Dog Days Outpost Visit | Emerald Sea, Lonely Island: Agency Cadres Move to the Front to Solve Problems

A Reporter Visits a Radar Station of a Certain Air Force Unit——

Emerald Sea, Lonely Island: Agency Cadres Move to the Front to Solve Problems

■ Li Zihao, PLA Daily Reporter Zhang Dongpan Illustration: Fang Han

Since the onset of the dog days (入伏), temperatures have surged sharply.

Early in the morning, the reporter boarded a vessel at the dock and, after nearly five hours of rough sailing, finally made out the faint outline of an island on the horizon — the garrison of a radar station belonging to a certain Air Force unit. Traveling with the reporter were Li Shuang, wife of radar station cadre Deng Junsheng, their daughter Yingying, and Bu Di, chief of the supply section of the unit, who was on the island for an embedded inspection (蹲点).

At noon, the boat came ashore. Deng Junsheng, who had been waiting for some time, came running over, took the luggage from his wife's hands, held his daughter's hand, and placed a carefully prepared gift into her hands.

"What looks like an ordinary family visit is extraordinarily precious to the officers and soldiers on the island." Watching the family of three reunite happily before him, Bu Di recounted for the reporter the experience of Li Shuang's first family visit two years earlier.

That summer, Li Shuang set out from her hometown in Tianjin, transferring through multiple modes of transportation over a long and arduous journey before finally reaching the port of departure for the island. Unexpectedly, a sudden change in weather at sea caused wave heights to reach the threshold for a navigation ban, and all ferry services were suspended. Li Shuang had no choice but to find a guesthouse near the port and wait for ferry service to resume. By the time she finally made it to the island, more than half of her leave had passed, and the braised pork she had made by hand for her husband had already spoiled.

At the time, Bu Di happened to be on the island for an embedded inspection. Upon learning of this, he wrote his own reflection in his inspection diary: "What can I do for this island? What can I do for the officers and soldiers on this island?"

[Caption] Officers and soldiers observe air conditions. Photo by Hou Jun.

In conversation, the reporter learned that Bu Di had previously served as the commander of another island radar station and knew firsthand the hardships of island garrison duty. During his embedded inspection, he slept in the squad and platoon barracks, ate in the company mess hall, and through daily life alongside the officers and soldiers, came to understand clearly the real difficulties they faced in work and life.

"Quite a few officers and soldiers on the island have experienced family members getting stranded by extreme weather during visits." Recounting this experience, Bu Di told the reporter: "The difficulties that officers and soldiers are too embarrassed to raise are precisely the important matters that the agency (机关) must make every effort to resolve."

During the inspection, Bu Di covered every squad, platoon, and fighting position on the island, broadly gathering the various problems officers and soldiers faced: family members enduring long transit times during visits, with large expenses incurred from being stranded during navigation bans; difficulties coordinating children's school enrollment; the impact of living apart in two places on parent-child relationships… His inspection diary was filled densely with the difficulties and demands of officers and soldiers, annotated with varying numbers of stars according to priority, with the corners of several pages deliberately folded over.

When that inspection concluded and he returned to the agency, Bu Di immediately reported his research findings to the Party committee. After deliberation and review by the Party committee leadership, a support mechanism for a "family visit transit station" (家属来队中转站) was quickly introduced — covering everything from transportation pickup to transit accommodation, from meal support to itinerary coordination, all centrally arranged by the agency. In response to the reality of unpredictable island weather and frequent navigation suspensions, they began compiling weekly plans for the following week's family visits; for any family members unable to reach the island on time due to transit delays or holdups, the agency would uniformly arrange food and lodging.

"Officers and soldiers have sacrificed so much to garrison this island — it is our responsibility to resolve their difficulties." Following Bu Di's footsteps, the reporter arrived at the radar station's honor room. Upon entering, a yellowed photograph on the wall caught the reporter's attention —

In the photograph, a soldier grips a shovel tightly, his gaze resolute.

"This is the radar station's old company commander, Fang Heyi, who was once received by Chairman Mao." Pointing to the photograph, Bu Di told the reporter the old company commander's story.

In the early days of the radar station's construction, the mess hall was situated halfway up a hillside backed by a sheer cliff face. One misstep while transporting supplies could mean falling into the sea. Fang Heyi, who was then the cook squad leader, used his rest time every day to haul stones, lay gravel, and build a path. Two months later, the path was finally widened, and he then set about planning an activity ground for the officers and soldiers — he would not rest even as his hands became covered in blisters. Inspired by Fang Heyi, the company's officers and soldiers worked together, and over the course of a year leveled an activity ground at the edge of the cliff face. After becoming company commander, he took the lead in opening up wasteland, improving facilities, and doing everything in his power to improve conditions on the island garrison, earning him the affectionate nickname "Island Foolish Old Man" (海岛愚公).

