Special Issue Commemorating the 105th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China | Vanguards in the Assault, Tempered by Fire, Marching Toward War
Viewpoint — Training Must Succeed; A Strong Military Is Within Reach
■ Sang Linfeng
"Tracing roots to set our ranks in order, never forgetting the founding mission; a force reborn through fire, pure and glorious…" The song "Tempered into Steel" (淬火成钢) captures the fresh spirit of the people's military's political rectification and training (政治整训).
On June 16, the first session of the All-Army Senior Cadre Training Course concluded at the National Defense University. Holding this training course is an important measure to consolidate and deepen the results of political rectification and training; it also sets the benchmark for a class in cultivating loyalty (忠诚培塑班), a class in tempering Party character (党性淬炼班), and a model rectification and training class (整训示范班). Political rectification and training has become a high-frequency term in our military's effort to temper itself and strive for strength in the new era.
"All methods of warfare must be grounded in political victory." Political rectification and training embodies the distinctive character and greatest advantage of the Party's self-revolution (自我革命), serves as the strategic lever for deepening the political approach to army-building (政治建军), and is a powerful instrument for comprehensively strengthening Party leadership and Party building within our military.
Since the 18th Party Congress, Chairman Xi has led and advanced the new-era political approach to army-building, promoted political rectification and training with the spirit of the rectification movement (整风精神), resolutely and comprehensively enforced strict governance over the Party and strict governance over the military, and guided the entire military to: rally in unity to forge the "soul of a strong military" (强军魂); focus on warfighting to firmly establish the "baton of command" (指挥棒); conduct rigorous internal training to forge "hard fortresses" (硬堡垒); and go deep to eliminate abuses and cultivate a "new ecosystem" (新生态). At a critical juncture, this has rescued, reshaped, and developed the people's military, providing a strong political guarantee for our military to effectively fulfill its mission and tasks.
Blow away all the sand and gold will appear — the results of political rectification and training are there for all to see. Party leadership, which had once been weakened in our military, has been strengthened; through the elimination of abuses and the establishment of new norms, the original foundations have been restored and the spirit has been forged. The center of gravity of work, which had once drifted off course, has been corrected; genuinely preparing for war and genuinely planning to win have become the "baseline posture" (基本态) of the force. Misconduct and corruption, once thought impossible to stop, have been curbed, and the anti-corruption struggle has achieved major results. The political ecosystem, which had once deteriorated, has been reversed, and the problem of lax and soft Party governance has been forcefully resolved.
History often becomes clearer after the passage of time. Without the revolutionary political tempering, there could be no great transformation of the people's military in the new era. The facts prove that the more the people's military undergoes rectification and training, the stronger and more iron-like it becomes; the more it undergoes rectification and training, the purer and more glorious it becomes; the more it undergoes rectification and training, the greater its combat effectiveness.
Our military is the people's army created and led by the Party; no matter how far it travels, it must never forget its origins and roots. Conducting political rectification and training is, at its core, about defending the political character of the people's military and consolidating its purity and glory. "May we be diligent morning and night, so that our honor endures forever." Only by emphasizing the restoration of original foundations in the political sphere and the forward march in action during political rectification and training — eliminating negative factors, injecting the political soul, resolving the fundamental question of the Party's absolute leadership over the military, passing on the red genes, and continuing the red bloodline — can we align thinking, align the ranks, and align our steps; keep pace with the times; and win the future.
Determine one's bearings and correct one's course accordingly. At present, the world situation, national conditions, Party conditions, and military conditions are all undergoing complex and profound changes. The political tests our military faces are intricate and complex; hostile forces are doing everything possible to implement strategies of Westernization and division against us, and the many factors that affect the Party's absolute leadership over the military and erode the political character of the people's military are a present reality. This requires us to study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on Party building, thoroughly implement and carry out the new-era strategy for the political approach to army-building, and with the clarity and resolve of those who know the journey is never finished, continuously advance political rectification and training in depth and substance. We must resolutely uphold the righteous and eliminate the evil, forge the political soul of absolute loyalty to the Party, build a solid ideological line of defense against corruption and degeneration, and continuously strengthen our military's political advantages under new conditions of the era.
The direction is correct; the path is right — we must walk it with unwavering resolve. In political rectification and training, "rectification" (整) targets the lingering toxic influences, chronic ailments, and unhealthy tendencies; "training" (训) cultivates political stance, political capability, and political responsibility.
