3 'Navigation Charts' and One Handbook, Like Silent Guides Calibrating the Direction of Cadets' Advance
Installing 'BeiDou' on the Road to Cadet Growth
■ Jiao Yudong, Wang Xiaoyu
Cadets from the Information Engineering University of the Cyberspace Force travel to a field training site. Photo by Luo Hongchao
Morning mist hung like gauze, lightly veiling the heartland of the Central Plains. Inside a certain remote-sensing satellite calibration field, a massive fan-shaped target lay still on a hillside, like a "Heavenly Eye" gazing up at the sky. Non-commissioned officer cadets from a certain cadet battalion of the Information Engineering University of the Cyberspace Force stood among them, conducting observation and study under the guidance of Political Instructor Guo Zhuwei.
"A satellite soaring through the universe cannot do without continuous calibration from ground reference points." Guo Zhuwei's voice cut through the thin mist, prompting reflection. "Human life is also like a satellite, and military service is the orbit—have any of you ever seriously considered where your own 'calibration points' lie in your military career?"
This question is one that NCO cadets must confront, and one that the cadre of the cadet battalion must also think through when carrying out their work of nurturing personnel. Military academies are the cradle for forging the backbone of the future battlefield. Whether cadets can establish firm professional convictions and plan clear paths for growth during their time at the academy directly bears on the quality and effectiveness of training personnel for war.
In recent years, this cadet battalion has installed precise "navigation" for each NCO cadet through immersive guidance (沉浸式引导), systematic design, and precision implementation, helping them calibrate their heading, strengthen their convictions, and walk their military path more steadily and solidly, growing continuously.
"Before, we were feeling for stones to cross the river; now we travel by looking at the map"
"Completed today: 2 hours of UAV flight training." Just before Lights Out sounded, Information Engineering University of the Cyberspace Force cadet Tian Dewen sat upright at his desk and carefully drew a checkmark next to that entry in his Cadet Growth Planning Handbook.
Leafing through this handbook, which his comrades call the "growth navigator," daily plans, weekly plans, and monthly plans through to graduation prospects are laid out clearly and in order. In the margins, scattered notes in Tian Dewen's hand record his impressions: "My 3-kilometer run was 10 seconds faster today—keep pushing" and "Passed UAV theory, finally moving on to practical operations"…
Closing the handbook, his fingertips brushing the dog-eared cover, ripples stirred in Tian Dewen's heart.
Cadets from the Information Engineering University of the Cyberspace Force study UAV assembly. Photo by Yin Tianjun
Go back a year and a half.
Shortly after enrolling, Tian Dewen knocked on Political Instructor Guo Zhuwei's door for the first time. This tough soldier who never complained on the training ground now stood with his head bowed, his voice carrying a note of confusion: "Instructor, I feel like I'm carrying a fire inside me, but I just don't know where to direct the effort. I want to improve, but I can't see the road; I have goals, but I feel like I can't reach the ladder."
Guo Zhuwei looked into Tian Dewen's eyes and saw both anxiety and longing.
Afterward, Tian Dewen's words were brought before the cadet battalion Party committee. Investigation revealed that cadets like him who fell into confusion in the early period of enrollment were not isolated cases—they had arrived carrying dreams, but faced with a new environment and an unknown path, they were like travelers at a crossroads, not knowing how to proceed.
The problem pointed the way to action. In those days, the lights in the battalion Party committee meeting room often burned until deep in the night. Battalion cadre conducted surveys to understand the future posting requirements of cadets, used the goal of strengthening the military (强军目标) as the baseline, and deeply integrated career planning into the talent cultivation chain. After repeated deliberation and multiple revisions, they ultimately produced 3 weighty "navigation charts" (航图): the NCO Cadet Career Development Pathway Chart, the NCO Cadet Posting Competency and Quality Spectrum Chart, and the NCO Cadet Full-Term In-School Management and Education Planning Chart. Based on these "navigation charts," they also compiled, item by item, a Cadet Growth Planning Handbook.
One evening, Guo Zhuwei called Tian Dewen in and slowly spread out the 3 "navigation charts."
On the NCO Cadet Career Development Pathway Chart, the service experience, education and training, and technical qualification credentials required for different NCO postings were marked clearly in different colors. "This is where you are now; this is a possible posting five years after graduation. These nodes in between are the steps you need to tread firmly, one by one." Guo Zhuwei pointed them out to Tian Dewen one by one.
