Chapter 276: Real Combat, Time To Take ’em Out!
Captain Tie’s suggestion was very insightful. If considering only the win-loss ratio, it was indeed the best plan.
But Chen Jun didn’t want to do that!
If selecting team members from the entire A Brigade, those chosen would inevitably all be seasoned veterans from old A.
Cheng Cai, Xu Sanduo, Wu Liu Yi, and others, no matter how talented they were or how hard they trained, had only been in A Brigade for a short time.
Compared to the old A members who had undergone years of training in A Brigade, with all their skills fully mature.
There was definitely a significant gap!
What Chen Jun wanted was the honor belonging to Steel Seventh Battalion, not a group of old A members merely flying the Steel Seventh Battalion banner, with no real connection to Steel Seventh Battalion.
If taking a group of old A members to the competition, even if they won the championship in the end, Chen Jun wouldn’t feel much honor.
Therefore.
Even though Captain Yuan also supported Captain Tie’s plan, Chen Jun still unhesitatingly expressed rejection and firmly stated his position with resolute words.
Steel Seventh Battalion’s honor.
Must be earned by Steel Seventh Battalion itself.
Captain Tie could understand Chen Jun’s thinking: only honor personally achieved brings peace of mind.
However, although Steel Seventh Battalion’s Special Operations Platoon was very excellent, it had only been formed for a short time, and many special warfare techniques were still very unfamiliar.
Selecting people from the Special Operations Platoon for the competition would greatly increase the difficulty of achieving results.
Captain Tie didn’t want this competition to yield nothing, turning the prestigious Capital Military Region into a sideshow war zone—that would be embarrassing to mention.
So he had to analyze and discuss with Chen Jun, trying to change his mind.
After about half an hour of discussion.
Under Captain Yuan’s comprehensive analysis as the mediator, Captain Tie and Chen Jun each compromised, coming up with a compromise plan acceptable to both sides.
That was to agree to select people from A Brigade, but with Chen Jun responsible for specifying the personnel list.
This was exactly the result Chen Jun wanted most; his previous rejection was just playing business tactics, engaging in a bit of psychological warfare with Captain Tie.
Captain Tie might have known Chen Jun was playing psychological warfare, or perhaps he was completely unaware and kept in the dark.
In any case, once the plan was settled, execution began immediately.
He handed Chen Jun a sheet of paper and pen on the spot, asking him to write down the seven team members needed, then Captain Yuan would make the arrangements.
With the “big fist” in hand, Chen Jun got right to it, quickly writing down seven team member names.
Qi Huan, Wu Zhe, Xu Sanduo, Cheng Cai, Wu Liu Yi, Tuo Yonggang, Ba Te Er, plus Chen Jun as captain—the numbers were just right.
“You’re really not holding back at all.”
Seeing that row of names on the paper, Captain Tie couldn’t help but laugh.
A helpless, wry laugh!
The first name was Qi Huan, Captain Yuan’s strongest subordinate, top of the first echelon in strength across the entire A Brigade.
The second, Wu Zhe, didn’t even need mentioning.
The 23-year-old top student with two bachelor’s and one master’s degrees, undoubtedly the most excellent among this batch of recruits, the “seedling” most likely to succeed Captain Yuan in the future.
The remaining Cheng Cai, Wu Liu Yi, and Xu Sanduo were the only three non-commissioned officers in the entire A Brigade, also outstanding performers among all newcomers.
Though far inferior to Wu Zhe in academics, they far surpassed him in physical fitness.
If not for Wu Zhe’s sufficiently high military rank and huge potential to become a commander, his comprehensive ability wouldn’t match these Three Musketeers of Steel Seventh Company.
Though Captain Tie and Chen Jun had long discussed it and clearly knew the Three Musketeers of Steel Seventh Company were destined to be transients.
Thinking of these three excellent seedlings unable to stay in A Brigade for continued development still made Captain Tie’s heart itch with regret.
As for the sixth spot, Tuo Yonggang, Captain Tie also felt deeply emotional.
You know, when other cadets were eliminated, Captain Tie never said a word, let alone ask Captain Yuan to intercede.
Only when Tuo Yonggang was eliminated did he specifically call Captain Yuan for a private talk.
