Chapter 196: Field Assault Composite Battalion!
Time flew by to December, with only one month left until
With the arrival of this December, Chen Jun and Gao Cheng did not receive any reply from the military region, but instead received several bad news.
In the great background of informatized military reform, several particularly cold-blooded events occurred.
The first event was that Chief of Staff Shi personally went to Sixth Company and publicly announced the military region’s disbandment document for Sixth Company, along with the transfer orders for all officers in the company.
Sixth Company Commander Wei Tianlei was transferred to Division Reconnaissance Battalion, promoted one level to serve as Deputy Battalion Commander.
Sixth Company Political Instructor Guo Ziming was pre-assigned to Combined Arms Battalion, and after the new Electronic Warfare Company was stationed, he would serve as the first Political Instructor of Electronic Warfare Company.
Both of their transfers involved certain promotions, which could be considered compensation for the two chief officers of the company.
The three platoon leaders and quartermaster of Sixth Company were also pre-assigned to Combined Arms Battalion like the Political Instructor, temporarily staying in Sixth Company headquarters, waiting for the next specific arrangement.
Being able to enter the pilot Combined Arms Battalion was absolutely a great thing.
At least for these officers, although the disbandment of Sixth Company made them very uncomfortable, it could exchange for a broader future prospect.
But for the remaining Sixth Company warriors, their fates were much more bumpy.
At the same time as Sixth Company received the disbandment order, their company also had to complete the most important link of the company under this depressing atmosphere.
It was also the most important thing for the entire army at this point in time—
Demobilization wave!!
The main theme of this wave of reform was demilitarization, new equipment required fewer personnel, soldier quotas had to be compressed, which meant compressing the retention quotas as well.
The quota for enlisted to non-commissioned officer conversion in each company, and the quota for current-term non-commissioned officers to next term, were almost cut in half.
Even though Chen Jun’s all-NCO battalion had great demand, the division gave Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment more quotas, nearly half of Sixth Company’s warriors still had to be eliminated.
There was no way around it.
Infantry Company’s professional non-commissioned officer ratio was too low, making it harder to stay than in Tank Company and Artillery Company.
After Sixth Company officially received the disbandment order, the regiment organized a formal meeting, and all company commanders were called up.
The main ideas were actually just two.
First, do a good job in transfer and demobilization work, settle the warriors well without causing any trouble, second, divide up the remaining non-commissioned officers and private first class warriors from Sixth Company.
The ones with poor ability had already been demobilized, those left in Sixth Company were all “top goods”.
Very popular.
The company commanders of other companies were all eyeing them, just waiting for the regiment’s order.
Unfortunately, Steel Seventh Company did not play by the rules, openly using privilege, prioritizing to get ten non-commissioned officers, picking all the best ones.
The company commanders of other companies were very angry and very helpless.
Who made them so capable?
If you can’t beat them, you can only obediently drink the soup, after Steel Seventh Company finished picking, the remaining more than forty Sixth Company warriors were quickly divided up by other company commanders.
With this wave of strong blood supplement from Sixth Company, the company commanders of other companies felt much better.
After all, due to the sharp cuts in non-commissioned officer conversion and promotion quotas, each company could only select the best from the existing quotas, keeping the top batch.
Other private first class with decent ability but not very outstanding, and expiring non-commissioned officers couldn’t stay.
They could only painfully let them leave the army with tears.
This was still thanks to the huge demand of Combined Arms Battalion, which allowed the division to give an extra 30% quota, otherwise there would be more transfers and demobilizations.
Chen Jun also invisibly helped the entire Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment a lot.
Originally in this wave of demobilization tide, Shi Jin belonged to those with ability but not very outstanding, and not professional non-commissioned officers.
Thanks to various help from Chen Jun, he performed very excellently in the past two years, and also won a third-class merit once.
Not only did he not have to cry like a tearful person like in the original drama, drive to the capital for a spin, and leave the troops with regret.
