Chapter 223: Promoted! Commissioner Chen Comes Online
Chen Jun resolved the biggest problem at the meeting, and the remaining matters became much easier to handle.
In total, it took less than half an hour to arrange all the other work for the second stage properly, and a dedicated working group was formed.
The small group was equipped with a total of nine staff members.
The team leader was Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou Huimin of the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment, who was responsible for all the work in the second stage; anything he couldn’t resolve would be reported to the regiment commander.
The deputy team leader was Deputy Section Chief Tang Guozhong from the logistics section, whose task was to serve as the deputy to Team Leader Zhou Huimin.
The remaining seven people were all members, with only Chen Jun being a relatively special “special commissioner.”
The reason for this special commissioner role was mainly that Chen Jun’s military rank and position were relatively low, making it impossible to assign him a high position in the group.
For example, assigning him a deputy team leader position, which is similar in status to a deputy regiment commander, would seem a bit too unusual.
But Chen Jun was the initiator of the combined arms battalion’s formation, the author of the combined arms battalion formation plan, and the pioneer of combined arms tactics in the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment.
He needed a high level of right to speak to more conveniently carry out his work.
So a special commissioner identity was deliberately given to him, specifically responsible for the preparation and formation work of the combined arms battalion, perfectly avoiding trouble in this regard.
Commissioner Chen was now officially online!
The meeting end time had already reached noon, and Chen Jun didn’t even have time to glance back at Steel Seventh Company before immediately entering work mode.
After simply eating lunch in the regiment, the working group quickly began work.
“Commissioner Chen, where should we start first?”
Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou Huimin was very self-aware, clearly understanding that Chen Jun was the backbone of the combined arms battalion; he was just there in name, with no actual ability to control the overall situation, so he sensibly handed the decision-making power to Chen Jun.
“I want to go to the base first to take a look and complete the assessment work. While the engineer company personnel haven’t left yet, if there are any problems, there’s still time to make corrections.”
While the group army’s airborne personnel hadn’t arrived yet, Chen Jun wanted to focus on the base assessment.
“Alright, do as you say.”
Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou Huimin had no objections and immediately waved his hand to arrange: “Officer Liu, go notify the small vehicle platoon to immediately send three vehicles over.”
“Yes, Team Leader Zhou.”
Officer Liu, as a member of the working group, briskly ran out.
Soon.
The small vehicle platoon drove over three military off-road vehicles. Vehicle one carried Team Leader Zhou Huimin, Deputy Team Leader Tang Guozhong, and the specially appointed Commissioner Chen Jun.
The remaining six members rode in the two vehicles behind.
The combined arms battalion’s newly built brand-new base was only about 10 kilometers from regiment headquarters, and the working group convoy quickly arrived at the site.
The engineer company commander, who hadn’t withdrawn yet, had received a phone call in advance and was already waiting here.
Led by the engineer company commander, the working group started from the battalion headquarters where the combined arms battalion’s command staff was located, assessing whether the facilities in each place had been built properly.
The number of people in battalion headquarters was just that many, and the main work was coordinating the other companies.
So battalion headquarters only built one building.
A three-story troop-pattern corridor building.
The third floor was essentially the office area, with all the cadres’ dormitories and personal offices in the battalion headquarters located here.
The second floor was a multifunctional media center, concentrating functions such as battalion headquarters meetings, library, clerk, communication, and small vehicle platoon personnel dormitories.
The first floor was essentially the battalion headquarters living area, equipped with necessary washrooms, bathrooms, and so on.
In front of the building was a large parade ground, paired with some neat and tidy green plants, a combination of grassland and concrete ground.
Concentrating everything in one building was a characteristic of army barracks areas here.
Compared to ordinary battalions where battalion headquarters had just a few people, the combined arms battalion’s battalion headquarters had several times more personnel, so the battalion headquarters occupied a larger area.
In addition.
There was basically no difference.
Plus the engineer company’s high efficiency, without self-righteously adding their own ideas, the battalion headquarters construction was basically according to Chen Jun’s plan.
Therefore, after a full inspection, there were no major problems.
The assessment passed!
