Doctrine Political Work

Strong Military Forum | Reflections on Doing the "First Thing" Well

强军论坛丨有感于做好“第一件事”

PLA Daily (解放军报) 9 August 2026

Summary

A political education column in PLA official media uses Chinese Academy of Engineering academician Ben De's 2025 National Supreme Science and Technology Award as a vehicle to instruct newly commissioned platoon leaders on professional attitude, citing his 1963 work at the Ministry of National Defense's 14th Research Institute and invoking model soldier Le Yanhui alongside a Chen Yun quotation on tempering junior cadres at lower levels. This is standard political work content directed at the lieutenant cohort entering grassroots units; its value is as a record of how the institution frames competence-building and loyalty to the most junior officer grade, not as evidence of a new policy line. The repeated emphasis on 闭环落实 (closed-loop implementation, meaning every task tracked to completion) and on subordinating individual ambition to assigned work documents the persistent institutional concern that academy-educated platoon leaders arrive overconfident and underperforming at the unit level.

Translation

Recently, Chinese Academy of Engineering academician Ben De was awarded the 2025 National Supreme Science and Technology Award. In studying Academician Ben's exemplary deeds, his experiences and teachings on doing the "first thing" well are especially worthy of deep reflection and careful contemplation by newly commissioned platoon leaders who have just left the gates of military academies and entered the barracks of grassroots units.

"After arriving at your work unit, the first thing you do is very important. Only if you do the first thing well will your leaders dare to entrust you with the second thing." Academician Ben still remembers to this day the earnest teachings of his professor upon graduating from university. In 1963, Ben De graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology and was assigned to the 14th Research Institute of the Ministry of National Defense's 10th Research Academy. His "first thing" after starting work was to participate in developing a key component of a power spectral density analyzer — an oscillator — with a deadline of only one month. With no ready-made experience to draw on, he ground through more than 200 pages of Russian-language materials through sheer tenacious willpower. Although he completed the initial design draft ahead of schedule, he keenly detected flaws in it and resolutely scrapped it and started over. It was precisely the exacting standards and professional dedication he demonstrated in doing the "first thing" well that opened the door for him to participate in developing what was at the time the world's most cutting-edge phased-array radar, and laid the foundation for the indelible contributions he would later make to China's radar enterprise.

New platoon leaders are generally highly educated, broadly knowledgeable, and intellectually active. Upon first arriving at a unit, they are often placed under high expectations and entrusted with important responsibilities. Yet certain comrades always feel they are brimming with talent, wanting only to "show what they're made of," while being unwilling to do the work that lies "below the horizon"; or, lacking experience, they allow their fear of difficulty to grow until they ultimately muddle through. What they fail to realize is that a nine-story terrace rises from accumulated earth. Doing the "first thing" well is depositing a precious sum of "original capital" into one's own account of trustworthiness and competence; to be perfunctory and just get by is no different from drawing against the limitless possibilities of one's future development. The accumulation of trust has never had a shortcut — it is hidden in the meticulous attitude with which you approach every task, and reflected in the closed-loop implementation (闭环落实) where "every matter receives a response and every item reaches a conclusion."

"Under heaven there are no ready-made talents, nor is there discernment born of innate knowledge; by and large, all emerge through strenuous tempering and forging." The growth and development of new platoon leaders follows discoverable patterns. Comrade Chen Yun, in his article "Strengthening the Party Spirit of New Party Members and New Cadres," set out requirements for the use of young cadres: "Temper them at the lower levels. The basic principle for their use is to have them travel more into the headwind and less with the tailwind; when necessary, assign them work they are unwilling to do, so as to forge their will." Military work is highly practical work. Without a round of tempering that "chills one to the bone," without a few turns as "an ant on a hot pan," without taking seriously the trust placed in the "first thing," it is difficult to accumulate the capital for growth or to harden the wings needed for takeoff.

Of course, the deeper meaning of doing the "first thing" well cannot be understood simply as completing the first assigned task itself. Rather, it encompasses a professional attitude of going all-out from the very beginning, an unwavering determination to do whatever one does well, and a standard requirement of striving for excellence — reflecting a rare and precious original aspiration (初心). From chasing his path from the Tsinghua campus all the way to the foot of a missile launch tower, from taking root at the grassroots level to breaking through and growing, model soldier of military devotion and martial excellence (爱军精武标兵) Le Yanhui said: "The grassroots experience transformed me from 'tender shoulders' to 'iron shoulders,' and gave me, through staying grounded, the confidence to fight and win." Starting from striving to do the "first thing" well, then doing the "second thing" and the "third thing" well, and ultimately doing "every thing" well — this is a reflection of a sound attitude and exacting standards, and even more so an unswerving adherence to one's sincere original aspiration and a faithful practice of the mission of building a strong military (强军使命).