Self-revolution knows no end; political rectification and training is a long and weighty road. On the new journey, Party organizations and Party member cadres at all levels must persistently use Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era to rally minds and forge the soul, thoroughly implement Xi Jinping's thought on strengthening the military, conduct ideological rectification (思想整风) and deepen political rectification and training, strengthen ideological tempering, political seasoning, and practical forging, firmly root the foundations of ideals and convictions, Party character cultivation, and official virtue and personal conduct, and continuously purify thinking, purify the ranks, and purify the ecosystem. We must carry forward the spirit of thorough self-revolution, persist in turning the blade inward, clearing away the turbid and elevating the pure, and scraping the bone to cure the disease (刮骨疗毒); excise ideological impurities from the depths of the soul; comprehensively surface accumulated problems and abuses; correct erroneous cognitions, behavioral deviations, and bad practices; grip key sectors and fields and plow them deeply; thoroughly eradicate toxic influences; ensure that our military's bloodline endures, its foundations remain firm, and its advantages persist; and greet the centenary of the founding of the military with a completely new political bearing.
Rising after setbacks, reborn through the pain of transformation. We firmly believe: training must succeed; a strong military is within reach.
---
Inheritance — A Certain Brigade of the Central Theater Command Air Force Combines the Deepening of Political Rectification and Training with Tempering an Elite Party Member Force —
Vanguards in the Assault, Tempered by Fire, Marching Toward War
■ Wang Yizhe, Dong Zhou, PLA Daily Special Correspondent Gao Sifeng
Deep in the night in midsummer, a sudden downpour fell like a curtain. As a piercing air defense siren tore through the night sky, the "Model Surface-to-Air Missile Battalion" (模范地空导弹营) of a certain brigade of the Central Theater Command Air Force launched an intensive live-condition air defense exercise. Officers and soldiers moved at the order, operating new-type equipment to precisely strike the target.
The good news came back, but the command-and-control cabin fell silent. Party member backbone personnel at each combat station stared at their screens, reviewing the data item by item. "There were still details overlooked in the pre-battle equipment function check." Battalion Commander Du took the lead in identifying the problem. Party member backbone Lü Xiaolong immediately followed up, pointing directly at shortfalls in command coordination and procedural handling.
Voluntarily resetting achievements to zero and keeping a close eye on problems and deficiencies — this clear-headed and pragmatic combat style is the continuation of the "Model Surface-to-Air Missile Battalion's" more than 60 years of red bloodline, and is also a vivid microcosm of the brigade's sustained deepening of political rectification and training and tempering of the Party member force.
Looking back to the years of war, the "Model Surface-to-Air Missile Battalion" once created a precedent in the history of world air defense by shooting down an enemy aircraft with a surface-to-air missile. Less than one year after the battalion's establishment, it achieved victory in its first battle. Faced with flowers, applause, and praise, the battalion Party committee maintained its clarity and decisively passed a resolution to "start everything from zero." Then-Battalion Commander Yue Zhenhua took the lead in reviewing the battle cases and identifying command shortfalls, and Party member cadres took the stage one by one to reflect on their deficiencies.
"Past excellence does not equal permanent excellence; possessing new equipment does not equal possessing new-quality combat capabilities (新质战斗力)." The brigade's leadership explained that at the outset of the new equipment's issuance, the brigade's command structure was still in a period of adjustment. During one combat exercise, a small number of Party member cadres showed early signs of ideological inertia, rigid thinking, and relaxed standards; their research into the new equipment was insufficiently thorough, leading to unsatisfactory results. After reflection and review, the brigade Party committee came to a clear recognition: "Equipment has been upgraded, but thinking cannot remain in the past; conditions have improved, but the spirit cannot slacken. The period of reform and transition must absolutely not become a period of lagging combat effectiveness."
The lesion is in thinking; the prescription is in rectification and training. Targeting the shortfalls and weaknesses in Party member force building, the brigade used the deepening of political rectification and training as its lever, conducting targeted correction and precise tempering; it revised and refined the "Party Member Code of Conduct" (党员行为规范) for each level and each post; it routinely conducted thematic education, organizing officers and soldiers to measure themselves against the conduct of their predecessors to find gaps and examine their performance in their posts to identify deficiencies; it stoked the furnace of intra-Party political life, with the Party committee leadership going down to the front lines to supervise and guide, embedding themselves on-site to provide hands-on instruction, breaking through problems such as insufficient bite in organizational life and avoidance of key issues in identifying and correcting problems, and driving the Party member force to temper its thinking, purify its conduct, and upgrade its capabilities.
Staff Sergeant First Class Li Fumin was once a technical backbone who left company and battalion commanders "both reassured and not reassured" — reassured because of his solid professional foundation, but not reassured because he was content to complete standard procedures, habitually responded passively to sudden malfunctions, and lacked the drive to dig in and tackle hard problems.
