Special Issue on Political Strengthening of the Military · Political Rectification Training | Evaluating Leaders Must Use "One Measuring Stick"
Editor's Note: Governing the military according to law and governing the military with strict discipline are the basic strategies of our Party for building and managing the military, and are also the intrinsic requirements for building a powerful military. At all levels, leading cadres of the military, as the organizers, participants, and practitioners of law-based military governance, set an example through their every action and every word for the broad ranks of officers and soldiers. Only when leading cadres take the lead in respecting and applying the law, and strictly handle affairs in accordance with the law, can they inspire and motivate the broad ranks of officers and soldiers to jointly advance the construction of a law-governed military (法治军营). In this issue, we present two experiences of leading cadres from a brigade of the Tibet Military District, offering a glimpse of the new outlook of the military's law-based and strict governance.
Evaluating Leaders Must Use "One Measuring Stick"
■ PLA Daily Special Correspondent Li Songyuan
Some time ago, a brigade of the Tibet Military District organized a physical fitness assessment for headquarters and staff organs. The brigade adjusted its examination model, no longer having organ personnel organize and judge the entire process, but instead selecting officers and soldiers from grassroots companies to serve as dedicated examiners.
On the day of the assessment, a cold wind blew in gusts. As the command was issued, participants quickly threw themselves into the assessment. In the high-altitude, oxygen-deficient environment, after one lap of assessment, many participants had beads of sweat across their foreheads and faces that had turned slightly pale.
Crossing the finish line, the brigade commander stopped and grabbed the railing beside him, gasping for breath. The young soldier conducting the examination pressed the stopwatch the moment he crossed the line, stared at the numbers on the dial, and was suddenly at a loss: the brigade commander's time was several seconds slower than the passing standard stipulated in the syllabus.
Looking at the exhausted brigade commander before him, the soldier could not help but hesitate: high-altitude physical fitness assessments are already far more difficult than those on the plains, the leader is relatively older, and he also has to coordinate all the work of the entire brigade on a daily basis—it was already remarkable that he had pushed himself to complete all the assessment events. If the result were reported truthfully, it would inevitably cause the leader to lose face, and as a grassroots soldier himself, how could he be so ignorant of the "rules"?
"Commander, you were only a few seconds short—it can count as passing." The soldier crossed out the original recorded time and prepared to write "pass" in the results column. The brigade commander, seeing this, immediately waved his hand: "If it's a fail, there's a make-up exam. We cannot falsify results. You look out for me on the examination ground—who will look out for us on the battlefield? If the results of leading cadres are not truthful, how can we strictly demand the same of grassroots officers and soldiers?"
"I understand, Commander!" The soldier instantly felt his cheeks burn hot. He hastily recorded the actual result and returned to his post to continue conducting examinations.
When the assessment ended, the relevant personnel immediately reviewed the assessment footage and cross-checked the timing data, discovering that the recorded results of several cadres did not match their actual assessment performance.
The problem was quickly placed before the brigade Party committee. The group, in connection with the deepening of political rectification training (政治整训), launched an analysis and discussion around this matter, digging deep into the underlying hidden risks to work style: the key to governing the military lies in strict discipline, and what is even harder is treating everyone equally. The slightest relaxation of rules and regulations makes it easy for the military to develop problems of lax management, a hollow work style, and soft enforcement of discipline. Once this kind of ideological deviation takes root and spreads, the rigid authority of laws and regulations will gradually weaken, and problems of acting on subjective will and enforcing discipline outside the institutional framework will quietly emerge.
"The root of individual grassroots officers and soldiers bending rules out of personal considerations still lies with the leading organs." During the discussion, the brigade commander proactively examined and reflected on himself: "Before discipline and rules, there is no distinction of rank and no special exceptions. Governing the military with strict discipline means being strict from every assessment and every detail. In our day-to-day work, when we tighten work style and grasp training, we habitually direct the strict standard at the grassroots and at the officers and soldiers, yet when it comes to ourselves, we always want to loosen the yardstick and leave room for leniency. This breeds the ideological deviation of being strict with others but not with oneself, strict with subordinates but not with superiors—and this itself is a departure from the requirements of governing the military with strict discipline."
In the course of this reflection, the brigade commander proactively proposed retaking the assessment according to assessment standards, with no special arrangements of any kind and not a single concession throughout the entire process.
After the meeting, the organ re-clarified assessment conduct and discipline (考风考纪), and strengthened discipline education for participants. After receiving criticism and education, the soldier who had conducted the examination also candidly admitted his mistake: "I failed to uphold my duties as an examiner and nearly violated assessment discipline. In the future, I will absolutely hold to principles, act according to regulations, and never bend rules out of personal considerations."
On the day of the make-up examination, the training ground was unusually quiet, with discipline supervisors participating throughout. "Prepare—begin!" At the command, the brigade commander quickly adjusted his state and once again threw himself fully into the assessment. The instant he crossed the finish line, the examiner pressed the stopwatch, precisely announced the assessment time, and recorded the result truthfully.
