Doctrine Personnel Nuclear

Encountering Rare Geology During Tunneling Operations, 'Chief Sergeant' Steps Up to Lead the Assault

掘进施工中遇到罕见地质，“首席军士”勇挑攻坚大梁

PLA Daily (解放军报) 2 June 2026

Summary

A PLA Rocket Force brigade conducting tunneling and underground construction operations has implemented a 'Chief Sergeant' system that breaks battalion-level organizational boundaries, designating senior NCOs like Staff Sergeant First Class Wang and Senior Master Sergeant Li as brigade-wide technical leads deployable across dispersed construction sites. The article documents a concrete institutional problem — fragmented NCO expertise across geographically separated worksites degrading construction efficiency and problem-solving capacity — and records the brigade's structural fix: pooling senior sergeants into a brigade-level talent registry with authority to cross unit lines for technical leadership. This fits a broader PLA pattern of trying to extract more operational value from the senior NCO corps by expanding their formal authority, but the specific mechanism here — embedding NCOs into Party committee deliberation meetings and using open-call task assignment to route problems to them — extends that pattern into construction-unit governance in a way that is worth tracking as a model the Rocket Force may propagate.

Translation

A Rocket Force Brigade Breaks Organizational Barriers to Fully Leverage Talent — 'Chief Sergeant' Steps Up to Lead the Assault

PLA Daily report by Zhou Xiaoxing and special correspondent Fang Lei: "Mud-and-rock mix ahead!" Recently, a task detachment of a Rocket Force brigade encountered rare geological conditions during tunneling operations, with the risk of an emergency arising at any moment. Faced with this situation, Staff Sergeant First Class Wang, the "Chief Sergeant" for ground support specialization in a battalion of the brigade, rushed from an adjacent work zone to the site, led the work team in analyzing and studying the situation, flexibly improved the construction plan, and ensured the mission proceeded smoothly.

"Sergeants have long been rooted at the front lines of missions and possess rich practical experience — they are our backbone. Giving full play to their role is of great significance to unit building and combat effectiveness improvement." The brigade's leadership explained that the unit has long carried out national defense construction tasks. For a considerable period of time, due to factors such as dispersed construction sites, expert-level sergeant cadres mostly functioned within the scope of their own battalions and companies, and problems such as uneven talent allocation and poor experience-sharing were relatively prominent. To address this, the brigade focused on mission requirements, selected sergeants with strong overall capabilities from each battalion and company to serve as "Chief Sergeants" in different professional fields, broke down organizational barriers to enable unified assignment and deployment across the entire brigade, and ensured that the professional and technical strengths of every sergeant cadre were fully utilized.

In practice, the brigade leveraged occasions such as Party committee work deliberation meetings (党委议工会) to routinely carry out activities such as "I Contribute a Skill to Construction" and "Golden Ideas Collection Meetings," inviting "Chief Sergeants" to participate in important work such as drafting construction plans. The brigade regularly sorts through difficult and complex problems encountered during construction, organizes "Chief Sergeants" to take on challenges through open-call task assignment (揭榜挂帅) and collective problem-solving, and improves related supporting measures. The brigade has also incorporated "Chief Sergeants" from each specialty into the brigade's professional and technical talent pool, achieving co-building and sharing of talent resources across the entire brigade through remote consultation and online problem-solving; it has deepened regional cooperation mechanisms, organizing "Chief Sergeants" to carry out cross-regional tasks such as emergency response and assault operations, instructional guidance, and inspection and maintenance, maximizing the radiating and driving role of sergeant talent.

Not long ago, a battalion of the brigade received a renovation and expansion task. Officers and soldiers used traditional drilling and blasting methods for construction, resulting in significant wear on drilling equipment. In response, Senior Master Sergeant Li, the "Chief Sergeant" for tunneling specialization, led a team to conduct in-depth on-site analysis of the causes, and explored and developed a new blasting method, effectively improving construction quality and efficiency while reducing construction costs.

It is understood that with the implementation of the "Chief Sergeant" system, the role of the brigade's sergeant talent pool has become more prominent and the unit's mission execution capability has improved significantly. Since the beginning of this year, facing multiple challenges including dispersed construction and adverse geological conditions, the brigade's officers and soldiers have successfully resolved multiple construction difficulties and smoothly completed all assigned tasks.

Original Chinese

火箭军某旅打破建制壁垒充分发挥人才作用 “首席军士”勇挑攻坚大梁解放军报讯周晓星、特约记者方雷报道：“前方出现泥夹石！”近日，火箭军某旅任务分队在掘进施工中遇到罕见地质，险情随时可能发生。面对这一情况，该旅某营支护专业“首席军士”、一级上士王班长迅速从相邻工区赶到现场，带领作业班组分析研究，灵活改进施工方案，确保任务顺利推进。 “军士长期扎根任务一线，实践经验丰富，是我们的中坚力量。充分发挥他们的作用，对部队建设和战斗力提升具有重要意义。”该旅领导介绍，他们长期担负国防施工任务。过去很长一段时间，由于施工点位分散等原因，专家型军士骨干大多在各自营连范围内发挥作用，人才配置不均、经验共享不畅等问题比较突出。为此，他们聚焦任务需求，从各营连遴选综合能力素质过硬的军士，作为不同专业领域的“首席军士”，打破建制壁垒在全旅范围内统一调配使用，让每一名军士骨干的专业技术优势得到充分发挥。实践中，该旅依托党委议工会等时机，常态开展“我为施工献一技”“金点子征集会”等活动，邀请“首席军士”参与施工方案拟制等重要工作；定期梳理施工中遇到的重难点问题，组织“首席军士”揭榜挂帅、集智攻关，并完善相关配套措施。他们还将各专业“首席军士”纳入旅队专业技术人才库，通过远程会诊、线上解难等方式，实现全旅人才资源共建共享；深化区域协作机制，组织“首席军士”跨区域执行抢险攻坚、教学指导、巡检巡修等任务，最大限度发挥军士人才的辐射带动作用。不久前，该旅某营受领一项改扩建任务，官兵采用传统钻爆方式施工，钻具出现较大损耗。对此，掘进专业“首席军士”、二级军士长李班长带领团队深入任务一线分析原因，摸索总结出一套新型爆破法，有效提升了施工质效，降低了施工成本。据了解，随着“首席军士”制度落地施行，该旅军士人才队伍的作用更加凸显，部队遂行任务能力显著提升。今年以来，面对分散施工、恶劣地质等多重考验，该旅官兵成功破解多个施工难题，顺利完成各项任务。