Under the combined arms battalion’s brain—the battalion headquarters—the most important next was the engineer support company, which connected all units of the combined arms battalion and could be called the second most important.
As a super reinforced company configured with over two hundred people, equivalent to two and a half regular companies.
Among the five platoons under the engineer support company, three had reached company-level standards, and even the remaining two required large storage areas.
So the engineer support company’s company camp area had the largest land area in the entire battalion.
And it was the most complex!
Among them, the supply platoon was mainly storage facilities, occupying eighty percent of the barracks area, and the remaining areas didn’t have much difference.
The cook platoon had a total of three canteens, capable of serving meals to three companies at once.
The combined arms battalion now had only five companies, and the cook platoon could simultaneously ensure meals for three companies, which was sufficient to guarantee the entire battalion’s cooking.
Troops ate quickly, and ten minutes of mealtime was enough.
The remaining facilities included a comprehensive kitchen, capable of simultaneously operating three large stoves for cooking, allowing three cookhouses to operate inside at the same time.
And there was also a large indoor garage, specifically for storing mobile cooking-related vehicles.
The remaining maintenance platoon, engineer platoon, and sanitation platoon were similar, each built with a series of facilities according to their characteristics.
Each platoon had its own exclusive facility building, but their living areas were actually the same, unified in the same building.
A total of two two-story dormitory buildings!
Each dormitory building housed over a hundred people, with equipped washrooms, storage rooms, etc., and the two dormitory buildings were built relatively long.
The reason for building two two-story dormitory buildings instead of one four-story dormitory building.
Was because two-story buildings were built faster, with lower ground requirements, no need for foundations, which could further compress the construction period.
Still that sentence…
The buildings were basically designed according to Chen Jun’s architectural drawings, and troop housing quality was famously good, so there were basically no problems.
The subsequent armored company barracks area, electronic warfare company, and artillery air defense company also had no major issues.
Only some minor flaws, like not enough toilet pits built, life garbage landfill too close, sewage treatment area needing adjustment, etc.
These problems weren’t big and could be resolved in two or three days.
But when the working group arrived at the special reconnaissance company—that is, the future Steel Seventh Company’s new camp area—they stayed there for a long time discussing.
It wasn’t that the engineer company’s work had problems or that the special reconnaissance company barracks area had major defects.
Rather, when Chen Jun designed the plan before, he hadn’t thought of being able to get a special operations platoon, let alone achieving a small takeoff during the combined arms battalion formation, ahead of schedule with special forces.
So the special reconnaissance company camp area Chen Jun originally designed was an extension based on the original Steel Seventh Company, only able to meet Steel Seventh Company’s training and living needs.
But now?
Because Chen Jun’s recruitment plan went too smoothly, forcing Yuan Lang and Tie Lu to be “generous,” suddenly bringing in a full thirty-three “soldier kings.”
This wasn’t a standard combat platoon, but a special operations platoon where everyone was an officer.
The A Brigade gave officer “warriors” treatment of super-large dormitories for two people per room, with independent bathrooms—luxury standard.
Even in the least dignified training camp, it was four-person dorms.
Now this group of officers, tempted by the big pie Chen Jun painted, came to Steel Seventh Company, and as officers, were willing to be warriors in a grassroots company.
If you still used grassroots troops’ standards, giving them ten-person dorms.
That just wouldn’t make sense.
And most importantly, even calculating by ten-person dorms, suddenly adding an entire platoon, the current special reconnaissance company simply couldn’t accommodate them.
Not to mention the most critical core: special warfare training differs slightly from ordinary training.
Since Chen Jun wanted to build his own special operations forces, even if just a platoon scale, he had to train to the highest specifications.
Then kill house, close-quarters combat training ground, outdoor combat center, special training ground, etc.
These training grounds serving special warfare techniques training needed to be built while the engineer company hadn’t withdrawn yet.
Otherwise, redesigning and rebuilding later would greatly delay the combined arms battalion’s combat effectiveness formation.
And the engineer company commander was also dumbfounded about this.
He had just followed the architectural drawings to start work; for being able to build the entire army’s first combined arms battalion base, he truly felt very honored.
He even thought this might be the most awesome thing he would do in his life.
But at assessment time, a one-hundred-person company turned into one hundred thirty people, and needing to add a bunch more training grounds.
