A Rocket Force Brigade Closely Tied to Its Mission Routinely Conducts "Mission + Ideology" Dual After-Action Reviews
A Rocket Force Brigade Closely Tied to Its Mission Routinely Conducts "Mission + Ideology" Dual After-Action Reviews——
Wherever the Position Is, That Is Where Ideological Tempering Reaches
■ PLA Daily Special Correspondents Li Yinghong and Li Ping
"During cross-region live-fire training, multiple missiles struck their targets with precision—an outstanding combat record." "There's no need for words of praise. Let's get straight to the point and talk only about problems and shortcomings." ……
Deep in the mountains in midsummer, the smoke of battle had yet to clear from the position. Inside a field command tent of a Rocket Force brigade, a mission-specific after-action review was underway. A staff officer from the operations and training section had barely begun his opening remarks when he was cut off by the brigade Party committee secretary.
As this reporter learned, no longer being constrained by timing or occasion—discovering problems at any time and immediately conducting "mission + ideology" dual after-action reviews (双复盘)—is a fixed mechanism this brigade has established in connection with deepening political rectification training (深化政治整训).
"The conclusion of a mission is not the endpoint, but the starting point for ideological recalibration." The brigade Party committee secretary told this reporter that during the deepening of political rectification training, the brigade Party committee took the lead in institutionalizing the "mission + ideology" dual after-action review as a rigid mechanism. It was made explicit that upon the conclusion of major exercises and training events and key missions, both tactical and technical shortcomings would be reviewed, and ideological deviations and the roots of work-style problems would be thoroughly excavated, so that ideological rectification (思想整风) follows the mission, takes root at the combat post, and runs throughout the entire process of preparing for and fighting war.
In this reflective review, the operations and training staff officer ran into a "nail" the moment he opened his mouth, making clear to everyone present: this time, as always, there would be no crediting of achievements, no favorable assessments—straight to the problems. In the remarks that followed, no one beat around the bush; everyone spoke directly and to the point, one after another.
I
The deputy brigade commander in charge of equipment support was the first to "open fire" on the area under his own purview——
At a critical juncture of this training exercise, the primary combat equipment of a certain launch unit suffered a sudden malfunction. The repair team raced against time to address the emergency and nearly missed the optimal launch window.
"Tracing the chain of responsibility, I believe the problem lies not in maintenance technique but in the pre-mission planning of forces." The deputy brigade commander reflected: when organizing support forces before the mission, they had operated under the assumption of "better too many than too few, defend everywhere," scattering the maintenance teams like pepper across multiple positions—forward security, rear transport, garrison stay-behind, and others—leaving only two support teams at the core launch position that would actually determine the success or failure of the mission.
"The old saying goes, 'Carry an umbrella on a sunny day, carry dry rations when you're full.' Years ago, a sister unit suffered for this very reason when preparing for a rapid-response mission: even though time was tight, they brought decontamination vehicles and everything else along. 'Big and comprehensive' looks thorough on the surface but actually dilutes combat power, leaving the places that need priority support short of forces." The deputy brigade commander's tone was grave. "This time we made the same mistake—treating 'spreading things out' as 'being effective,' treating 'workload' as 'combat power.' Our thinking was off."
He proposed that the next step should be to take the lead in restructuring the support effectiveness evaluation system, with primary support forces tilted toward the front line of the launch pad. Going forward, when evaluating the quality and effectiveness of training, the first question should be "What is the contribution rate to fighting?" before calculating "How much was done?"
II
The more specifically the problems were raised, the deeper they were excavated, and the more substantive the analysis became. The deputy chief of staff in charge of training held nothing back, pointing out several shortcomings exposed during training: "There is a mismatch of forces along the support line, and the training side has the same problem."
During this training exercise, a certain launch pad encountered an improvised contingency (临机特情). The crew members had the standard procedures memorized cold, but when the contingency arose they responded slowly, and the time taken to handle it nearly exceeded the limit.
"The reason lies not in how much they trained, but in the fact that the string of combat realism (实战化) in routine training was not pulled tight enough." He cited the first half of the year's unit-wide skills competition as an example: twelve events were set up, with preliminary and final rounds at every level, creating a lively spectacle. But when reviewed, nearly half the events tested standard operations, procedural speed, and basic physical fitness. The proportion of genuinely combat-realistic content—testing improvised contingency handling and procedure reconstruction under complex conditions—was less than twenty percent.
"We encourage officers and soldiers to train with the goal of breaking records. But if the records being broken have little bearing on actual combat, no matter how many there are, they're useless. What we truly need to train is the combat record of 'handling a contingency one second faster.'" At this point, the deputy chief of staff voluntarily assumed responsibility: "We previously always wanted to produce high-profile 'showcase projects' (亮点工程), and never fully settled down to train the hard skills of fighting. When the training baton (指挥棒) is off course, no matter how hard the officers and soldiers train, it is difficult to convert that into battlefield odds of victory."