At the thematic organizational life meeting (组织生活会) for political rectification and training, faced with pointed criticism from his comrades, Li Fumin conducted a deep self-examination: insufficient capability to troubleshoot malfunctions appeared to be a technical shortfall, but its root cause was ideological laxity and a weakening of the drive to advance.
Thereafter, Li Fumin spent his days studying and practicing against the equipment panels, comparing parameters, and his nights poring over circuit diagrams and sorting through malfunction records. Before long, he had mastered the full-chain troubleshooting methodology for equipment malfunctions, and also proactively took the stage to conduct professional instruction, driving a significant overall improvement in the professional level of his squad, and becoming an exemplary model of tempering and developing talent at one's post.
Like Li Fumin, "one Party member, one banner; one post's vanguard, one torch of fire" — this is the collective portrait of the brigade's Party member force.
Staff Sergeant First Class Song Xianbin took the lead in climbing high-altitude antenna arrays to inspect for hazards and replace components, personally guiding young officers and soldiers to correct their attitude toward equipment maintenance and solidify a meticulous support ethos; Step Yuanchun, a Senior Corporal First Class and the person responsible for the launch vehicle's "Party member rack" (党员架), innovated maintenance models, standardized the equipment inspection and maintenance process item by item, and the equipment under his responsibility was rated the brigade's "Red Flag Weapon" (红旗兵器)…
When ideological tempering is integrated into daily life, the bedrock of absolute loyalty and warfighting orientation among the Party member force becomes even more vivid.
During an emergency mobile combat mission not long ago, Battalion Commander Du divided the area on-site into Party member responsibility zones: a "Party Member Vanguard Post" (党员先锋岗) was established at the launch position, with the veteran with the longest Party membership manning the key station; the technical support chain was organized into a "Party Member Assault Group" (党员攻坚组) to tackle the hard bone of on-the-spot troubleshooting; and "Party Member Responsibility Vehicles" (党员责任车) were designated throughout the long-distance mobile convoy, responsible for leading the way on difficult road sections and collecting stragglers at the rear throughout the entire journey.
That night, the convoy wound its way through the darkness, and at every critical point there were Party member backbone personnel. Afterward, the brigade institutionalized this practice as a routine mechanism — in key missions such as emergency mobility, on-the-spot troubleshooting, and live-fire engagements, Party member responsibility zones, vanguard posts, and assault groups became standard configuration, enabling Party member backbone personnel to stand at the front, serve as the main force, and shoulder the heavy load in tackling key and difficult subjects, assaulting difficult and dangerous missions, and conducting live-condition operations in complex environments.
Leveraging the benchmark and leading role of the "Model Surface-to-Air Missile Battalion," the brigade comprehensively ignited a wave of "striving to be advanced, striving to be a model." Party organizations at all levels routinely organize Party members to enter the honor room to comprehend the history of war, take root at their combat posts to practice the founding mission, and focus on strong adversaries to study methods of warfare. More and more Party member backbone personnel are purifying their Party character through political rectification and training, elevating their capabilities through live-condition tempering, and striving to be vanguards through inheritance and advancement.
Deep in the night, the lights in the headquarters operations planning room still burned bright. On the whiteboard, the operations flowchart was drawn, revised, and drawn again; members of the brigade Party committee and the planning team launched a "brainstorm" around combat effectiveness bottlenecks, with the sound of debate rising from time to time.
At the same hour, the atmosphere in a certain battalion's "Maker Workshop" (创客工作室) was lively. Party member backbone personnel gathered together, repeatedly deliberating over an equipment improvement plan. "This approach works!" Several of them immediately went to the training ground and, by the light of their headlamps, crouched beside the equipment and verified the approach again and again…
In this brigade, from the Party committee down to the branch, each level leads the next in action and demonstrates for the next, forming a vivid scene of shared purpose from top to bottom and coordinated assault on hard problems.
More than 60 years of bloodline continuation, taking flight tempered by fire on the new journey. Having undergone the deep tempering of political rectification and training, the brigade's Party member force has a purer founding mission, a more solid conduct, and stronger capabilities. The brigade's officers and soldiers stated that as the war drums urge them forward toward the centenary of the military's founding, they will continue the bloodline of heroes, persist in ideological tempering, accelerate the forging of an air defense sword ready to fight at any moment and certain to win when it does, and offer outstanding results as a tribute to the 105th anniversary of the Party's founding.
---
Bearing — The Party Flag Flies at the Very Front Lines of Military Training
■ PLA Daily Reporter Liu Weiqi, Special Correspondent Liu Xiaoyun
Midsummer in the Yanshan Mountains, the heat blazing. Not long ago, a certain brigade of the 82nd Group Army was about to conduct a live-fire exercise when two mortars suddenly malfunctioned.