"What our predecessors had in their minds was not how to rack up achievements, but how to build the company well and guard the island well." Bu Di said with feeling. "Faced with harsh conditions, it was not only ordinary officers and soldiers — even generals of high rank did not seek special treatment."

In 1958, Chairman Mao called on all senior cadres of the armed forces to go down to the companies to serve as soldiers. Cheng Jun, then Deputy Commander of the Air Force, voluntarily went to a radar company on a certain island with harsh conditions, eating, living, and training together with the soldiers: standing guard in winter, he proactively took the coldest late-night shifts; caring for the officers and soldiers, he conducted extensive research into the various difficulties facing work and training on the island… After his soldier-tempering period ended, Cheng Jun faithfully reported on conditions at the grassroots level and actively pushed for continuous improvements to island logistics support, setting a benchmark for subsequent leading cadres going down to companies to serve as soldiers.

Leaving the honor room, it was nearly evening. The sky suddenly filled with dark clouds, a fierce wind rose, and pellets of rain came crashing down. The reporter followed Bu Di as they hurried toward the position. The bluestone steps on the mountain path were soaked by rain and extremely slippery, and Bu Di nearly fell several times.

"A typhoon is coming — we must immediately take protective measures for the equipment!" After reaching the position, Bu Di, heedless of being soaked through, stepped forward quickly and worked together with the officers and soldiers to secure equipment, protect devices, and reinforce the radar antenna.

Listening to the sound of the pouring rain, the reporter thought of Li Shuang and her daughter and decided to go check on them at the family quarters. Pushing open the door, the room was clean and tidy, with furniture and appliances all in place. Comparing her two visits to the island, Li Shuang's expression relaxed: "I really didn't expect that in just a few short years, the unit would have introduced so many heartwarming measures for military families."

"In the past, when cadres came for embedded inspections and encountered matters outside their own area of responsibility, most would simply note them down and bring them back, and many items would get passed around between departments and then come to nothing." Zhang, the radar station's political instructor, who was accompanying the reporter, said: "Now, the agency has established a rigid mechanism (刚性机制) requiring cadres to go down to the front lines to ascertain the real situation and compile a list of problems, then immediately upon returning to jointly formulate countermeasures with relevant departments and implement them item by item according to division of responsibilities."

The next morning, the reporter stood at the edge of the activity ground that Fang Heyi had led the officers and soldiers to build all those years ago, watching the surging, unceasing waves before him, as if hearing in his ears the resounding melody of the radar station's unit song: "Enemy conditions are in our eyes — like steel nails we hold fast at the red forward outpost (红色前哨)…"

Always "Sitting on the Same Bench" (坐在一条板凳上) with Officers and Soldiers

■ Zhang Dongpan

A deputy commander eating, living, and training together with soldiers, proactively taking the coldest late-night guard shifts; an old company commander using his rest time to build roads for officers and soldiers, taking the lead in opening up wasteland and improving facilities; agency cadres going down to the front lines to learn of soldiers' conditions and resolve soldiers' difficulties, handling every practical matter in a way that reaches the hearts of officers and soldiers… The times are different, the positions are different, the methods are different — but the core of the spirit has always been the same: always "sitting on the same bench" (坐在一条板凳上) with officers and soldiers.

Going to the island to report, the reporter heard one story after another about reunion. Many of the difficulties that had plagued generation after generation of island garrison officers and soldiers have been effectively resolved with the help of increasingly refined support mechanisms, so that visiting family members no longer gaze at the sea and sigh. Behind these moving changes lies the fervent original aspiration (初心) of agencies at all levels whose hearts are tied to the grassroots, and the sincere care of agency cadres whose warmth reaches the officers and soldiers. It is precisely because they have always treated soldiers as brothers and military families as their own kin that officers and soldiers have the soaring morale and steel-like conviction to "hold fast like steel nails at the red forward outpost."

Where the heart is at peace, that is home. Looking back on the history of the radar station's construction, the old generation of island garrison personnel took root on a barren island, with cadres at all levels taking the lead in enduring the greatest hardships and doing the most exhausting work, laying a solid foundation for guarding the red forward outpost; the new generation of builders carries on and opens up new ground, with cadres at all levels always keeping the welfare of soldiers in their hearts, working together with soldiers to overcome difficulties and tackle hard problems. Within this fine tradition of "grassroots first, soldiers first" (基层至上、士兵第一) lies the complete answer to why the People's Army has been able to march from victory to victory.