Starting from the deputy company commander of the Soldier Assault Team

The reason why retirement is considered the mainstream option is that there are other choices, such as voluntarily applying for a career change. Although very few people make this choice, it is usually chosen due to special family reasons.

In principle, officers at the division level are not assigned to civilian jobs. Only if the officer strongly applies and the organization approves will they be assigned through planned allocation. A division-level officer in the military corresponds to a provincial-level official in the local government. According to convention, officers who are transferred to civilian jobs are demoted by half a level and are generally assigned to the deputy provincial-level position.

Basically, the appointments involved deputy directors of the provincial civil affairs department, provincial emergency management (civil air defense) department, provincial transportation department, provincial water resources department, and deputy secretaries of the party committees of state-owned enterprises.

In some places, a deputy mayor of a prefecture-level city may be appointed, who will be in charge of emergency response, civil air defense, veterans affairs, and urban construction.

Provinces facing significant resettlement pressure may initially assign assistant inspectors at the deputy provincial level, retaining their benefits, and then transfer them to substantive positions if vacancies arise later.

There's no way around it; field division commanders don't understand finance, investment promotion, or people's livelihood, so it's impossible to assign them to economic leadership positions. If division commanders apply for demobilization, they're generally around 48 or 49 years old. If they work as deputy directors for 5-8 years and do well, they have a chance to be promoted to director.

The local retirement age is 60, which means that if you work until you are 56 or 57, you can be promoted to the top position in the provincial civil air defense office or emergency management bureau, or the director of the municipal people's congress or the chairman of the municipal political consultative conference.

As for becoming the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee or the mayor, that's extremely difficult and requires long-term local experience and the support of senior leaders.

It means working until you reach the rank of director-general before you turn sixty, which means working for another ten years before your nominal rank is equal to your pre-retirement rank.

Not to mention that no good person would be willing to work like a slave for another ten years, the cash income, benefits, work pressure, and retirement security are all inferior to those of an active-duty division commander. It's like working for more than ten years and getting less pay.

Although a division commander in the military is theoretically equivalent to a department head in the local government, the difference in salary and benefits is significant.

Military salaries include multiple components such as position salary, rank salary, seniority salary, combat unit post allowance, troop-leading allowance, equipment post allowance, and regional allowance, resulting in a take-home pay that is far higher than that of civil servants at the same level in local areas.

After being transferred to civilian life, all military-specific allowances were canceled, leaving only a fixed local salary and a small year-end bonus. Of course, there might be some other income, but since I had just transferred, I basically didn't receive any.

Furthermore, there is a huge disparity in housing benefits. Military dependents are allocated division-level military-owned apartments, which are large, rent-free, and the military covers the property management costs. Their children are also provided with access to military schools and kindergartens, and they can also purchase housing reform properties at low prices.

As for local officials at the department level, in principle, after the nationwide ban on the construction of new housing by work units and the free allocation of housing ended in 01, they were required to buy their own houses. They received housing subsidies and were responsible for their own mortgage payments, property management fees, and so on.

Well, the reason I say "in principle" is because there are policies from above and countermeasures from below. If you can't distribute the money directly, you can still distribute it indirectly. Those who know, know.

The difference in medical care is also enormous. Military hospitals offer full reimbursement, green channels, and dedicated clinics, and family members can enjoy preferential medical care while accompanying their spouses.

For local civil servants, in principle, they have access to ordinary medical insurance with limited reimbursement rates, long waiting times for medical treatment, and many out-of-pocket expenses. They also do not have the exclusive medical insurance provided by the military.

In other words, if you transfer to civilian work and retire at the age of 60, you will receive a local government pension, which will be lower than that of retired military officers of the same age. All military-specific allowances will be cancelled, and you will have to work for another ten years.

The past ten years have been incredibly demanding, requiring me to relearn local government affairs, economic matters, and people's livelihood issues. Wouldn't it be better to use that time to retire, go home, and see my children?

If you really can't stay idle, you can start your own business; after all, fifty is the age to take risks.

Of course, there is another special case: if a division commander's term of office has expired and the new positions have not yet been filled, and he is still relatively young, he will be assigned as a research fellow at the division level within the group army.

They are not in charge of actual military operations, but only participate in special research and pilot review. They will be formally transferred when the position becomes available. However, this is a temporary transitional position and they will not stay there for long.

However, these are all for ordinary division commanders, not for the legendary division commander Chen Shi.

A deputy commander of the C Group Army is just over a year away from retirement age, and it's obvious to everyone who sees who will take the position.

Because in his second year in office, Commander Chen had already entered the National Defense University's Senior Command Class and completed a year of full-time on-campus study.

This is a privilege only granted to those listed as reserve deputy corps officers in the group army. Without obtaining a certificate of completion from the National Defense University's senior command class, even if a division commander has served for six years and has an excellent track record, they will not be promoted to deputy corps and will remain stuck at the senior colonel level forever.

That's why it's said that after the deputy commander of the C Group Army retired, everyone knew who would take over that position.

Generally speaking, if someone can reach the position of senior colonel or division commander between the ages of forty-two and forty-four, they are considered to be among the very young and promising.

Many officers at this age are still lieutenant colonels or deputy regimental commanders, but this one, at forty-three, is already close to becoming a colonel or division commander. He's no longer just an ordinary young officer; he's a key figure among the young officers.

This is a systematic effort by military regions and group armies to build a reserve echelon at the army level, with clearly defined and institutionalized talent pools for the next generation of army commanders/theater-level commanders, which is the next generation of senior command talent in the official sense.

If nothing unexpected happens, in a few years when Gao Cheng's father is promoted to the position of deputy military region chief of staff, Chen, the division commander, will have completed his term as deputy army commander and will then confidently take up the position of army commander of the C Group Army.

If you really think about it, Gao Cheng's father belonged to the tail end of the first batch of young officers in Army Group C, and the beginning of the second batch of young officers.

Gao Shijun rose to prominence back then by relying on his combat experience in southern Xinjiang, traditional combined arms tactics, and armored group thinking. He is also very receptive to information technology and small combined arms battalion reforms. He is likely to become the leader of their garrison in the future.

Gao Cheng's skill in maneuvering with armored formations, and his somewhat obsessive fascination with them, stems from his father. How many men can resist the combined shock of an armored formation's impact—the visual, auditory, and tactile sensations of the ground?

Division Commander Chen Shi belongs to the third generation of young leaders, while Zhang Anbang and Gao Cheng are the backbone of the fifth generation of young leaders. This review of the plan can be said to be a review between two or three generations of young backbone leaders.

For a very, very long time to come, this person will be their direct supervisor or, in other words, their supervisor's supervisor.

This is also why B Division Commander Lao Liu and Political Commissar Lao Zhou wanted to curse. Although Chen Beizhou was the third nominee, the probability was obviously too low.

A bunch of arrogant young people, they have the ability, the age, the achievements, and the connections—in short, they have everything. How can anyone do this? No way, we can't compete.