Exercises Political Work

Train Earnestly and Practically: A Naval Unit's Party Committee Guides Grassroots Units in Cultivating a Strong Atmosphere of Combat Training and War Preparedness

踏踏实实训练，海军某部党委引导基层浓厚练兵备战氛围

PLA Daily (解放军报) 22 May 2026

Summary

An unidentified naval unit's Party committee, responding to a failed combat-readiness rapid-mobilization drill (战备拉动训练) in early May in which a storeroom custodian's pre-inspection tidying caused a bottleneck that left a company unable to assemble on time, issued new standing rules — the Detailed Rules for the Daily Implementation of Combat-Readiness Standards (《战备标准日常落实细则》) — requiring grassroots units to execute approved training plans without alteration and banning inspection-driven adjustments (迎检式调整). The article documents a persistent institutional problem: performance-for-inspectors behavior that degrades actual readiness, here manifesting in storeroom reorganization, standardized training tempos, and cosmetic cantonment upkeep. The framing points to the Party committee using a concrete failure as a lever to enforce the principle that combat-readiness standards (战备常态) must hold regardless of whether leaders are watching — a corrective posture, not a capability claim.

Translation

On a day in early May, a naval unit organized a certain battalion to conduct a combat-readiness rapid-mobilization drill (战备拉动训练). When the whistle sounded, Squad Leader Li Gen, who had been in the middle of maintaining his weapon, snapped to attention and stopped what he was doing. The drill had come with absolutely no advance warning, but Li Gen did not panic — he immediately organized his soldiers and headed to the combat-readiness storeroom. When they arrived at the floor where the storeroom was located, however, he was dumbstruck. Under normal procedure, personnel should enter the storeroom by squad and platoon in sequence, draw their equipment, and then move quickly downstairs to assemble. But now the storeroom was a one-way bottleneck — nothing was coming out. All that could be heard from inside were voices asking where the riot shields were, and others shouting that they couldn't find the batons.

"The various supplies in the storeroom are kept in relatively fixed positions for easy retrieval — how could anyone fail to find things?" Li Gen stared at the scene before him, utterly baffled. The storeroom custodian responsible for the chaos stood there red-faced, drenched in a cold sweat.

It turned out that a superior-level leader had come to conduct an inspection that morning. In order to "make a good impression," the storeroom custodian had deliberately "tidied up" the storeroom, stacking all supplies and equipment "neatly." Because he had been single-mindedly pursuing an "orderly appearance," some items of equipment had been "tucked away" deep inside. It was precisely this round of "rearrangement" that caused the chaos now unfolding.

In the end, Li Gen's company failed to complete its assembly within the prescribed time, and the battalion's overall mobilization drill result was rated "unsatisfactory."

The disorder triggered by this inspection-preparation effort caught the attention of the unit's Party committee. Through investigation and research, they found that such situations were far from rare: on the training ground, officers and soldiers should be grouped according to ability level to address weaknesses and pursue specialized, refined training (专攻精练), but whenever an inspection or observation visit was imminent, some unit leaders would deliberately standardize training content and tempo to ensure "uniformity of movement." In day-to-day management, cantonment order and internal hygiene (内务卫生) were supposed to be maintained in accordance with combat-readiness standards, yet as inspections approached, some comrades would "nitpick details" and "dress things up," seeking only a "good appearance" while casting combat-readiness effectiveness aside entirely. On these phenomena, the unit's Party committee took an unambiguous stance: "Are leaders and organs supposed to go down to the grassroots and look only at whether things are 'presentable' and 'orderly'? We must not disrupt work order or alter the normal state of combat readiness (战备常态) for the sake of preparing for inspections — deviations must be corrected without delay!"

To that end, the unit took action on two fronts. On one hand, it required that organ-level observation visits not focus on the scale of the scene, that inspections not disrupt daily order, and that supervision not consume training time; it established a pragmatic evaluation system and formed a supervision team to identify and rectify "showy formalism" (花架子) and similar phenomena at the grassroots level. On the other hand, drawing on relevant regulations and actual grassroots conditions, it formulated the Detailed Rules for the Daily Implementation of Combat-Readiness Standards (《战备标准日常落实细则》), specifying that once a training plan has been approved, grassroots units must execute it rigidly except under special circumstances, so as to eliminate "inspection-driven adjustments" (迎检式调整), foster a strong atmosphere in which everything serves the purpose of combat training and war preparedness (练兵备战), and ensure that officers and soldiers are not distracted in the slightest.

Recently, the unit's organs went deep to the front lines to inspect training conduct. When the inspection party arrived at the training ground, officers and soldiers of a certain company were carrying out small-unit tactical training exactly as planned.

"Before, the moment we heard that leaders were coming to inspect or observe, we'd start thinking about how to 'put on a good show,' and our minds would go off track," said Corporal Li Feng with feeling. "Now we just focus on training earnestly and practically — nothing else needs to enter our heads."

Original Chinese

5月上旬的一天，海军某部组织某营进行战备拉动训练。哨声响起，原本正在保养枪支的班长李根一个激灵停下手中动作。此次战备拉动事前毫无“风声”，但李根并不慌张，立即组织战士前往战备库房。然而，来到库房所在楼层，他却傻了眼——按理说，大家应该按班排依次进入库房领取装备，随后迅速前往楼下集合。可现在库房“只进不出”，只能隐约听见里面有人问防暴盾牌在哪，还有人喊找不到警棍…… “为了便于拿取，库房内各类物资摆放位置相对固定，怎么会找不到东西？”李根看着眼前的场景很是不解。造成这片混乱的库房管理员则是满脸通红，急得满头大汗。原来，当天上午有上级领导前来检查，为了“留个好印象”，库房管理员特意对库房进行了“整理”，将所有物资器材“码放整齐”。因为他当时一心追求“美观”，部分装备物品便被“藏”到了深处。正是这一番“调整”，导致了眼前的混乱。最终，李根所在连队未能在规定时间内完成集结，全营拉动成绩“不合格”。这场因为迎检引发的混乱，引起该部党委的注意。他们经过调研发现，此类情况并不鲜见：训练场上，官兵应按照能力水平分组补差、专攻精练，但遇到检查观摩时，部分带兵人便会刻意统一训练内容节奏，确保“动作整齐划一”；日常管理中，营区秩序、内务卫生原本依照战备标准保持，可临近检查，便有同志“抠细节”“做包装”，只求“好看”，却将战备实效抛之脑后……对于这些现象，该部党委态度鲜明：“难道领导和机关到基层检查就是只看是否‘好看’、是否‘整齐’吗？不能为了迎检打乱工作秩序、改变战备常态，必须及时纠偏！” 为此，该部一方面要求机关观摩不看场面大小、检查不干扰日常秩序、督导不占用训练时间，建立务实评价体系，并成立监督小组，对基层“花架子”等现象进行纠治；另一方面依据相关规定和基层实际情况制订《战备标准日常落实细则》，明确训练计划一经审批，非特殊情况，基层须刚性执行，杜绝“迎检式调整”，营造一切为了练兵备战的浓厚氛围，不让官兵有丝毫分心走神。近日，该部机关深入一线检查训练作风。一行人到达训练场时，某连官兵正照计划开展小队战术训练。 “以前一听有领导检查观摩，就要琢磨怎么‘好好表现’，心思都‘跑偏’了。”下士李冯感慨，“现在我们只管踏踏实实训练，其他无需多想。”