performance and the irreplaceability of the position. This is the most historically and currently applicable path, and it also has the highest success rate.

Infantry, tactics, and shooting instruction positions are core and essential for the military. As long as Shi Jin has teaching achievements during his four terms of service and has been awarded the title of "Excellent" for three consecutive years, he is eligible.

Alternatively, if you have unique teaching methods that can be formally printed and promoted at the regimental or divisional level, and lead your team to win awards in divisional or army-level competitions, you will have a high probability of being promoted to the fifth term.

After all, the training corps is the core training base for military personnel, and the priority rate for the fifth phase of the establishment of teaching backbone positions is no lower than that for technical positions.

Furthermore, the performance of this position is relatively easy to quantify, the position is quite irreplaceable, and the success rate of promotion is not low.

Another path is through technology, which is the backbone of the support system. Liu Xuexi, the cook of the Seventh Steel Company, took this path, and he has now obtained an advanced certificate.

There are few chef certificates in the military, only three levels: primary, intermediate, and advanced. The advanced certificate corresponds to Level 3, Senior Technician, in the National Vocational Skill Standard for Chinese Cooks promulgated in 1996.

In the social catering industry, they would be the backbone of the workforce. Most importantly, military chefs have no higher rank than this, similar to getting a perfect score on an exam because the test only has 100 points.

Therefore, the idea that the trajectory of the ballistic missile deviates to the left is absurd in some aspects of the show, such as Erniu's Level 2 Chef Certificate.

This thing is set to be available around year 10. Theoretically, the shortest time to obtain it is about 14 years, but in practice, it takes 15-18 years.

The character of Erniu is quite likable, but according to his life story, he dropped out of junior high school to work and earn money. Given his education level, the age limit for military recruitment around 2010 could be extended to 20 years old at most.

If we consider graduating from junior high school as being fifteen years old, and enlisting in the army at twenty, even if you work as a chef the whole time, it's reasonable to expect to get a Level 5 certificate in five years. The absolute limit is getting a Level 4 certificate.

Just for your information, a Level 2 Chef Certificate is not something you can just pick up anywhere; it represents the highest level in the industry and puts you in the elite tier of chefs.

They are usually head chefs or executive chefs of star-rated hotels or well-known restaurants in big cities. They are not just good at cooking, but also have practical skills, research and development, teaching and management abilities.

To obtain this item, one generally needs to be around thirty-five years old, and in the preparation of state banquets, it falls under the category of assisting the head chef.

The most capable can even reach the core chef position, responsible for the preparation of core dishes for state banquets.

Shi Jin couldn't work in the mess hall; it wasn't suitable and it was too late. If he wanted to take that path, he could go to core technical positions like the regimental equipment section, repair shop, medical team, or communications company.

These types of positions require mastery of core technologies scarce in the military, such as tank and infantry fighting vehicle maintenance, radio communication support, and ordnance repair, and the ability to independently solve equipment and technical problems.

The positions are generally ordnance repair technicians in the regimental repair shop, armored equipment repair backbone personnel in the equipment section, and wireless communication technicians in the communications company, etc.

……

Zhang Anbang shared his thoughts with Shi Jin, who fell into deep thought. After all, if he wanted to stay on the team, he would have to work even harder from now on. Four years seemed like a long time, but it actually passed very quickly.

Seeing Shi Jin deep in thought, Zhang Anbang didn't say anything more. After all, it was his own business. As long as Shi Jin found the right direction, achieved results, and advanced to the fifth phase, things would be much easier.

We'll talk about the promotion from the fifth to the sixth phase later.

After all, that would be nine years later, and by then, Gao Laoqi would at least be a regimental or deputy division-level cadre.

As for myself... I probably won't be much worse off.

After all, we performed reasonably well, and we have connections underground.