Exercises Political Work

Turning Headaches into Heartwarming Outcomes, Giving Officers and Soldiers More Time and Energy to Devote to Training and War Preparations

把挠头事办成暖心事,让官兵有更多的时间和精力投入练兵备战

PLA Daily (解放军报) 16 August 2026

Summary

A brigade of the 80th Group Army has institutionalized a set of administrative reforms requiring headquarters cadres to conduct on-site service visits to grassroots units, handle welfare and benefits applications in the field, and accept performance evaluations tied to grassroots satisfaction ratings — framed explicitly as correcting a distorted 政绩观 (view of political achievement) among staff officers. The article documents a recurring friction point in PLA unit administration: headquarters bureaucracy consuming training time and mishandling entitlements like the non-employment family subsidy, with underreporting noted as a concrete failure. The framing — linking administrative style reform to Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and combat-readiness — fits the broader campaign to reorient political work metrics away from paperwork compliance toward measurable grassroots outcomes, though whether these specific mechanisms persist beyond the current study-education campaign is not established.

Translation

A certain brigade of the 80th Group Army works to improve its style of service to the grassroots — Headquarters Staff Come to You, So the Grassroots Runs Less

■ Chang Haiyang, Fan Jiayu

"In the past, handling administrative matters at the headquarters sometimes meant making several trips. Now that headquarters staff come to us directly, policies are explained in thorough detail, and some matters can even be handled on the spot." Recently, at a field training site of a certain brigade of the 80th Group Army, Staff Sergeant First Class Zhao Rubiao finished processing his application for the non-employment subsidy for family members accompanying military personnel, and offered repeated praise to Staff Officer Chen of the Human Resources Section.

"When headquarters staff come to you often, the grassroots runs less." Staff Officer Chen said, "Going from waiting for officers and soldiers to come to us for help in the past, to now proactively going down to the front lines, we are better able to identify bottlenecks in our work and pinpoint the direction for improvement."

Some time ago, while reviewing the implementation of welfare benefits for the brigade's officers and soldiers, Staff Officer Chen discovered that because some grassroots officers and soldiers had an imprecise understanding of relevant policies and were unclear on the application procedures — and because individual units had not exercised strict oversight — information submissions were not standardized, and cases of underreporting had even occurred.

"Matters that touch on the vital interests of officers and soldiers must be handled well and handled in earnest, no matter how small." To that end, Staff Officer Chen proactively went deep into the grassroots to handle work on-site, driving the better implementation of welfare and benefits policies.

"The more mud on your boots, the more genuine feeling settles in your heart, and the greater the force behind the support you provide." The brigade's leadership explained that in the past, individual headquarters cadres felt that "going down to the grassroots wastes time and effort" and were accustomed to sitting in their offices demanding materials. Research and investigation remained superficial — more time spent reading documents, less time examining actual conditions — resulting in remedial measures formulated by the headquarters that did not closely fit grassroots realities and did not resolve problems thoroughly enough.

"Headquarters service falling short is, on the surface, a problem of work methods, but at its root lies a deviation in one's view of political achievement (政绩观)." At the handover meeting, the brigade's leadership went straight to the crux of the problem, and in conjunction with the study education campaign on Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building and on establishing and practicing a correct view of political achievement (正确政绩观), guided headquarters cadres to correct their ideological deviations, transform their work style, and redirect the focus of their work back to serving grassroots officers and soldiers and serving combat capability building.

Subsequently, the brigade established systems including first-inquiry accountability and time-limited case resolution. For matters touching on the vital interests of officers and soldiers, headquarters cadres were required to shift from "sitting and waiting for people to come" to "proactively knocking on doors" — going down to the front lines and resolving difficulties on-site. In practice, they used on-site work visits as an opportunity to catalog the common administrative needs of grassroots officers and soldiers, and issued service guides specifying handling procedures. Through Soldier Reception Days, two-way review meetings between headquarters and grassroots units, and similar mechanisms, they collected matters that the grassroots could not resolve on its own, designated responsible sections, and continuously tracked and followed up on implementation. Grassroots satisfaction ratings were incorporated into the annual performance evaluations of headquarters cadres, and behaviors such as "passing the buck (推诿扯皮)" and "prioritizing paper trails over actual results (重痕迹轻实效)" were subject to serious accountability.