This left him helpless!
But now the special reconnaissance company barracks area was already completed; demolishing and rebuilding was impossible, so they could only modify based on it.
Thus.
The working group led by Chen Jun could only immediately head to the engineer company’s temporary camp and hold urgent consultations with the engineer company headquarters personnel.
From noon until evening, the discussion lasted over four hours.
Finally, two plans were discussed.
The first plan was expansion, adding another platoon’s configuration to the current special reconnaissance company barracks area specifications.
Then selecting appropriate locations in the empty land around the barracks area to build the other training facilities.
The advantage of this plan was faster speed, completable in the shortest possible time, without delaying the subsequent personnel move-in.
The disadvantages were also obvious.
That was potential hidden dangers later.
Things patched together could indeed be used, but the user experience definitely wouldn’t be as good as brand new, and there would inevitably be various problems later.
A barracks area designed for one hundred people would be saturated at one hundred ten.
And the original Steel Seventh Company plus company headquarters personnel was basically that number.
Now after various patches, forcibly housing nearly one hundred fifty people, it was impossible to ensure all details were in place.
For example, were there enough toilet pits?
Was the storage room space sufficient?
Were there enough wash and shower positions?
Could the training ground unfold properly?
…
And so on—these couldn’t be determined now; problems would only slowly emerge during actual training later.
The second plan was to build new!
Equivalent to an Earth and Moon mode: rebuild a barracks area next to the special reconnaissance company, specifically for the special operations platoon to use.
Separated, yet closely connected.
The disadvantage was it took a lot of time; built to Chen Jun’s standards, it would take at least one and a half months.
After all, the special warfare training grounds Chen Jun wanted to build—everyone had been confused hearing about them in the meeting; they were things they’d never seen.
Building these never-before-built facilities would definitely take more time.
Plus the first few days couldn’t even start work; they had to wait for Chen Jun to produce the design drawings before officially starting according to them.
An estimated one-and-a-half-month construction period was already extremely tight.
And expenses would increase by a large amount.
Whether the group army could approve it, and how long it would take, were unknown.
The advantage was it wouldn’t affect the combined arms battalion move-in; all work could proceed according to the original plan, moving in steadily and orderly.
The extra special operations platoon could temporarily be placed in Steel Seventh Company’s old camp area.
Once the new base’s camp area was built, the special operations platoon could transfer over, seamlessly connecting and quickly integrating into the combined arms battalion system.
Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou Huimin and the engineer company commander both leaned toward expansion.
This could complete quickly and save more military expenses.
Chen Jun could understand their moods; after all, the combined arms battalion’s second stage was extremely critical, with everyone from the group army down to company soldiers watching eagerly.
If at this time something went wrong, saying it needed over a month to build a new camp area.
It really wouldn’t be a good sign!
But Chen Jun had his own thoughts and concerns; he leaned more toward building new—spend more effort now to solve it once and for all.
Rather be more hardworking upfront than have trouble later.
This formed two opposing opinions, with neither able to persuade the other; it wasn’t a small matter and couldn’t be decided lightly.
Thinking it was almost dinnertime anyway, and they had to return to the regiment for dinner.
The group simply drove back to regiment headquarters.
Since they couldn’t decide, hand it to the regiment commander to decide.
Team Leader Zhou Huimin brought Commissioner Chen Jun directly to the regiment commander’s office and reported the encountered situation and problems to Regiment Commander Wang.
Zhou Huimin thought Regiment Commander Wang would discuss it and then make a solemn decision.
Unexpectedly, after hearing the situation, Regiment Commander Wang immediately decided to do as Chen Jun said: overall work unchanged, rebuild a new camp area.
And stated that the expenses needed for the new build would first be fully covered by the regiment.
Even if everyone tightened their belts this month, delaying salaries to next month, they had to first gather the funds for the new special operations platoon camp area.
Once the group army application was approved and funds disbursed later, they would reimburse everyone.
Chen Jun’s words carried so much weight with the regiment commander, even mobilizing the entire regiment’s power to fully support; Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou Huimin was truly quite helpless.
What more could be said?
He could only agree to Chen Jun’s new build plan.