Instead, he converted to fourth-level non-commissioned officer a year early.
Steel Seventh Company also became the only “zero demobilization” in the entire division because every warrior performed outstandingly in the exercise!!
Gan Xiao Ning and this batch of old private first class need not be mentioned, all of them easily converted to first-class non-commissioned officers in this miserable December for other companies.
Even Cheng Cai, Xu Sanduo, and Bai Tie Jun, this batch of private first class who had only enlisted for two years, also converted to non-commissioned officers.
Originally as the last batch of new recruits in military reform, Cheng Cai and others needed three years to end their enlisted soldier term, converting early could be considered eating the “Combined Arms Battalion” welfare.
Of course.
Cheng Cai was the only exception, he converted to non-commissioned officer early by his own strength.
While the batch of new recruits who just came in last year ate the dividend of Steel Seventh Company converting to Combined Arms Company, but their good luck ended there.
Combined Arms Battalion’s minimum configuration was all non-commissioned officers, they could only be transferred to other companies.
Fortunately, there were only eight new recruits from last year, and Gao Cheng plucked ten excellent non-commissioned officers from Sixth Company, which could completely fill this gap, and even slightly strengthen.
For example, Sixth Company’s muscle tough guy Ba Te Er would definitely greatly boost Vanguard Squad’s strength.
His strong build was unparalleled in carrying mortars.
Steel Seventh Company had a flavor of chickens and dogs ascending to heaven, almost everyone got promoted, the entire company was filled with a festive atmosphere.
But for Xu Sanduo who just got promoted to non-commissioned officer, what made him happier was not his own promotion.
But the news from Fifth Squad!
Old Ma from Fifth Squad was originally in a dead end, staying in a grave for veterans, and encountering military reform with major demilitarization, there was no chance to stay.
However, that operation in the exercise saved the almost defeated Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment, and also saved himself.
With the third-class merit added, he smoothly converted to fourth-level non-commissioned officer.
Xue Lin and Old Wei who saved together with him, Xue Lin converted to non-commissioned officer without pressure, Old Wei even converted to second-class non-commissioned officer early.
Because he always wanted to write a literary work, Chen Jun’s various highlights stimulated him every day, making him convinced that Chen Jun was the protagonist in his book, Li Meng who was eager to start writing but didn’t want to participate in the exercise.
Although he missed the highlight of the exercise, and later heard that Old Ma got a third-class merit, he regretted it so much that he slapped his thigh swollen.
But with the military-themed novel written with Chen Jun as the protagonist template, he recommended himself to Propaganda Section, was spotted by Officer Zhang at a glance, and serialized in the military report, which happened to be seen by Regiment Commander Wang.
Regiment Commander Wang, who felt the novel was unusually familiar, specially called Li Meng to the regiment for a conversation.
Upon learning that Li Meng’s protagonist template was Chen Jun, and actually wanted to write a book about his baby lump, Regiment Commander Wang immediately became greatly interested.
To bring into play Li Meng’s literary talent, mainly to get Li Meng to finish the novel as soon as possible.
Regiment Commander Wang simply issued a transfer order, transferring Li Meng from Grassland Fifth Squad to Regimental Propaganda Section, to cooperate with Officer Zhang in charge of regimental newspaper work.
Working in the regimental government unit, and being spotted by Regiment Commander Wang.
Although this year’s regimental non-commissioned officer quota was very limited, Li Meng was not converted to non-commissioned officer, but his three-year enlisted soldier term was only the second year and he was not demobilized.
As long as he didn’t mess around in Propaganda Section, converting to non-commissioned officer next year was almost certain.
Each company was busy with demobilization and non-commissioned officer conversion, and dividing up various matters from Sixth Company, the regiment also had to be busy with new recruit camp, training and related logistics preparation work.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed.
Time came to late December.