"Governing the military with strict discipline means measuring with one yardstick all the way to the end." Walking off the examination ground, the brigade commander said firmly: leading cadres must lead by example, extending this strict and solid work style (严实作风) of daring to be exacting and uncompromising and refusing special treatment from the training ground and examination ground to every aspect of military construction and combat readiness training.
When a Mission Launches, Don't Get Held Up by "One Sheet of Paper"
■ Sheng Ziqian, PLA Daily Special Correspondent Li Songyuan
On a high-altitude morning, a long-distance transport mission by a brigade of the Tibet Military District got underway in an atmosphere of tension. From the application for vehicle dispatch to the formation's departure, the entire process was smooth and efficient, meeting the requirements of actual combat.
"Now all the procedures are streamlined and standardized—no more running back and forth over form signatures and extra paperwork. We can put our whole heart into combat readiness support!" In conversation, an organ cadre recounted a previous experience.
At the time, a neighboring unit had suffered a vehicle scraping accident. Although it caused no major losses, it sounded an alarm for high-altitude driving safety.
"High-altitude road conditions are complex and the environment is harsh—vehicle safety cannot tolerate the slightest negligence." A brigade leader reminded everyone that vehicle control work must be grasped strictly and practically, the military's safety bottom line must be firmly held, and he suggested further adjusting and improving work procedures. In order to implement the leader's instructions and ensure safety work was foolproof, the deputy brigade commander responsible for safety work, holding the idea that "one more lock means one more measure of safety," went beyond existing regulations and, together with several cadres, researched and formulated supplementary detailed rules, adding 10 new control measures.
For a time, strict regulations loomed high. However, grassroots officers and soldiers found them difficult to implement. For example, relevant regulations clearly stipulated that only hierarchical approval and vehicle condition inspection were required, yet now multiple levels of signatures and final review by the duty leader were required; before dispatching a vehicle, a "five-post verification (五岗核验)" was required; even driving speed and the frequency of parking inspections were increased accordingly.
Over time, this cumbersome process had no obvious effect on reinforcing the safety barrier, but instead easily encroached on officers' and soldiers' normal training and living time, and also pushed some officers and soldiers toward the other extreme of "preferring complexity over simplicity, preferring strictness over leniency."
These problems were exposed all at once during one combat readiness mission.
Late one night, heavy snow suddenly fell on the high plateau and temperatures plummeted sharply. Upon receiving an urgent logistics resupply mission, officers and soldiers of a certain company responded to the order immediately, preparing vehicles and inventorying supplies through the night. At a critical juncture in the mission's progress, the cumbersome approval process hit a snag: the duty leader responsible for the final approval signature was attending an important meeting and could not advance the approval in time.
The wind and snow grew fiercer and fiercer, vehicles stood by in the bitter cold for an extended period, and the officers and soldiers on duty were burning with anxiety: "The mission deadline is right before us, and we're stuck on 'one sheet of paper'!"
The situation of this mission quickly came to the attention of the brigade Party committee. At a special analysis meeting, participants, in connection with the deepening of political rectification training, placed this matter on the table as a typical case. A grassroots representative frankly stated: "Some of the control regulations lack a legal and regulatory basis and constitute excessive layering-on (过度加码) at the subjective level. They appear to set higher standards and finer management, but in reality they are divorced from the actual combat needs of the grassroots and are a manifestation of formalism (形式主义)."
Recognizing where the problem lay, the deputy brigade commander took the lead in reflecting and making a self-criticism: "Strict management cannot be strict outside the law. I failed to abide by the basic principle of law-based military governance, mistakenly equated 'more procedures' with 'stricter gatekeeping,' and one-sidedly pursued absolute safety, issuing local policies and local regulations (土政策、土规定), ultimately resulting in management overreach and loss of control calibration. This is both a manifestation of insufficient capacity to perform duties and, more importantly, a reflection of weak rule-of-law awareness and an unrealistic management work style…"
To rectify this chronic problem at its root, the brigade decided to launch a month-long activity of studying laws and regulations, organizing cadres at all levels to systematically study the military's various laws and regulations, and firmly establishing the management philosophy of being strict within the law and performing duties according to regulations; to conduct a comprehensive review and sorting of all rules and regulations, resolutely abolishing any add-on provisions that exceed the scope of laws and regulations, maintaining safety standards without relaxation, adhering to the actual combat bottom line without slackening, eliminating ineffective control links, and optimizing approval processes; and to improve contingency plans and measures for handling dangerous high-altitude roads, regulating drivers' physical and mental condition, and conducting emergency logistics delivery in extreme weather, driving safety management work back onto the track of rule of law.
Recently, the brigade executed a heavy equipment transfer mission, with officers and soldiers assembling swiftly and deploying efficiently. Witnessing this scene, the deputy brigade commander felt a deep sense of reflection: "Law-based military governance must first firmly establish rule-of-law awareness. With laws and regulations providing guidance, we can hold the safety bottom line for high-altitude driving and continuously enhance our combat readiness and warfighting capabilities."