The second chart unrolled was the NCO Cadet Posting Competency and Quality Spectrum Chart. This chart provided a standardized and detailed description of the professional activities of technical-posting specialists, and set out clear requirements for the skill levels and theoretical knowledge levels of each grade of posting. Tian Dewen thereby came to understand more clearly that a qualified UAV operator must not only know how to fly, but must also understand maintenance, meteorology, and tactical coordination. Looking at the entries and comparing them against himself, his own shortcomings were immediately apparent.
The third was the NCO Cadet Full-Term In-School Management and Education Planning Chart. From enrollment to graduation, what education is conducted each semester, what activities are organized, and what management standards are to be met—all of this was clearly visible on this chart.
"This is your 'BeiDou' navigation. What remains is to make good use of the Cadet Growth Planning Handbook and walk each day's road well." Instructor Guo said, patting Tian Dewen on the shoulder.
That night, Tian Dewen opened the army-green handbook, cross-referenced the 3 "navigation charts," and set out his plan: in the first academic year, focus on professional fundamentals and master 3 types of surveying instruments; in the second year, obtain a UAV operator's license and a vocational skills certification; in the third year, use the opportunity of a unit internship to consolidate management capabilities and gradually become a backbone element… He then broke the major goals down into semester goals, then into weekly plans and checklists, filling in the boxes stroke by stroke.
Not only Tian Dewen—using this "navigation" system, more and more cadets found their direction for effort and their path for growth. Cadet Chen Wei, through self-directed training, brought his physical fitness to Special Grade Three; cadet Yuan Jiashuo continuously raised his overall personal quality and successfully obtained a medium UAV license…
"Before, we were feeling for stones to cross the river; now we travel by looking at the map," said Tian Dewen. Three "navigation charts" and one handbook, like silent guides, calibrate the direction of cadets' advance; they are also like a mirror, reflecting yesterday's self and the shape of growth.
"A clear career path is the 'meridian and parallel lines' of growth, but no matter how far you travel, you must never forget why you set out"
In the mountains of western Henan, vegetation was lush and green. On the third day of field surveying operations this spring, the team reached Baishi Cliff Village. A stone stele inscribed with "Former Site of the Rear Hospital of the Anti-Japanese Advance Detachment" stood quietly.
Political Instructor Guo Zhuwei signaled the cadets to stop: "Forty minutes ago, we were surveying the terrain of mountains and rivers; now, what we must survey is the spiritual elevation that our forebears built on this land with their loyal faith."
Led by an elderly villager, the cadets entered a mud-brick courtyard. In early 1945, the Pi Dingjun Detachment established a rear hospital here. Under these drafty eaves, hundreds of seriously wounded soldiers once lay. With no anesthesia, patients could only bite down on wooden sticks to endure surgery; with food scarce, villagers brought their last bowl of corn porridge.
The old man pointed to a bullet-scarred earthen wall: "The year the enemy launched a 'mopping-up' operation (扫荡), the seriously wounded used this wall as cover and fired their last bullet…"
The courtyard was so quiet you could hear the wind. The shallow and deep pockmarks on the wall retained traces of battle from more than 70 years ago. Cadet Zhang Junjie reached out his hand; his fingertips touched the cold bullet holes, and a thought flashed through his mind: "If it were me, could I, like them, hold this wall until the very last moment?"
That evening at the bivouac site, the "Meridian Life" (经纬人生) micro-seminar unfolded by lantern light.
Zhang Junjie was the first to voluntarily stand and speak: "Before, I thought 'faith' was a very grand word. Today I finally understood—faith means: even if no one remembers your name, you hold the position beneath your feet. All of our growth plans must set out from this 'origin point.'"
Cadet Li Yan continued: everyone will have their own life plan, but if it loses the support of ideals and faith, a "plan" becomes an "abacus," calculating nothing but one's own small life. He raised his head: "Once we put on the uniform, we took on a mission and a responsibility. We must always remember the original intention with which we set out."
The flame of the lantern flickered gently, illuminating one young face after another. The cadets moved from personal gains and losses to the nation and the world, from career planning to the fundamental character of military service. Zhang Junjie suddenly felt that the data, grades, and certificates surrounding him had been placed in their proper position—they were no longer the destination, but steps toward some weightier form of existence.