Not long ago, when headquarters staff went down to the grassroots to handle work on-site, some officers and soldiers raised the inconvenience of conducting banking business. After learning of the situation, the headquarters immediately coordinated with local banks to enter the barracks and provide services to officers and soldiers on the spot. At the same time, the brigade appropriately increased the frequency of on-site services at key junctures such as veteran separations and new soldier assignments to companies, allowing officers and soldiers to handle banking matters without leaving the barracks.

"The political achievements (政绩) of the Party committee and headquarters are written in the sense of gain and happiness of grassroots officers and soldiers, and are reflected in the improvement of the unit's cohesion and combat capability." The brigade's leadership said that when the headquarters firmly establishes a "grassroots first (基层至上)" service philosophy and turns one headache after another for officers and soldiers into heartwarming outcomes, officers and soldiers will have more time and energy to devote to training and war preparations.

Recently, the brigade organized a round-the-clock live-fire shooting assessment. Officers and soldiers overcame the adverse effects of harsh weather and achieved outstanding results.

Original Chinese

第80集团军某旅着力改进服务基层作风—— 机关勤上门基层少奔波 ■常海洋范家宇 “以前到机关办理业务，有时得跑好几趟，如今机关上门服务，政策讲解得细致透彻，部分业务还能现场办理。”近日，在第80集团军某旅驻训地，三级军士长赵汝彪办完随军家属未就业补助申领手续，对人力资源科陈干事连连点赞。 “机关勤上门，基层少奔波。”陈干事说，“从过去坐等官兵上门求助到如今主动下沉一线，我们更能摸清工作堵点，找准改进方向。” 前段时间，陈干事在梳理旅队官兵福利待遇落实情况时发现，由于部分基层官兵对相关政策理解不准、申报流程掌握不清，加之个别单位把关不严，导致信息填报不规范，甚至出现漏报情况。 “涉及官兵切身利益的事，再小也要办好办实。”为此，陈干事主动深入基层现场办公，推动福利待遇政策更好落地落实。 “脚下沾有多少泥土，心中就沉淀多少真情，帮建就有多大力度。”该旅领导介绍，过去个别机关干部觉得“下基层费时费力”，习惯坐在办公室要材料；调研浮于表面，看材料多、察实情少，导致机关制订的解难措施与基层实际贴合不紧，解决问题不够彻底。 “机关服务缺位，表面是工作方法问题，根源在政绩观出现偏差。”交班会上，该旅领导直指问题关键所在，并结合学习习近平党建思想、树立和践行正确政绩观学习教育，引导机关干部校正思想偏差，转变工作作风，把工作重心归正到服务基层官兵、服务战斗力建设上来。随后，该旅建立首问负责、限时办结等制度，对涉及官兵切身利益的业务，要求机关干部变“坐等上门”为“主动敲门”，沉到一线、现场解难。实践中，他们利用上门办公时机，梳理基层官兵常见的业务需求，印发服务指南，明确办理流程；通过士兵接待日、机关基层双向讲评会等，收集基层依托自身难以解决的事项，并明确责任科室，持续跟踪推进落实；将基层满意度纳入机关干部年度考评，对“推诿扯皮”“重痕迹轻实效”等行为严肃问责。前不久，机关下基层现场办公时，部分官兵反映办理银行业务不便。了解情况后，机关立即协调驻地银行进营区，为官兵现场提供服务。与此同时，该旅在老兵退役、新兵下连等节点，适当增加现场服务频次，让官兵足不出营就能办理银行业务。 “党委机关的政绩，写在基层官兵的获得感幸福感里，体现在部队凝聚力战斗力提升上。”该旅领导说，机关牢固树立“基层至上”服务理念，把一桩桩官兵挠头事办成暖心事，就能让官兵有更多的时间和精力投入练兵备战。近日，该旅组织跨昼夜实弹射击考核，官兵克服恶劣天气带来的不利影响，取得优异成绩。