Political Work

Those Who Lead Troops Must Be More Thorough—Do Not Turn Your Words Into 'Reading Comprehension Questions'

带兵人要再多一些细致，莫将讲话变成“阅读理解题”

PLA Daily (解放军报) 4 June 2026

Summary

Instructor Sun Jiawei at a motor company under an Eastern Theater Command Air Force station identified a pattern of soldiers over-interpreting ambiguous guidance from squad and platoon leaders, then led a company-level discussion that produced new communication standards requiring backbone cadres to state intentions and rationale explicitly when assigning tasks. The article documents a grassroots unit-cohesion problem—communication breakdown between junior leaders and enlisted soldiers—and fits a recurring theme in PLA political work literature around the 'glass-hearted' (玻璃心) soldier cohort, where the institution frames unclear leadership communication, not soldier sensitivity alone, as the primary cause of trust erosion. Its value is as a ground-level record of how a company-grade unit diagnoses and attempts to correct officer-soldier estrangement, not as evidence of a new policy directive from above.

Translation

After evening roll call, the corridor of the motor company at an Eastern Theater Command Air Force station fell quiet. Instructor Sun Jiawei was reviewing the weekly situation reports submitted by the unit's backbone cadres and noticed that several squad leaders had all mentioned the same thing: soldiers nowadays are perceptive and sensitive, and a single offhand remark from a leader can keep them turning things over in their minds for days.

The next day, he sought out several backbone cadres to learn more. Platoon Leader Qian said that during one morning exercise, he had helped correct clerk Xiao Lin's arm-swing technique, directly pointing out a persistent bad habit. That same evening, Xiao Lin specifically sought him out and haltingly asked whether he had done something wrong recently. He said: "When you give feedback you usually say a few words of praise before getting to the point—today you came straight out with criticism, so I thought you had a problem with me…"

Hearing this, Platoon Leader Qian did not know whether to laugh or cry. He had simply been correcting a training movement on its own merits, and had never imagined the soldier would read so much into it.

Squad Leader Zhu of the transport squad also reported that a while back, when he took new soldier Xiao Zhang on a long-distance transport mission, the vehicle had just had its fuel gauge sensor replaced, so he specifically reminded him to "keep an eye on the fuel gauge along the way." As a result, Xiao Zhang drove with extreme caution the entire trip, afraid to press the accelerator hard, and finished thirty minutes behind the scheduled completion time. "I only wanted him to pay attention and observe—but that one simple sentence turned into a 'reading comprehension question' by the time it reached him."

Drawing on these incidents, everyone engaged in a lively discussion. Some said that casually asking a new soldier how he had been doing lately caused the soldier to repeatedly wonder whether his performance had been poor; others said that glancing at a particular soldier an extra time during roll call made that soldier think he had "stuck out" (冒了泡), leaving him unable to sleep all night…

Instructor Sun Jiawei analyzed that the cause of this phenomenon lay partly in the fact that some soldiers are sensitive and perceptive—even somewhat thin-skinned ("glass-hearted" [玻璃心])—but also in the fact that leaders' intentions and standards when assigning tasks are not clear enough, which easily leaves soldiers uncertain and causes them to over-speculate.

After the company studied the matter, it decided to further clarify requirements for backbone cadres who lead troops: when assigning work, intentions and standards must be laid out openly and explicitly—soldiers must not be left to guess; for things conveyed in passing, add one more sentence explaining the reason, and make the "subtext" (话外音) explicit; when a soldier is found to be "overthinking," speak plainly and explain thoroughly.

Afterward, Platoon Leader Qian made a point of having a heart-to-heart talk with Xiao Lin. Xiao Lin frankly admitted that the platoon leader's criticism is still just as direct, but he no longer wastes time speculating, because he now understands the platoon leader's requirements and standards and knows that all of it is for his own good.

"It is not that the soldiers are overthinking—it is that they do not know what their leaders actually want, so they have no choice but to try to cover every possibility they can think of. The process of guessing back and forth is the process by which estrangement quietly takes root." Instructor Sun Jiawei said: as long as we who lead troops have a little more patience and a little more thoroughness, we can certainly make communication between officers and soldiers smoother and make the bonds of comradeship closer.

Original Chinese

晚点名后，东部战区空军某场站汽车连走廊安静下来。指导员孙佳玮翻看骨干交上来的周情况汇报，发现几名班长都提到，现在战士们心思细，带兵人随口一句话，他们能琢磨好几天。第二天，他找几名骨干了解情况。钱排长说，有一次出操，他帮助纠正文书小林的摆臂动作，直接点出了痼癖毛病。结果当天晚上，小林就专门找到他，吞吞吐吐地问“是不是最近哪里做得不好”。他说：“以往讲评你都会先夸几句再转入正题，今天上来就批评，我还以为你对我有看法……” 闻听此言，钱排长哭笑不得。他只是就事论事纠正训练动作，没想到战士会考虑这么多。运输班朱班长也反映，前阵子他带新员小张执行长途运输任务，由于车辆刚刚更换过油表传感器，他便专门叮嘱一句“路上注意油表情况”。结果小张在驾驶途中小心翼翼，不敢猛踩油门，比预定完成时间晚了半小时。“我只是让他留心观察一下，可这简简单单的一句话，到他那变成了一道‘阅读理解题’。” 结合这几件事，大家讨论热烈起来。有人说随口问问新兵近期状态，对方就反复琢磨自己是不是表现不好；有人说点名时多看某个战士两眼，对方就以为自己“冒了泡”，一晚上睡不着…… 孙佳玮分析认为，导致这一现象的原因在于有些战士心思细腻敏感，甚至有点“玻璃心”，但因为带兵人部署意图和标准不够清晰，容易导致战士心里没底，进而造成过度揣测。连队研究后，决定对带兵骨干进一步明确要求：部署工作，必须把意图和标准摆在明面上，不能任由战士去猜；随口交代的事，多解释一句原因，把“话外音”挑明；发现战士“想多了”，要把话说开、讲透。后来，钱排长特意找小林谈了一次心。小林坦言，现在排长批评依然很直接，但他再也不瞎琢磨了，因为他清楚排长的要求和标准，懂得这一切都是为自己好。 “不是战士想太多，是他们不知道带兵人到底想要什么，只好把所有能想到的都做到。猜来猜去的过程，就是隔阂悄悄生长的过程。”孙佳玮说，只要我们带兵人再多一点耐心、多一些细致，就一定能让官兵之间沟通更加顺畅，让战友情谊更加紧密。