"A clear career path is the 'meridian and parallel lines' of growth, but no matter how far you travel, you must never forget why you set out. Without loyal faith, even the most precise navigation will veer off course." Guo Zhuwei said. Based on this understanding, they fully tapped the red resources (红色资源) of the garrison area, organized the series of activities "Forging Loyalty at the Foot of the Mountains," helped cadets draw their blueprints for growth, and infused their spiritual world with an unchanging foundational color.
By lamplight, after completing his week's Cadet Growth Planning Handbook, Zhang Junjie wrote the following reflection: "This is not a cold task checklist, but a road leading toward an ideal. Loyal to faith, loyal to mission—every goal we strive to achieve is one small step forward on the great journey."
A cadet battalion of the Information Engineering University of the Cyberspace Force conducts an educational activity during field training. Photo by Luo Hongchao
"Using posting requirements as the 'reference frame,' precisely aligning cadet growth with the future battlefield"
Early this year, news from a training exercise site a thousand li away reached the cadet battalion, filling everyone with excitement. Li Zhi, a graduate of just six months, led his team to complete a battlefield environment support mission with "zero errors" in a live-combat-oriented assessment organized by a certain combined-arms brigade, taking first place across the entire brigade.
When the news arrived, the battalion cadre organized a video link-up, and Li Zhi's Cadet Growth Planning Handbook was also projected on screen, with his growth trajectory during his time at the academy clearly visible—
In the "Eliminating Shortcomings" column, recorded was Li Zhi's effort on a certain new-type surveying equipment, going from "not understanding the principles" to "passing with distinction"; in the "Capability Enhancement" section, based on the feedback from his unit that his "team coordination and command capability was weak," he had proactively applied to serve as a cadet unit backbone, and in the handbook recorded, entry by entry, his reflections and lessons from each training session he organized…
"When I first arrived at the unit, facing new equipment and new comrades, I was genuinely a bit nervous," Li Zhi said candidly during the link-up. "But the moment I got to my posting, I found that what the unit trains and uses basically aligns with what we planned and studied at school. The UAV pilot's license and the vocational skills certification became the 'keys' that opened things up for me…"
Li Zhi's experience is not an isolated case. While at the academy, cadet Wang Hao, using the NCO Cadet Posting Competency and Quality Spectrum Chart, identified that he needed to address a shortcoming in "psychological resilience under extreme conditions," and drew up a one-year "stress-resistance training plan" for himself: taking cold showers year-round, proactively applying to participate in high-intensity physical fitness training, repeatedly studying border defense battle cases… After graduation he was assigned to a certain border defense company. Faced with a harsh environment and complex border control tasks, he showed no reluctance, but adapted rapidly and threw himself fully into the work. In one border emergency incident, relying on his solid psychological quality, he assisted the squad leader in properly handling the situation and was awarded a Third-Class Merit Citation.
"The drum must be struck at the right spot; the flute must be blown through the right hole." Cadet Zhang Kai reflected: "Before, I always felt there was a layer of separation between what school taught and what the unit used. Now, by benchmarking against posting requirements in advance, we are like builders working precisely from blueprints—when we get to the unit, we can match up much more quickly."
Today, opening the cadets' Cadet Growth Planning Handbooks, the "daily plans" include study of a particular battle case, the "weekly summaries" include review of a particular tactical action, and the "monthly evaluations" are filled with improvement suggestions raised by battalion cadre in response to new developments in the units.
Cadets conduct UAV flight training. Photo by Luo Hongchao
"Using posting requirements as the 'reference frame,' precisely aligning cadet growth with the future battlefield." The leadership of this cadet battalion introduced that they regularly invite graduates to return for "re-tempering" (回炉) roundtables, bringing back the most current unit requirements; they have established a joint talent cultivation mechanism with frontline units, integrating changes to training outlines and equipment update information into cadet planning guidance in real time.
"Looking at the 3 core 'navigation charts' hanging on the wall, you know what tomorrow's battlefield requires us to possess; opening the handbook, you know where today's self should direct its effort."
The cadets feel that the "BeiDou" of their lives has been lit—the brightest star is called faith; the unchanging road is strengthening the military (强军). And every day's down-to-earth effort is connecting the solid footprints that lead them toward the future battlefield.
Layout design: Lü Peibo