Political Work

Lessons from a Physical Fitness Retest: In Leading and Developing Soldiers, What Matters Most Is Awakening the Flame Inside a Warrior's Heart

一次体能补测的启示：带兵育人，贵在唤醒战士心里那簇火苗

PLA Daily (解放军报) 7 August 2026

Summary

A detachment-level officer recounts how Private First Class Cao Ming, a two-year conscript previously dismissed as unmotivated, pushed for a retest on his 3,000-meter run and improved by nearly 20 seconds after the detachment introduced a squad-based monthly assessment of the five general military subjects, awarding a 流动红旗 (military training challenge pennant) to the top-ranked squad. The article is standard political-work content — a first-person NCO or junior officer reflection on grassroots soldier management (带兵人) — and its value is as a record of how the PLA frames the problem of conscript disengagement: the institutional diagnosis is that collective-honor incentives reach soldiers whom individual-ranking systems leave cold. The framing points to a recognized gap in detachment-level training motivation, but the article documents one anecdote, not a policy shift or new directive.

Translation

Last week, the detachment organized a physical fitness assessment. I was about to head back to my room to compile the score sheet when I was stopped by Private First Class Cao Ming. He had just finished the 3,000-meter run, and his face was flushed red, with beads of sweat the size of soybeans dripping down. Gasping for breath, he said: "I got a side stitch just now — my score is definitely not good. Let me run it again!" I was somewhat taken aback, because Cao Ming had actually passed the assessment. And in the two years he had served, I had never once seen him push back so hard against an assessment result.

Cao Ming had no intention of serving long-term, so his performance in work and training had always been unremarkable: he never stood out, never fell behind, but had no drive to improve either. Some of his comrades joked that he was "Mr. Good Enough." With his discharge coming up in September of this year, I had assumed he would keep on "going through the motions day by day." I never expected him to suddenly become so motivated.

Somewhat curious, I asked Cao Ming why he cared so much about this particular assessment. His voice was quiet, but every word was clear: "I know my scores are average, but I still want to contribute something to the squad. I don't want to leave with regrets." It was the first time in two years that I had heard the word "contribute" come out of Cao Ming's mouth.

In the preceding period, the training atmosphere within the unit had never been strong enough. To boost morale, the detachment decided to organize a monthly assessment of the five general military subjects, using each squad's assessment scores as the evaluation criterion, and awarding a military training challenge pennant (流动红旗) to the top-ranked squad. The purpose was simple: use collective honor as a motivator, get everyone competing and striving, and add some "gunpowder" to the training ground.

What I did not expect, however, was that the first person to be "ignited" was Cao Ming — it turned out that this soldier, whom everyone had written off as someone who was fine with "good enough," was not indifferent to everything. It was just that what he cared about was buried rather deep.

In the retest the following day, Cao Ming was nearly 20 seconds faster than his first run. After crossing the finish line, he bent over and gulped for air, and it was a good while before he straightened up. Seeing that I was watching him, he broke into a grin.

Back in the office, I found myself reflecting: over the past two years, the detachment had held many competitions and assessments of various kinds — so why was it specifically this challenge pennant competition that had "set Cao Ming alight"? Eventually I worked it out: in previous competitions and assessments, the focus was on individual rankings. Cao Ming knew he was not a top performer and could not place, so honor had nothing to do with him, and he could not summon the energy. But this competition bound him tightly to the collective, making him genuinely feel: I am a member of this squad, and my scores really do affect others. In his heart, the weight of that "sense of collective" (集体感) was far greater than any personal ranking.

Over the years of leading soldiers, I have often reminded myself to go among the soldiers and understand what is in their hearts. But I have to admit that in this regard I have not done well enough — I saw only the surface of Cao Ming's "lack of motivation," and rarely stopped to seriously consider where the root of his disengagement lay. Had he simply never been truly needed? Or had even he himself not yet discovered how much he actually cared about this collective?

Before his discharge, Cao Ming taught me a lesson: no soldier enlists in order to be "Mr. Good Enough." It is just that some soldiers' drive to improve is "sleeping" too deeply and needs a bugle call to be awakened; some soldiers' sense of responsibility is buried too far down and needs an opportunity to be brought to the surface. As leaders of soldiers (带兵人), we need only put our hearts into finding that flame inside a soldier's heart, and then add a piece of firewood and fan the air at the right moment — and it will spread rapidly, until it becomes a prairie fire.

Original Chinese

上周，中队组织体能考核，我正准备回屋整理成绩表，却被上等兵曹铭拦住。可能是因为刚完成3000米跑，曹铭满脸通红，豆大的汗珠直往下滴。他气喘吁吁地说：“我刚才岔气了，成绩肯定不好，您让我再测一次吧！” 闻言，我有些诧异，因为刚才的考核，曹铭合格了，而他从军这两年，我从没见过他与考核成绩如此较劲。曹铭没有长期服役意愿，所以过往工作训练向来表现平平：不冒头、不落后，但也没什么上进心。有战友打趣，说他是“差不多先生”。今年9月份，他即将退役，我本以为他会继续“当一天和尚撞一天钟”，没承想他此时突然积极起来。我有些好奇地询问曹铭，为何对此次考核如此重视，他回答的声音不大，但每一个字都很清晰：“我知道自己成绩一般，但也想给班里贡献一份力量，不想带着遗憾离开。”这是两年来，我头一次从曹铭嘴里听到“贡献”这两个字。前期，队内训练氛围一直不够浓厚。为了激发士气，中队决定每月组织一次通用五项课目考核，并以各班考核成绩为评选标准，为第一名颁发军事训练流动红旗。这么做的目的很简单：用集体荣誉作为牵引，让大家比起来、争起来，给训练场添点“火药味”。然而，我没想到，第一个被“点燃”的是曹铭——原来，这个在大家印象里“差不多就行”的战士，并不是对什么都不在乎，只是他的“在乎”藏得比较深。第二天的补测，曹铭比第一次快了近20秒。冲过终点线后，他弯着腰大口喘气，过了好一会儿才直起身。见我正看他，他便咧嘴笑了起来。回到办公室，我不由思考，近两年时间，中队各类比武考核其实很多，为何唯独是这次的流动红旗评比，让曹铭“燃了起来”？后来，我琢磨明白了：以前的比武考核，看的是个人排名，曹铭知道自己不是尖子，拿不了名次，荣誉跟他没关系，所以提不起劲。可这次评比把他和集体紧紧拴在了一起，让他真切地感受到：我是这个班的一员，我的成绩真的会影响别人。在他心中，这种“集体感”的分量，远比自己的个人排名要重。带兵这些年，我常常提醒自己要走进战士之中、读懂战士内心。可不得不承认，在这一点上，我做得并不够好——我看到的只是曹铭“不积极”的表象，却很少认真想过，他不积极的根子在哪？是从没被真正需要过？还是连他都没发现，原来自己这么在乎这个集体？曹铭在退役前给我上了一课：没有战士从军是为了当“差不多先生”，只是有些战士的上进心“睡”得太沉，需要一声号角才能被唤醒；有些战士的责任感藏得太深，需要一个契机才能被激发。而作为带兵人，我们只要用心发现战士心里那簇火苗，适时地添一把柴、鼓一阵风，它便能迅速蔓延，直至燎原。