To render meritorious service in the vibrant military camp, new platoon leaders must possess the steady pragmatism of "fighting no battle unprepared," proactively taking officers and soldiers as teachers, humbly learning from company and battalion commanders the art of overall planning and coordination, learning the way of leading troops from veteran platoon leaders, learning management methods from squad leaders and backbone personnel, and strengthening the foundation through down-to-earth effort. They should also preserve the sharpness of "a newborn calf that fears no tiger" and the resolve of "not returning until Loulan is broken," daring to take the first step, "daring to learn to swim by swallowing water," treating difficulties and setbacks as stepping stones, and using failure to drive capability upgrades. By treating every task with the gravity of the "first thing" and approaching every practice as if it were the "first time," new platoon leaders will surely accelerate the forging from high academic credentials to high capability, and from theoretical strength to practical strength, opening up their careers, demonstrating their value, and being tempered into steel in the great practice of building and strengthening the military (强军兴军).

Original Chinese

近日，中国工程院院士贲德荣膺2025年度国家最高科学技术奖。学习贲老的先进事迹，其做好“第一件事”的经历和教诲，尤其值得刚刚告别军校大门、走进基层部队营门的新排长深思细悟。 “到工作单位后，第一件事情很重要，第一件事情做好了，领导才敢放心地把第二件事情交给你。”贲老至今记得大学毕业时老师的谆谆教导。1963年，贲德从哈工大毕业，被分配到国防部第十研究院第十四研究所。工作后的“第一件事”，是参与研制功率谱密度分析仪中的一个关键部件——振荡器，期限只有一个月。没有现成经验，他硬是凭着坚韧的毅力，啃下200多页俄文资料；设计初稿虽提前完成，但他敏锐察觉到其中瑕疵，毅然推倒重来。正是在做好“第一件事”中展现出的严苛标准与敬业态度，为他叩开了参与研制当时世界上最前沿的相控阵雷达任务的大门，铺就了日后为我国雷达事业立下不朽功勋的基石。新排长普遍学历高、见识广、思想活，初到部队，往往被寄予厚望、赋予重任。然而，个别同志总觉得自己一身才华，只想“大展身手”，却不愿做“地平线”以下的工作；或因经验不足，放大畏难情绪，最终应付了事。殊不知，九层之台，起于累土。把“第一件事”做好，就是在为自己的信任值、能力值存入一笔宝贵的“原始资本”；敷衍了事、应付交差，无异于透支未来发展的无限可能。信任的积累，从来没有捷径，就藏在你对待每项任务一丝不苟的态度里，体现在“事事有回音、件件有着落”的闭环落实中。 “天下无现成之人才，亦无生知之卓识，大抵皆由勉强磨炼而出耳。”新排长的成长成才是有规律可循的。陈云同志在《增强新党员新干部的党性》一文中对使用年轻干部提出要求，“到下层锻炼。对他们使用的基本原则是，多走逆风，少走顺风，必要时要分配他们不愿干的工作，以磨练其意志”。部队工作是一项实践性很强的工作，没有一番“寒彻骨”的磨砺，不当几回“热锅上的蚂蚁”，不认真对待“第一件事”的托付，就难以获得成长的资本、难以练硬腾飞的翅膀。当然，做好“第一件事”的深意，不能简单理解为完成首次任务本身，而是蕴含着从一开始就全力以赴的敬业态度、干就干好的坚定决心，以及争创一流的标准要求，反映的是一种难能可贵的初心。从清华校园一路追到导弹发射架下，从扎根基层到破土成长，爱军精武标兵乐焰辉说：“基层经历让我从‘嫩肩膀’变成了‘铁肩膀’，让我在接地气中有了打胜仗的底气。”从努力做好“第一件事”起步，到做好“第二件事”“第三件事”，以至做好“每一件事”，是良好态度、严苛标准的体现，更是对赤诚初心的无悔坚守、对强军使命的忠实践行。建功火热军营，新排长要有“不打无准备之仗”的稳健务实，主动拜官兵为师，虚心向营连主官学统筹谋划，向老排长学带兵之道，向班长骨干学管理方法，在脚踏实地中强基固本；也应葆有“初生牛犊不怕虎”的锐气和“不破楼兰终不还”的决心，勇于迈出第一步，“敢于在呛水中学会游泳”，把困难挫折当作垫脚石，用失败助推能力升级。把每一项任务当成“第一件事”来重视，把每一次实践当成“第一次”来对待，新排长定能加速完成从高学历向高能力、由理论强向实践强的锻造，在强军兴军的伟大实践中开拓事业、彰显价值、淬火成钢。