What Has Driven Him to Charge Forward Again and Again? The Answer Is Hidden in an Old Artillery Panoramic Telescope

Fan Didi, Range Survey Soldier and Staff Sergeant Third Class of a Rocket Force Unit — The Party's Order Weighs a Thousand Jun

■ Li Xupeng, PLA Daily Special Correspondent Li Yinghong

On the Gobi Desert in midsummer, surface temperatures approach 60 degrees Celsius. A thunderclap tears open the sky, a missile strikes the target, and smoke and yellow sand surge skyward. Before the shockwave has even dissipated, a line of figures advances rapidly toward the point of impact. At the front of the formation is Fan Didi, range survey soldier and Staff Sergeant Third Class of a Rocket Force unit.

"No birds fly overhead, no grass grows underfoot; a hundred-li no-man's-land where the wind sends stones rolling." This is the desert range where Fan Didi has stood his post for 18 years. As one of the people who works closest to missile impact points, he has long shouldered dangerous and difficult missions including target-point surveying, strike-precision measurement, and dud-missile disposal and neutralization. Deep in the gunsmoke, every advance is a test between life and death.

What has driven him to charge forward again and again? The answer is hidden in an old artillery panoramic telescope Fan Didi has treasured for many years.

Gray-green body, crisscrossing scratches of varying depths — this was the primary piece of equipment Fan Didi used when he first arrived at the range. Over 18 years, the observation of every missile's impact and the assessment of every strike's damage were accomplished through this panoramic telescope. The mottled marks covering it — some left by rock fragments flung from impact points, some worn into the surface by years of Gobi wind and sand — all bear witness to his 18 years of charging toward danger.

Qiu Feiyang, a post-2000 recruit fresh to the unit, has asked Fan Didi more than once: "Sergeant, when you're charging toward the impact point, aren't you really afraid?" Every time he hears this question, Fan Didi smiles and looks toward that panoramic telescope in the storage cabinet. He remembers that when he first took up his post, the blast shockwave left his eardrums numb and his palms soaked with sweat; on nights after disposing of dud missiles, he would be jolted awake by dreams of flying shrapnel, drenched in cold sweat.

"Afraid? How could I not be afraid? The more afraid you are, the more you have to press forward." What transformed timidity into courage was the example set by Senior Sergeant Sheng Dehua. On every mission, Sergeant Sheng always kept the observation position closest to the impact point — the highest-risk position — for himself, and even when flying rock fragments left mark after mark on the telescope body, he never retreated a single step. "Glory lies in hardship. Every step further we push forward, the more precision our measurements gain, and the more confidence we have in winning."

These words quietly took root in Fan Didi's heart. He gradually came to understand that holding the line on the Gobi is never a pointless ordeal; advancing toward danger requires forging a courageous heart, because they are the ones who sustain the sharpness of the great nation's long sword and bear on their shoulders the mission of Communist Party members.

"One point of inaccuracy in the data means one more hidden danger on the future battlefield." In order to precisely capture the moment of impact amid swirling sand and dust, Fan Didi trained his eyesight under the blazing sun and honed his steadiness against the wind and sand, mastering the hard skill of "one look, one accurate reading; one measurement, one definitive result."

During one test-launch mission, electronic imagery remotely assessed the point of impact as within acceptable parameters — but Fan Didi measured a 1.3-meter deviation on the ground. To ensure data accuracy, Fan Didi led his team through three rounds of re-measurement, ultimately overturning the imagery-analysis conclusion and filling a critical gap in equipment performance optimization. Since enlisting, he has mastered the skills of eight different positions, achieved zero errors across more than a hundred mission measurements, and earned recognition among his comrades as the "precision anchor."

This loyal commitment to advancing toward danger requires leading by example. Since becoming a squad leader, Fan Didi has never hoarded his techniques as a "personal trade secret"; he has always sought to pass on every skill he possesses to younger comrades, so that survey soldiers can put down roots on the Gobi.

During one high-altitude survey mission, extreme cold put the equipment at risk of losing power. Squad soldier Fu Yanhui, without a word, took off his cold-weather coat and wrapped it around the instrument, then stood watch himself in a culvert wearing only a thin field uniform. Fan Didi went over to check on him, and Fu Yanhui said: "Sergeant, you always said the data must be absolutely foolproof. Leave this to me — Sergeant, rest easy!" In that moment, Fan Didi knew: the seed of loyalty had taken root and begun to grow in the hearts of the younger generation.

Today, the range has long since been equipped with high-precision laser surveying instruments, and that old artillery panoramic telescope has been relegated to secondary status — yet Fan Didi still polishes it until it gleams and keeps it in the most prominent place in the storage cabinet. In his heart, equipment will iterate and be updated, and the scratches will settle into memory, but the true character of generation after generation of survey soldiers advancing toward danger will never change: the moment the Party gives the order, charge toward the impact point at any time!