"That's exactly right!" A launch battalion commander in the audience immediately chimed in: "Competition exercises should move the examination floor to beneath the launch pad and generate contingencies according to actual combat." Another grassroots commander suggested: "Showy events (花架子课目) that have little bearing on actual combat should be cut wherever cutting is needed."
Carefully recording everyone's opinions and suggestions, the deputy chief of staff made a commitment on the spot: a new competition plan would be produced the following week, with all events fully restructured to align with live-fire launch procedures, so that the competitions carry a higher "combat content" (含战量).
III
Discussion in the meeting room continued to intensify. Battalion Commander Wang of a certain launch battalion, building on the rectification of problems from the previous review, laid out a new list of problems.
"At the last mission reflection meeting, I was called out on the spot for redundant launch procedures and rigid improvised response." He came straight to the point. "After returning, based on everyone's suggestions, I led the unit's backbone personnel in breaking down the entire launch procedure to individual operational movements, cutting nine redundant steps, and significantly compressing the launch preparation time for a certain type of missile. During this exercise, when we encountered two contingencies—complex electromagnetic interference and an improvised position adjustment—the entire battalion completed the fire strike mission with zero errors."
He then shifted his tone: "After the original problems were basically resolved, during the conclusion phase of this mission I discovered the following new problems: there are still gaps in communications coordination under complex electromagnetic environments; there is still sluggishness in personnel coordination during nighttime position transitions… These are all directions for rectification in the next step."
The deputy secretary of the brigade Party committee nodded in approval: "Only by continuously discovering and solving problems can we forge the hard skills of fighting through a spiraling upward (螺旋上升) process of rectification."
Achievements won't disappear if left unspoken, but problems left unfound will cause serious harm. Reflecting on this experience, Battalion Commander Wang frankly admitted that when he was called out on the spot last time he only felt embarrassed and red-faced. Now he clearly feels that each battle fought brings a step forward, and many of the battalion's backbone personnel have also expressed that they are "willing to charge forward under leaders who dare to grab problems and can fill shortcomings." "The more concretely problems are found, the more confident we are in fighting." Having tasted the benefits of the "mission + ideology" dual after-action review, his confidence grows stronger and stronger.
The more-than-two-hour reflection meeting contained not a single empty or formulaic word, and was conducted in a compact and substantive manner. Everyone spoke in turn; they both exposed surface-level shortcomings and excavated their ideological roots, both discussed rectification thinking and clarified responsibility for implementation, and the directions and measures for improvement in the next step were made very clear.
IV
Soon, the "follow-on chapter" of rectification and implementation was rolled out comprehensively.
The training department took the lead in drawing up a "Negative List for Combat-Training Integration" (战训耦合负面清单); twelve self-designed events disconnected from actual combat were halted, and new events were set against live-fire launch procedures and validated through position-based contingency testing. On the support side, force allocation was restructured one by one against actual combat standards; hollow metrics such as number of personnel deployed and point coverage were removed, and actual performance was measured by core-position repair timeliness and fire support success rate, forcing support resources to concentrate toward the front line of the launch pad……
A work system integrating inspection, correction, supervision, and evaluation was further shaped and refined, compelling officers and soldiers to continuously improve their combat readiness and warfighting capabilities.
"Beep beep beep——" Early one morning, an urgent combat alert once again shattered the silence of the deep mountains, and the brigade's new round of field garrison training and live-fire assault exercises opened its battle curtain.
Sweep "Ideological Dust" Diligently
■ Zhou Junbing
When a house accumulates dust without being swept, it will gradually pollute the environment; when ideology becomes dusty without being swept, it will cause ideals and convictions to waver.
Chairman Xi has emphasized that just as a room needs to be cleaned regularly, the dust on one's ideology must also be regularly swept away. Military Party member cadres must at all times keep the leader's instructions firmly in mind, and in connection with work and training practice, frequently sweep away ideological dust, correcting deviations and rectifying conduct through the courage of self-revolution (自我革命), continuously tempering Party character and improving oneself.
The Zhu Xi Family Instructions (《朱子家训》) states: "Rise at dawn; sweep and clean the courtyard." Problems of ideological work style are like courtyard dust: if not swept away in time, they accumulate day by day, and quantitative change triggers qualitative change, allowing small errors to give rise to large problems. Party member cadres must always maintain a vigilant heart, guarding at all times against ideological contamination. Once signs appear, they must be resolutely rectified and thoroughly eliminated, not allowing erroneous thinking to take root and spread. Only by maintaining ideological purity can problems be eliminated in the bud, preventing "minor ailments" from becoming "grave illnesses" and "ant holes" from breaching "long embankments."