The military region, which had received the Combined Arms Battalion plan for more than half a month, finally seemed to have researched something, and had new movement at this time—
Notification to Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment to supplement materials.
It was necessary to provide specific Combined Arms Battalion establishment, detailed to the number of people in each squad and platoon, the quantity of equipment, branch of service configuration, etc.
Simply put.
It was the complete Combined Arms Battalion establishment information.
Regiment Commander Wang judged from the military region’s order that the military region had probably approved the Combined Arms Battalion plan, now entering the final coordination stage.
It was equivalent to preparing everything needed before officially starting the Combined Arms Battalion.
The weaponry and equipment needed for one battalion was indeed not a big problem for a Group Army, easily solvable.
Unfortunately, Combined Arms Battalion was a brand new tactical system, the pressure on the Group Army was still quite high.
After all, being the most advanced tactical system, it had to be equipped with the most advanced equipment to maximize combat effectiveness, otherwise equipping tanks with big knives would be a waste.
Predicting that Combined Arms Battalion was gradually entering the final stage, Regiment Commander Wang immediately called Chen Jun.
He put the Group Army order conveyed by the division directly in front of Chen Jun, letting him make the plan according to the military region’s order and standard.
Chen Jun thought the military region would first approve the plan, then enter the detailed stage.
So he had not prepared detailed configuration data.
Unexpectedly, the military region did it the other way around, asking him to first make the configuration data into a plan and send it up, then possibly start the establishment of Combined Arms Battalion.
However.
Although the order came very suddenly, this little thing couldn’t stump Chen Jun.
After receiving the order, Chen Jun returned to Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment, roughly explained the situation to Company Commander Gao Cheng, then plunged headlong into the deputy company commander room.
Starting to tailor a set of establishment for the upcoming pilot Combined Arms Battalion.
Using the standard establishment of a conventional medium mountainous terrain Combined Arms Battalion:
It needed one Combined Arms Battalion headquarters, two to three Armored Infantry Companies, one to two Tank Companies, one Artillery Company, one Anti-Aircraft Company, one Combat Support Company（Special Reconnaissance Company or similar）, one Engineer Support Company.
Adding up to eight to nine companies, equivalent to a deputy regiment level reinforced battalion.
Standard establishment of a conventional heavy Combined Arms Battalion:
It needed one Combined Arms Battalion headquarters, about three Main Battle Tank Companies, two Artillery Companies, one missile company, one Combat Support Company, one Engineer Support Company, and one reserve supplement company.
Basic configuration also eight to nine companies, with stronger long-range firepower and assault capability.
As someone who traveled from the 21st century, if Chen Jun made standard Combined Arms Battalion configuration, he just needed to copy from memory, with absolutely no difficulty.
But Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment was only a pilot now, starting with full configuration was definitely unrealistic.
Not to mention heavy Combined Arms Battalion, even medium Combined Arms Battalion was unlikely.
So Chen Jun needed to tailor a set of establishment based on his own experience, his understanding of combined arms units, and actual demands.
Conforming to field units’ attributes, meeting Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment’s integrated assault combat reconnaissance requirements, a “field assault Combined Arms Battalion” with comprehensive performance satisfaction!
First from the “brain”…
Combined Arms Battalion was multi-branch integrated cooperative combat, its feature was all-round information communication, the battalion commander could command every soldier below.
One battalion could conduct a battle, making combat more efficient and greatly improving combat effectiveness.
With so many branches mixed in one battalion, the conventional battalion headquarters of only three to five people definitely couldn’t command in Combined Arms Battalion.
So many units needing coordination, even if the battalion commander had three heads and six arms, it wouldn’t work.
So a complete battalion headquarters was needed.
Equivalent to Staff Department’s Operations Section must have, intelligence section integrating intelligence analysis data must have, supply section responsible for coordinating logistics supplies and equipment must have.
These three departments were mandatory requirements, all had to be arranged.
