Personnel Internal Security

Why Did a Civilian Employee With Just Over a Year on the Job Experience Three Consecutive 'Never Expected' Moments?

为何仅入职一年多的文职人员，就接连经历3个“没想到”？

PLA Daily (解放军报) 26 May 2026

Summary

A comprehensive training base of the Xinjiang Military District used a 'one person, one file' individualized development program to accelerate civilian instructor Xu Chao from initial hire to recruit squad leader in just over a year, compressing a process that normally takes longer through sequenced assignments including a 'Four-Competency' instructor course, soldier-tempering exercises at a combined-arms regiment, and integration into a military physical training research group. The article documents a structural problem the base is trying to solve: as weapons systems iterate and the training missions of subordinate units diversify, the base—responsible for specialist backbone certification across multiple arms of service in the Xinjiang Military District—faces a shortage of civilian instructors who can both teach and lead troops. The 'one person, one file' model and the batch of newly approved external study authorizations described at the end extend a visible PLA-wide pattern of using individualized talent management pipelines to accelerate civilian personnel integration into operational training roles, and raises the question of how broadly this approach is being institutionalized across other Xinjiang Military District training bases.

Translation

Xu Chao, Civilian Instructor at a Comprehensive Training Base of the Xinjiang Military District——

Over a Year on the Job, Three 'Never Expected' Moments

■ Gao Lu, Yang Jing, PLA Daily Special Correspondent Ding Lei

Recently, a comprehensive training base of the Xinjiang Military District held the "Crucible Cup" (熔炉杯) mass military skills competition. Xu Chao, a squad leader for a recruit company and civilian instructor, won two gold medals in the competition, and the recruits he led also took home multiple medals.

Three months ago, this civilian instructor, who had been on the job for just over a year, never expected that he would be appointed as a recruit squad leader. Before that, Xu Chao had already experienced two other "never expected" moments—not only had he achieved independent instruction ahead of schedule, but he had also grown into a core member of the base's "Military Physical Training Research and Breakthrough Group" (军事体育训练攻关组).

Under normal procedures, a civilian instructor at this base must pass through stages including pre-assignment initial training, institutional training, soldier-tempering exercises (当兵锻炼), and professional assessments before being permitted to instruct independently—a process that takes at least a year in its entirety, to say nothing of acquiring the ability to lead troops.

Why did Xu Chao experience three consecutive "never expected" moments after just over a year on the job? "This is entirely thanks to the tailored development plan the base designed for civilian instructors, which helped us get on the 'fast track' (快车道) to growth and advancement," Xu explained.

It is understood that this base is permanently tasked with skills certification and upgrade training for specialist backbone personnel (骨干) across multiple arms of service in the Xinjiang Military District. In recent years, as weapons and equipment have undergone continuous iterative upgrades and the missions of units sending personnel for training have grown increasingly diverse, there is an urgent need to build a team of all-around civilian instructors capable of both teaching and leading troops.

Before joining, Xu Chao had studied sports training as his major and had experience as an auxiliary police officer and firefighter. Drawing on his professional strengths and individual aptitudes, the base's teaching and research department precisely designed a "one person, one file" (一人一档) growth planning roadmap for him, structured around five stages of development: "transition period, establishment period, consolidation period, creative period, and maturity period."

Opening Xu Chao's growth planning roadmap, the reporter saw that it recorded his participation in six rounds of training: in January 2025, he was assigned to the base's "'Four-Competency' Instructor Concentrated Training Team" ('四会'教练员集训队); in February of the same year, he went to a combined-arms regiment of the Xinjiang Military District for soldier-tempering exercises; in April of the same year, he was assigned to the base's recruit company training… This series of training arrangements closely tied to actual combat gave Xu Chao's capabilities and qualities a comprehensive forging.

In early last year, the base organized the establishment of the "Military Physical Training Research and Breakthrough Group." Considering that he had a certain professional foundation, Xu Chao developed the idea of joining the group. But at that time, he had been on the job for less than three months and submitted his application with nothing more than a "let's try and see" attitude.

To his surprise, the base leadership not only approved his application but also encouraged him to draw on the professional knowledge he had acquired in university to deliver a lecture on training principles to the group's members.

In that lecture, he combined the characteristics of the missions carried out by officers and soldiers from units sending personnel for training with their physical functional traits, and gave a detailed explanation of multiple military physical training principles—including human physiology, movement trajectory processes, and muscle activation modules—earning unanimous praise from the group's members.

During his time working in the research and breakthrough group, Xu Chao entered the military physical training results of recruits one by one into the training database, conducted comprehensive analysis incorporating factors such as the physical fitness requirements of each specialty and the regional characteristics of the operational areas of units sending personnel for training, precisely assessed training effectiveness, clarified training objectives, improved training processes, and optimized methods of organizing training, receiving praise from all sides.

At the end of February this year, Xu Chao proactively signed up to participate in the base's new-recruit training cadre and backbone training program. After passing military and political assessments, he successfully obtained his "recruit squad leader qualification certificate" (新兵班长上岗证) and was appointed squad leader of a recruit company.

