Combat Arms Units Across the Services Accelerate the Conversion of Garrison-Training Results into Combat Capabilities
PLA Daily report by correspondent Xiang Liming: In the hilly terrain of southern Jiangxi, a People's Armed Police Jiangxi Corps Ganzhou Detachment mountain-and-forest pursuit-and-annihilation exercise had just concluded when an after-action summary of unmanned collaborative operations (无人协同训练) in complex, unfamiliar terrain got underway on the spot. At a garrison-training site in eastern Fujian, a brigade of the 73rd Group Army had barely finished training on new operational methods (新战法) before self-analysis drawing on flight-parameter data was already under way…. In the blazing summer heat, this reporter visited multiple garrison-training sites across the entire military and found that combat arms units of every service are seizing the prime period for combat-capability generation, adopting new models of immediate after-action review (即时复盘) and dynamic analytical research, identifying problems and deficiencies on the spot, promptly summarizing garrison-training experience, and accelerating the conversion of garrison-training results into actual combat capabilities.
Mutual learning and mutual reference — closing gaps and building strengths through confrontation. An Eastern Theater Command Air Force surface-to-air missile brigade had just finished air-ground confrontation training when the smoke rose again at the after-action review. Red and Blue forces drew on raw data covering air-situation assessment, fire response, anti-jamming measures, and tactical handling to trace problems back to their source and resolve key and difficult issues. The Blue force commander gave a detailed account of command and coordination, jamming deployment, and tactical countermeasures; Red force backbone personnel reviewed lessons learned and lost in light of the actual confrontation. Both sides taught and learned from each other, complementing one another's strengths, and in the course of in-depth exchange pinpointed shortcomings for precise breakthroughs. "We use hard-hitting after-action reviews to temper the ability to win battles, and let the problem-rectification checklist from every exercise and training event drive a leap in combat capability," the brigade leadership stated.
Technology-enabled, real-time error correction to improve quality and efficiency. On a moonlit night in the south, multiple launch detachments of a Rocket Force brigade engaged in fierce confrontation with the Blue force. "Relying on the operational cloud command system, after-action review has shifted from 'post-event retrospective review and remediation' to 'real-time deduction and error correction,'" the reporter observed. The exercise-control group, drawing on real-time data, conducted a detailed breakdown of contingencies including position coming under attack, communications disruption, vehicle damage, and operator casualties. One launch detachment had just completed a movement and transition when the exercise-control group and detachment backbone personnel immediately used the system to conduct an after-action review of that phase of the mission. A staff officer supervising training on the scene identified the problems: operator team compositions were fixed and rigid, with insufficient contingency plans for casualties, equipment failures, and other special situations; position selection neglected camouflage and withdrawal routes…. The exercise-control group quickly put forward requirements for the next phase of training, including impromptu position changes and the integration of technical and tactical concealment and camouflage. "Going from after-the-fact reflection to real-time error correction — this kind of after-action review is more timely, more practical, and more targeted," the detachment commander remarked with deep feeling.
Breaking through mental constraints — shifting from an examination-hall mindset to a battlefield mindset. At a company-level tactical assessment site of an Eastern Theater Command Army brigade, multiple companies stumbled in the face of complex contingencies set on the fly by the exercise-control group. At the after-action review, Battalion Commander Wang of one battalion wrote down two phrases: "compliance-standard performance" (达标式表演) and "victory-oriented fighting" (打赢式打仗). "We are accustomed to chasing high scores within a predetermined script, while ignoring the uncertainty of the battlefield," he said. Drawing on problems exposed during training, he laid out the malady, analyzed its root causes, and guided officers and soldiers to open up the mental pathway from examination hall to battlefield. "We must make good use of after-action review as a conductor's baton, directly aligning training standards with battlefield requirements and precisely connecting actual-combat needs with the direction of realistic training," the brigade leadership told the reporter. Conducting after-action reviews against actual-combat standards can both rectify specific problems and drive a shift in thinking while consolidating innovative results.
Surveying the garrison-training sites of units across multiple combat arms and services, officers and soldiers are benchmarking against actual-combat requirements, confronting the test of scorching heat, and deeply embedding the smell of gunpowder and the flow of data into the exercise-and-training chain, striving to forge the "sharp blade" (尖刀利刃) that will prevail on the battlefields of the future.