Plus battalion commander, deputy battalion commander, political instructor, deputy political instructor, and related communicators, clerks and other civil servants, about eight people.
Operations Section five people, intelligence section five people, supply section five people
Chen Jun estimated Combined Arms Battalion headquarters establishment, total around twenty-three people.
Combined Arms Battalion headquarters also needed a sergeant major, specifically responsible for warriors’ training and daily work, and part-time warrant officer in Operations Section, etc.
Shi Jin was the most suitable candidate.
But the sergeant major system hadn’t been established yet, this position could only be left vacant temporarily.
Later when Combined Arms Battalion was established, Chen Jun would find a way to promote the sergeant major system, letting Shi Jin enter the battalion headquarters command level.
Next was the combat establishment.
First was the main heavy Tank Company.
Company commander, deputy company commander, political instructor, deputy political instructor, clerk, communicator, quartermaster, and the three platoon platoon leaders composed the company headquarters.
The entire company headquarters was ten people.
Below were three tank platoons, each tank platoon had three tank squads, each squad controlled one tank, each squad four people.
Main battle tank model unknown, whether three or four crew, temporarily take the maximum requirement.
Estimated twelve people per platoon, three platoons thirty-six people.
Plus company headquarters total forty-six people!
Tank Company equipment to configure: 1 armored command vehicle, 12 main battle tanks（9 combat, 3 spare）, 1 communication support off-road vehicle and 1 truck each.
Next was Artillery Air Defense Company:
Company headquarters still around 10 people.
According to field assault Combined Arms Battalion’s combat needs, needed to configure two artillery platoons and two anti-aircraft platoons, plus one ammunition supply platoon as a five-platoon reinforced company.
Two artillery platoons as self-propelled howitzers, two platoons total six vehicle crews.
Each vehicle crew composed of vehicle commander, gunner, driver, loader four people, two artillery platoons six vehicle crews, total twenty-four people.
Two anti-aircraft platoons as mechanized platoons, also composed of four vehicle crew personnel each, also twenty-four people.
Ammunition supply platoon responsible for supplying ammo to four combat platoons, and transporting ammunition in combat to ensure four combat platoons’ sustainability, total thirty people.
Plus company headquarters total eighty-eight people!
Artillery Air Defense Company equipment: 1 armored command vehicle, 1 fire control radar command armored vehicle, 8 self-propelled howitzers, 8 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, 4 ammunition supply trucks, 1 communication support off-road vehicle.
After finishing configuration of two heavy units, next was the newly added Electronic Warfare Company.
Company headquarters standard still 10 people.
Support Platoon（20 people）, Confrontation Platoon（50 people）, Information Platoon（around 20 people）
Support Platoon responsible for ensuring whole regiment communication, ensuring smooth communication, configure 2 communication vehicles, dispatch one squad, compress to two platoons.
Confrontation Platoon responsible for searching enemy forces, providing early warning support for whole battalion, and when enemy conducts electronic warfare, able to counter effectively.
Tasks more complex, expanded to five squads.
Need to configure 1 radar vehicle, 1 jamming vehicle, 2 communication vehicles, 1 off-road vehicle.
Information Platoon only needs two squads, responsible for analyzing and organizing data in the rear, docking data, and real-time transmission to each combat unit.
Configure 2 communication vehicles, paired with vehicle-mounted microcomputers, 2 off-road vehicles sufficient.
Steel Seventh Company reorganized into Special Reconnaissance Company, mainly responsible for behind-the-lines operations, rapid support, ground reconnaissance, cooperating with Tank Company assault, etc.
Currently company headquarters plus all company warriors, total one hundred and eight people.
With 6 armored personnel carriers, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 2 military vehicles.
Also need to supplement 3 armored reconnaissance combat vehicles, 2 all-terrain reconnaissance vehicles.
Finally remaining Engineer Support Company.
This was also the fully informatized Combined Arms Battalion unit occupying the most establishment personnel.
