Political Work

Identifying the Root Cause of Sentries 'Secretly Studying' While on Post, a Company Offers a Warm-Hearted Solution

理清站哨时“偷偷背书”症结所在，连队拿出暖心解决方案

PLA Daily (解放军报) 18 June 2026

Summary

A political instructor at a company under the 78th Group Army's unnamed brigade caught sentries using guard shifts to memorize regulations during a unit-wide 'Regulations Study Month' campaign, then led a structured response that included clarifying sentry duty standards, running emergency-response drills at post, and coordinating with the battalion Party committee to carve out dedicated study time and reduce extraneous tasks. The article documents a recurring tension in PLA basic-unit management between competing institutional demands — here, a top-down political education campaign generating study pressure that soldiers displaced into duty hours — and the company-level corrective mechanism that resolved it through both discipline and workload adjustment. It provides a baseline record of how political instructors at the company level are expected to diagnose and remediate readiness lapses that originate partly in higher-echelon campaign requirements rather than individual soldier failure.

Translation

One evening, Li Yan, the political instructor of a company under a brigade of the 78th Group Army, discovered while conducting a guard inspection that sentry Xiao Wu was muttering to himself and had not even noticed Li approaching. "Xiao Wu, what are you doing?" Only upon hearing the instructor's voice did Xiao Wu snap back to attention, visibly flustered.

Instructor Li picked up the sentry duty logbook and began flipping through it; after just two pages, a small card slipped out, covered in written regulations content.

"You're reciting regulations while on post—if something happened, would you even be able to react in time?" Xiao Wu's face turned red, and he felt somewhat aggrieved: training tasks had been heavy recently, and the brigade was in the middle of a "Regulations Study Month" campaign; he genuinely could not find time during the day, so he had thought to use his night sentry shift to memorize content—only to be caught in the act by the instructor.

"There is nothing wrong with studying itself, but when you are at your post, maintaining a high state of vigilance and properly fulfilling your duties as a sentry is what matters most." Instructor Li immediately subjected Xiao Wu to criticism and education.

Over the following days, Instructor Li spoke with several non-commissioned officers and discovered that sentries carrying notes was a recurring occurrence—the notes contained items ranging from the next day's task schedule to key theoretical points for training subjects. This was especially pronounced among soldiers preparing for academic advancement examinations.

At the company affairs meeting, Instructor Li raised the issue, sparking discussion among those present. One squad leader said that regulations clearly stipulate that sentries on duty must be single-mindedly focused, and that distraction is impermissible. Other non-commissioned officers frankly acknowledged that sentry duty is essentially uneventful most of the time, and that using the opportunity to study something seemed, in a way, understandable…

In response, Instructor Li did not draw a simple conclusion. Instead, he organized the non-commissioned officers to start from the regulations on studying and duty-related provisions, and to thoroughly identify the root causes: on one hand, soldiers had not kept the string of combat readiness (战备) taut in their minds and had not truly taken seriously the principle that "the sentry post is the combat post (哨位就是战位)"; on the other hand, the company had ambiguous areas in its management of sentries, at times requiring only that they "watch over the barracks" and "report if anything happens."

"There are no small matters at a guard post—not a single second can be let up." Instructor Li told everyone: "The sentry post is the combat post; standing duty is executing a mission. Sentries must maintain a high state of vigilance and firmly establish the concept of combat readiness (战备观念). If you go through the motions during routine duty, how can you respond quickly and effectively when a special situation actually arises?"

Instructor Li led the non-commissioned officers in systematically sorting through sentry responsibilities, clearly listing out "what may be done" and "what must absolutely not be done (坚决不能做什么)." He also organized sentry duty demonstration observations, provided on-site demonstrations of standard movements, simulated emergency situations to conduct impromptu response training, and reinforced everyone's sense of being at a combat post.

After the Party branch reported to the battalion Party committee, the battalion and company levels worked together to make management more refined and more attentive to soldiers' needs. They scientifically coordinated the pace of training and study, reduced extraneous tasks, and carved out more discretionary time for officers and soldiers; they established dedicated self-study periods for soldiers preparing for academic advancement examinations and arranged officers and non-commissioned officers with strong academic foundations to provide tutoring; they also opened a "cool evening snack station" at night, stocked with refreshments to beat the heat.

During a recent nighttime guard inspection, Instructor Li observed that the sentries' combat readiness order was well maintained, password usage was standardized, emergency responses were sharp and accurate, and the phenomenon of going absent-minded (开小差) had not recurred.

Original Chinese

一天晚上，第78集团军某旅某连指导员李岩查哨时，发现哨兵小吴嘴里念念有词，连他走到跟前都没察觉到。 “小吴，干什么呢？”听到指导员声音，小吴这才回过神来，有些慌张。李指导员拿起岗哨登记本翻看，刚翻两页，一张小卡片滑落出来，上面写满了条令内容。 “站哨时间背条令，万一有情况，反应得过来吗？”小吴红了脸，心里有些委屈：近段时间训练任务重，又赶上旅队开展“条令学习月”活动，平时实在抽不出空，这才想利用夜哨时间背记，没想到被指导员抓个正着。 “学习本身没有错，但身在哨位，保持高度警惕、履行好哨兵职责，才是最重要的。”李指导员当即对小吴进行了批评教育。接下来几天，李指导员和一些骨干交流，发现哨兵带纸条时有发生，内容既有次日任务节点，也有课目理论要点。这样的情况在考学战士身上体现得更为明显。连务会上，李指导员把这事摆出来，引起了大家的讨论。有班长说，条令明确规定，哨兵执勤必须一心一意，分心旁顾不应该。也有骨干坦言，大家平时站哨基本无事，趁着这个时机学点东西，似乎也情有可原…… 对此，李指导员没有简单下结论，而是组织骨干从学习条令和执勤相关规定做起，彻底理清症结：一方面，战士头脑里战备的弦没绷紧，没能真正把“哨位就是战位”当回事。另一方面，连队对哨兵管理存在模糊地带，有时仅是要求“看管营房”“有事报告”。 “岗哨无小事，一秒钟都不能松。”李指导员告诉大家，“哨位就是战位，执勤就是执行任务，哨兵必须保持高度警惕，树牢战备观念。日常执勤敷衍应付，真遇到特殊情况，哪能快速有效应对？” 李指导员带领骨干逐项梳理哨兵职责，把“可以做什么”和“坚决不能做什么”列得清清楚楚，还组织哨兵执勤示范观摩，现场演示规范动作，模拟突发情况开展临机处置训练，强化大家的战位意识。党支部向营党委汇报后，营连两级一起想办法，把管理做得更精细、更暖心。他们科学统筹训练学习进度，压减无关杂事，为官兵挤出更多自主时间；为考学战士设置专门自习时间，安排文化基础好的干部骨干进行辅导；还在夜间开设“清凉夜餐点”，备好消暑的夜餐。在最近的一次夜间查哨中，李指导员看到，哨兵战备秩序井然，口令使用规范，应急反应利落准确，再未出现开小差的现象。