Over the past three months, Xu Chao has used his solid professional theoretical knowledge and flexible methods of organizing training to arrange recruit training in a scientific and efficient manner. A few days ago, the base organized the recruit graduation assessment, and the recruits Xu Chao led achieved overall results ranking in the upper-middle tier of the company.

"Civilian personnel are an important force in unit building. Only by conducting precise cultivation tailored to their individual capabilities and characteristics can we enable them to give full play to their strengths and grow rapidly." The base leadership told the reporter that Xu Chao's growth experience is a microcosm of their precise cultivation of civilian instructors. In recent years, they have formulated development plans targeting each civilian instructor's professional background, capability strengths, and development needs, setting phased cultivation objectives and refining cultivation measures at each stage, effectively shortening the growth cycle and producing a large cohort of all-around civilian instructors capable of innovative research and breakthroughs, classroom instruction, and leading and organizing troop training.

In recent days, the base leadership has also reviewed and approved another batch of external study authorization forms. "Look—these civilian instructors are going to institutions for advanced study; these ones are going to units sending personnel for training to conduct research; and several others are going to equipment manufacturers for on-site study and training…" Pointing to the authorization forms, the leader told the reporter that going forward, they will continue to dynamically adjust development plans in accordance with the growth characteristics of civilian instructors, ensuring that the strengths of every civilian instructor can be fully brought into play, injecting powerful momentum into the improvement of the base's teaching and training quality and effectiveness.

Original Chinese

新疆军区某综合训练基地文职教员徐超—— 入职一年多，三个“没想到” ■高璐杨晶解放军报特约记者丁雷近日，新疆军区某综合训练基地举办“熔炉杯”群众性练兵比武竞赛。某新兵连班长、文职教员徐超在比武中夺得两枚金牌，所带新兵也收获多枚奖牌。 3个月前，这名入职才一年多的文职教员根本没想到自己会被任命为新兵班长。在此之前，徐超还有两个“没想到”——不仅提前实现了独立授课，还成长为基地“军事体育训练攻关组”骨干。按照正常程序，该基地的文职教员从入职到独立授课，就要经历岗前初任培训、院校培训、当兵锻炼、业务考核等阶段，全过程走下来至少需要一年时间，更别说具备带兵能力。为何徐超仅入职一年多，就接连经历3个“没想到”？“这都得益于基地为文职教员量身定制的培养计划，助力我们走上成长成才‘快车道’。”徐超解释说。据了解，该基地常年担负新疆军区多个兵种专业骨干技能鉴定和升级培训任务。近年来，随着武器装备不断迭代升级，送训单位担负任务日渐多元，迫切需要打造一支既能授课又能带兵的全能型文职教员队伍。入职前，徐超曾学习运动训练专业，有过辅警、消防等经历。结合他的专业优势和个人特长，该基地教研部按照“过渡期、确立期、巩固期、创造期、成熟期”5个成长阶段，为他精准设计了“一人一档”成长规划路线图。翻开徐超的成长规划路线图，记者看到，里面记录了他先后6次参加培训的经历：2025年1月，编入基地“‘四会’教练员集训队”；同年2月，赴新疆军区某合成团当兵锻炼；同年4月，被编入基地新兵连训练……一连串紧贴实战的培养安排，让徐超的能力素质得到全方位锤炼。去年初，该基地组织成立“军事体育训练攻关组”。考虑自己有一定专业基础，徐超萌生了加入攻关组的念头。但那时，他入职还不满3个月，只是抱着试试看的想法提交了申请。没想到，基地领导不但批准了他的申请，还鼓励他利用大学所学专业知识，为组员们讲授一堂训练原理课。那堂课上，他结合送训部队官兵担负任务、身体机能等特点，详细讲解人体生理学、运动轨迹流程、肌肉发力模块等多种军事体育训练原理，赢得组员一致好评。在攻关组工作期间，徐超将新兵军事体育训练成绩逐一录入训练数据库，结合各专业体能所需、送训部队任务执行地域特点等要素进行全面分析，精准评估训练成效、明晰训练目标，改进训练流程、优化组训方法，受到各方好评。今年2月底，徐超主动报名参加基地新训干部骨干培训。经过军政考核，他顺利拿到“新兵班长上岗证”，被任命为某新兵连班长。 3个月来，徐超凭借扎实的专业理论知识和灵活的组训方法，把新兵训练安排得科学高效。前几天，该基地组织新兵结业考核，徐超所带新兵综合成绩位居连队中上水平。 “文职人员是部队建设的重要力量，只有结合其自身能力特点精准培养，才能让他们发挥优势特长，快速成长。”该基地领导告诉记者，徐超的成长经历是他们精准培养文职教员的一个缩影。近年来，他们针对每名文职教员的专业背景、能力特长和发展需求，制订培养方案，分阶段设定培养目标、细化培养举措，有效缩短了成长周期，培养出一大批既能创新攻关、又能登台授课，还能带兵组训的全能型文职教员。这几日，该基地领导又审签了一批外学审批单。“你看，这几名文职教员要去院校学习深造；这几名要去送训部队调研；还有几人去装备厂家跟学跟训……”指着审批单，这名领导告诉记者，接下来，他们还会根据文职教员的成长特点，动态调整培养方案，让每一名文职教员的特长都能得到充分发挥，为基地教学训练质效提升注入强劲动力。