When the People's Army had just liberated Chongqing, certain cadres developed a growing appetite for comfort and pleasure—competing to occupy the best housing, demanding assigned vehicles, and even claiming, on the grounds that "the mountains are high and the slopes steep, making walking painful," that "not having a small car is simply not workable." Comrade Deng Xiaoping sternly rebuked them at a Southwest Bureau meeting: "You've only been in Chongqing a few days, and already your legs have become delicate—turned into 'five-li legs'! In the past you roamed the mountain gullies, fighting north and south, and your legs didn't hurt. The moment you entered the city, your legs started hurting and you can't do without a car."
A special committee was subsequently established to address the problems of excessive housing and vehicles, and the unhealthy trend of "five-li legs" (五里腿) was quickly brought to a halt. It is evident that the root of the "five-li legs" ailment lay not in the legs but deep in one's ideology.
"On a certain material foundation, ideology controls everything and ideology changes everything."
Deepening political rectification training and conducting ideological rectification (思想整风) aim to purify ideology. In reality, some fallen cadres were once trailblazers who overcame hardships and difficulties, yet they were defeated in their confrontation with erroneous thinking, ultimately losing their integrity, betraying their faith, and sliding into the abyss of corruption. The facts prove that one inch of slackening in ideology leads to one foot of loosening in action. Conversely, when ideological problems are resolved, Party member cadres can forever preserve their political character and always walk the right path steadily and far.
Political steadfastness stems from theoretical clarity. The Party's innovative theories are a "cleansing agent" for dispelling ideological fog and purifying the spiritual world, and also a "compass" for calibrating the coordinates of values and pointing the way forward. All Party member cadres must study the Party's innovative theories in depth, allowing scientific theory to truly enter the mind and heart. Through deep study and careful understanding, they must distinguish right from wrong and restore the fundamentals, maintain ideological purity, and continuously elevate their political, ideological, and moral horizons—only then can they consciously resist the erosion of various erroneous currents of thought and prevent ideology from gathering dust.
"Without self-discipline, the heart will grow increasingly unrestrained." Whether the body has problems can be known through a physical examination, but whether ideology has problems must be detected through the "fluoroscope" of self-reflection. The reason many veteran proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation maintained ideological purity throughout their lives lies not only in their firm faith and convictions, but also in the fact that they frequently and actively examined and reflected on themselves, continuously purifying their thinking. Zhou Enlai regularly admonished himself with his "Rules for My Self-Cultivation" (《我的修养要则》); Yun Daiying drew up a "Daily Self-Examination Table" (每日自省表) for himself; Wu Yuzhang, in his twilight years, wrote his "Self-Reflection Maxims" (《自省座右铭》)…… All Party member cadres should take the revolutionary forebears as their model, frequently examining their conduct and regulating their words and actions, not allowing themselves to contract the "softening of the bones" (软骨病) of ideology.
"Having traveled ten thousand li, the body remains strong; having endured a thousand hardships, the courage is undiminished. If there is dust or blemish, it must be brushed away; open wide the heart and lungs for all to see."
Criticism and self-criticism are a powerful weapon for resolving contradictions within the Party, and also a powerful weapon for clearing away all manner of political dust and political microbes within the Party. Party member cadres should make good use of the sharp weapon of criticism and self-criticism—raising problems without concealment or distortion, welcoming criticism and correcting mistakes as soon as they are known, having the courage to turn the blade inward in self-analysis and humbly accepting others' criticism and suggestions. With the resolve and will to scrape the bone to cure the poison (刮骨疗毒), they must cut into the "lesion," frequently "flush the face red, break a sweat, and purge the toxins" (红红脸、出出汗、排排毒), conduct a thorough ideological housecleaning, and leave dust nowhere to settle.
On the journey of strengthening the military, the more glorious the mission and the more arduous the task, the greater the need for ideological clarity and steadfastness. This requires Party member cadres to make the diligent sweeping of "ideological dust" a lifelong habit—with the self-awareness of "examining oneself as if never sufficient" (检身若不及), to cultivate and refine themselves constantly; with the perseverance of "always on the road" (永远在路上), to reflect and advance constantly; continuously cleansing the soul and purifying Party character, always maintaining ideological purity and a strong work style, so as to make new and greater contributions to advancing the cause of military strengthening.
"Ideological rectification is not 'a gust of wind'—orienting toward war and for war is always on the road." The brigade Party committee leadership told this reporter that they will continue to deepen political rectification training, using mission reflection meetings as a handle to routinely conduct ideological tempering (思想淬炼), continuously recalibrating the heading of combat readiness, and ensuring that the great nation's long sword (大国长剑) can be unsheathed at any time to defeat the enemy.