This showed that Captain Tie fully recognized Tuo Yonggang’s ability and strength; he was the only cadet Captain Tie regretted not staying in A Brigade.
The last, Ba Te Er, was pure Steel Seventh Battalion, and Captain Tie previously hadn’t had much impression of him.
But in this past month-plus of training, Ba Te Er, this over 8-meter muscular hunk, with his terrifying explosive power and load bearing capacity.
Really made Captain Tie look at him differently!
Carrying sixty or seventy kilograms and still moving swiftly, running twenty kilometers continuously without needing a break—even in special forces, he was livestock-like, hard not to leave a deep impression.
Having such a super load-bearing team member might really have a surprising effect in the competition.
Load-bearing expert, brainiac top student, sniper ace, desperate effort guy, toughest endurance king, airborne expert, special warfare veteran, plus all-around freak.
Such a balanced team configuration looked very capable.
“These seven selected people all qualify as team members. If there’s a single flaw, it’s that aside from Qi Huan, the others’ special warfare experience is still very immature, which will likely have a significant impact on the competition.”
Captain Tie’s experience was indeed very rich; he spotted the team’s weakness at a glance.
“If we had three more months, with their growth and learning ability, it shouldn’t be a problem, but at this point in time…”
Captain Yuan didn’t finish the rest, his furrowed brows also showing concerns.
“So…”
Chen Jun said two words and paused, deliberately whetting their appetite before saying: “We need to think of a method, a forced growth method, to make them grow rapidly in a short time.”
“Rapid growth??”
Neither Captain Tie nor Captain Yuan expected what trick Chen Jun was up to.
Facing their puzzled gazes, Chen Jun smiled faintly and said: “This kind of competition and martial arts contest in foreign armies has appeared in many foreign reports.
When I was researching combined arms units before, I incidentally saw some related information.
Foreign competitions, to accommodate universality since special operations forces from various countries have different training methods, usually lack specific technical subjects.
Instead, they center on universal special warfare skills, combining them into competition projects.
And before the formal competition, they inform the relevant competition subjects and projects in advance, giving competing teams a few days to enter the venue for adaptation.
In other words…”
Chen Jun paused slightly here, giving Captain Tie and Captain Yuan time to absorb, then continued: “As long as our team members have qualifying physical fitness and master the basic universal subjects of special operations.
Like long-distance trekking in harsh environments, shooting with various firearms, from-zero cross-country, wilderness survival, etc., they’ll have the capital to compete with special forces soldiers from various countries.
And even without mentioning foreign venues, just the domestic selection stage.
Domestic special operations forces are still in the development stage, with learned skills and techniques all from the scout playbook; the team members I selected have long mastered them.
In other words, with their current strength, they’re already sufficient to compete with other special operations forces.”
Chen Jun’s analysis was very precise, especially the last few sentences—Captain Tie and Captain Yuan, as special warfare pioneers, had full right to speak on it.
Before Chen Jun provided various special warfare techniques, A Brigade was just a reconnaissance unit with additions.
As the foremost special warfare development pilot unit, it was still only practicing various enhanced reconnaissance techniques; other domestic units were even further behind.
So in special operations techniques, there really wasn’t much pressure.
The only pressure.
Came from experience and maturity.
Thus, Captain Tie greatly acknowledged Chen Jun’s words, but thinking of opponents surely being seasoned special forces soldiers.
Captain Tie couldn’t help but frown and say: “Techniques are about equal, but the experience gap is definitely huge.
This is our military’s first international event; other war zones will undoubtedly attach great importance, selecting team members as seasoned old special operators.
The venue mainly tests personal strength, but seasoned experience provides huge bonuses.
If this issue isn’t resolved, the people you selected will likely suffer big losses against those veterans on the venue.”
As soon as Captain Tie finished, Captain Yuan chimed in: “Experience is indeed a big issue; veterans’ mentality is more mature, also bringing significant advantages.
Chen Jun, you just said you have a method to solve it, and in a short time—I really can’t guess it.”
Captain Tie was also curious, his gaze sharp.
“Experience indeed requires time to accumulate; it can’t be achieved short-term, but as long as they possess both courage and boldness, with morale high and fearless, it can be overcome. My solution is actually just two words: courage training.”
“Courage training??”
Both Captain Tie and Captain Yuan furrowed their brows, murmuring as if they somewhat understood.