"There's no time to request technical guidance!" Brigade cadre Qin Mingliang immediately formed an assault team with 3 Party members, conducted continuous assault operations, not only quickly completing the repairs but also improving the shooting hit rate.
The brigade Party committee leadership told reporters that in deepening political rectification and training, in order to give full play to the vanguard and exemplary role of Party members, the Party committee leadership took the lead, turned the blade inward, placed themselves in the frame for examination and reflection, and identified multiple problems such as "taking detours around dangerous and difficult subjects" and "not proactively applying new equipment," with standing committee members taking the lead in resolving them.
Leadership cadres standing at the front, organizations at all levels leading the effort, and Party member backbone personnel setting a good example — this is the fine tradition flowing through this brigade's bloodline. The predecessor of this unit was born in the Autumn Harvest Uprising; during the Hundred Regiments Offensive, for its fierce combat and consecutive victories, it was awarded the honorary title "19th Regiment, Unstoppable as a Bamboo Split" (势如破竹十九团) by the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. The first three commanders of the 19th Regiment all led the charge in battle, sustaining multiple gunshot wounds without leaving the front line. After being wounded, the third commander, Liu Guiyun, expressed to the Party organization: "As long as my heart is still beating, I will charge forward; if I fall, I will fall at the front."
Tempered by the fire of political rectification and training, the fighting spirit of "falling at the front" has been expressed even more vividly on the field training grounds.
At the outset of this year's field training, the brigade Party committee moved its subordinate heavy weapons to the field in advance and launched intensive professional skills reinforcement and grade assessment and evaluation. Among them were newly issued equipment and specialties that had been relatively weak in previous training. The brigade Party committee made its decision: form a Party member assault team for each type of weapon, to take the lead in tackling hard problems.
During that period, Party member cadres stood as banners, their figures leaping at the front lines of the training ground. Through repeated deduction and item-by-item investigation, they gnawed through one "hard bone" after another.
As soon as the assault mission concluded, the brigade Party committee struck while the iron was hot, pulling multiple types of new equipment to the field training front lines to conduct tactical coordination training with various vehicles.
Under the blazing midsummer sun, this force, tempered in the furnace of rectification and training, was high in morale, with the Party flag always flying at the very front lines of military training and war preparation, displaying a completely new spiritual bearing.
---
Political Cadre of a Certain Base of the Northern Theater Command Navy, Wang Yilin:
"Party member cadres setting an example themselves is the best political work." In deepening political rectification and training, I have come to understand this statement more profoundly.
Previously, during one tactical deduction, because my grasp of the performance of new-type equipment was insufficiently deep, the plan developed errors. In connection with deepening political rectification and training, I set an iron rule for myself: whatever I require officers and soldiers to accomplish, I must first pass the test myself.
During the assault period for a certain subject, I moved into the squad and platoon with the research topic, spending days crawling into armored vehicles and practicing coordination with the soldiers, and nights probing the ideological baseline of each individual, helping everyone resolve difficulties and concerns, and earning their recognition. (Compiled by Fu Kang)
---
Standing Committee Member of a Certain Unit's Party Committee, Rocket Force, Zhang Wenjiu:
As the saying goes: Party member cadres go first. Not long ago, during the all-personnel, all-equipment assessment, the unit Party committee leadership did not stand outside the venue as referees but were assigned to the first echelon to compete on the same stage as young officers and soldiers. At the moment the score sheet was revealed, I saw the soldiers' eyes filled with admiration. A clear orientation was established on the assessment ground, and the atmosphere of genuine preparation for real combat immediately intensified; the Party committee's "baton of command" (指挥棒) was truly and clearly established.
During a recent exercise and training event, faced with multiple simultaneous special situations, the Party committee handled the situation on the spot and decisively changed formation, leading the force to complete the fire assault mission ahead of schedule. (Compiled by Wang Tianlin)
---
Grassroots Conduct Supervisor of a Certain Unit of the Joint Logistic Support Force, Nie Xingliang:
Fuel is the "blood" of the force; ensuring the "blood" flows freely is my responsibility. As a grassroots conduct supervisor, I previously harbored a "nice guy" mentality — feeling that we see each other every day, I was unwilling to "play the bad guy" when issues arose, for fear of offending people. Political rectification and training was like a heavy hammer that woke me up: I must dare to be strict and confront hard issues head-on, ensuring that every drop of fuel and every account I handle is clean and above board. After rectification and correction, "acting according to regulations, proceeding according to rules" is no longer a requirement that needs to be repeatedly emphasized; it has become the conscious standard of conduct for me and my comrades. (Compiled by Chen Chengxiao)