Chen Jun didn’t keep them in suspense and continued: “The team members I selected, though special warfare newcomers, are not recruits.
They’re all veterans with years in the troops; conventional universal skills and techniques are already very mature, and physical fitness is at peak state.
Compared to experienced special warfare veterans, they’re younger with more stamina—that’s their advantage.
Compared to seasoned special warfare veterans, what they lack is merely emergency response to the unknown, and instinctive restraint against strong opponents.
As long as their courage is stimulated, making them fearless inside, it’s enough to compensate for the experience gap.
As for how to stimulate their courage, turning them into true special forces soldiers who view death as homecoming, the method is actually very simple.
That is to let them engage in actual combat, experience the baptism of blood and gunpowder, and feel true life and death.”
When Chen Jun said this last sentence, both Captain Tie and Captain Yuan were startled—not by fear of actual combat, but by fear of Chen Jun’s bold idea.
In peacetime, gunfights and death feel distant, and people instinctively fear death.
Though Chen Jun was pervertedly capable in all aspects, a verified freak-level all-around genius, he was still under
Whether he’d killed chickens or ducks aside, he definitely hadn’t killed people.
Yet now talking about actual combat and killing, he remained unflinching, as casual as mentioning killing a chicken, with zero psychological pressure.
This was really abnormal!
Captain Tie and Captain Yuan had served for so many years, witnessed life and death separations on the battlefield, had multiple lives on their hands, and seen all kinds of killing scenes.
But seeing someone like Chen Jun speak of killing so calmly was a first in their lives.
Seeing them staring at him without speaking for a long time, Chen Jun proactively asked: “Captain, Captain Yuan, can you think of a way to pull off an actual combat operation before selection officially begins?”
“Actual combat operation should be fine; there’s still half a month, should be enough time, but…”
Captain Tie furrowed his brows worriedly: “Participating in actual combat now—isn’t it a bit too early for them? I’m afraid they can’t handle it; psychological issues would make it not worth the loss.”
“I also think it’s a bit premature now; half a year later would be best.” Captain Yuan also had concerns.
Anyone can talk about killing verbally, with no psychological burden when saying it, but on the real battlefield, it’s a completely different concept.
A simplest analogy.
If you take a knife to your own leg, do you have the courage to stab it into your thigh?
The answer is most people can’t.
If you lack even the courage to cause harm, how could you have the courage to kill??
Don’t think harming others and oneself are completely different matters; actually, they’re the same, both lacking the “ruthlessness” to cause harm.
In layman’s terms.
It’s “not daring”!
Sending a group of people who might harbor “not daring” to the battlefield against ruthless villains is indeed a huge hidden danger.
“I know there are aftereffects in this regard; going now is indeed a bit rushed, but the situation is special now. The only way to help everyone in a short time is this path.” Chen Jun said seriously.
He struck a pose of doing it whether feasible or not!
Neither Captain Tie nor Captain Yuan spoke for this, their difficult expressions showing they were in a tough choice.
Not going for safety means no chance in the competition.
Risking it for a gamble brings huge harvest.
The choice was indeed agonizing!
Chen Jun knew it was the crucial moment and knew that even with actual combat operation, with him personally involved, the probability of issues was low.
Even Xu Sanduo’s kind of post-killing aftereffects, Chen Jun had ways to effectively avoid.
So while Captain Tie and Captain Yuan wavered, he added chips: “I’ve come prepared this time, specifically with a desensitization training plan to minimize fear of killing to the greatest extent.
Then have Captain Yuan personally lead the team; I believe nothing will go wrong. If it does, I’ll take full responsibility alone.”
With Chen Jun putting it this way, Captain Tie and Captain Yuan really couldn’t refuse anymore.
“As long as it’s A Brigade’s decision, you don’t need to bear the responsibility. We, such a big special operations brigade, can’t afford to lose face.”
Captain Tie’s words were very bold; he no longer hesitated or dawdled.
He decisively decided: “Alright then, starting tomorrow, conduct desensitization training, first see the effect. Captain Yuan, you’re responsible for coordinating.
During this time, I’ll handle contacting to see if there’s opportunity on the southwest side.
If there’s an operation available during this period and desensitization training proves effective, then going on one might not be impossible.”
