Chapter 55: Astounding The Recruits
“What’s going on here?”
Cheng Cai was dumbfounded for a moment, completely stunned.
He was even scared.
After all, he was just a high school graduate, and his mentality was still far from mature.
Even though he had scored fifty rings to break the record and excelled in all subjects, at this moment he began to doubt himself, wondering if he was going to be sent back, which was why he wasn’t assigned to a vehicle.
After a brief moment of panic and hesitation, a surge of indignant dissatisfaction welled up.
“Even that dimwit Xu Sanduo gets to board the bus, so why can’t I?”
Fueled by this indignation, Cheng Cai’s face turned grim.
However.
It lasted less than a minute.
Gao Cheng, after roll call, did not board the vehicle but instead gave instructions to Chen Jun: “Platoon Leader Chen, you’re responsible for bringing them back. Once at the company, make arrangements and assign squads according to the list. I still need to head to Regiment Headquarters.”
“Yes!”
Chen Jun stepped in front of the group, raised his right hand with fist clenched vertically at his chest, and loudly ordered: “Attention! Align swiftly with me as the benchmark.”
“What??? Platoon Leader Chen is taking us back? And assigning squads?”
As Cheng Cai, carrying his luggage, moved into position, all sorts of thoughts flooded his mind.
Cheng Cai was sharp, with quick reactions.
The information in Gao Cheng’s brief sentence revealed several key points, letting him sense something different, and his brain began to race wildly.
“Platoon Leader Chen is from Seventh Company. He’s taking me back to the company, and then we’ll be assigned to squads by the list. Doesn’t that mean… I’m assigned to Seventh Company?”
After a simple deduction, Cheng Cai finally realized the truth.
He finally understood that the arrangement of the three types of vehicles was different from what he had thought.
In fact, completely the opposite.
His previously anxious and uneasy mood underwent a rapid reversal at this moment.
Like clouds parting to reveal the bright sun.
Cheng Cai’s heart raced with excitement!
When Squad Leaders Shi Jin, Jin Dashan, and Wu Liu Yi also joined their group of six new recruits, forming a drill formation to wait to be led back.
Cheng Cai’s guess was finally confirmed, and his suspended heart settled back in his chest.
An irrepressible smile spread across his lips.
At the same thought.
Those walking on foot to the best company, while Xu Sanduo rode away in the luxury bus—didn’t that mean he was being assigned to the worst company?
Cheng Cai couldn’t help but worry for Xu Sanduo.
The dimwit Xu Sanduo still hadn’t realized that he wasn’t assigned to a good company.
Seeing Cheng Cai and the three squad leaders line up neatly in a single file under Chen Jun’s command, heading toward the barracks area gate, he didn’t sense anything wrong.
He just grinned foolishly, showing two rows of big white teeth, excitedly waving wildly at Cheng Cai through the bus window.
They were too far apart for Cheng Cai to say anything to Xu Sanduo. Seeing how happy Xu Sanduo was, he couldn’t bear to say anything.
He could only force a smile and wave goodbye to Xu Sanduo.
In his heart, he hoped: “Dimwit, you have to hang in there.”
…
The base where 702 Regiment was stationed wasn’t exclusive to it but was the core base of T Division.
As a fully mechanized heavy infantry division, it had a rich array of subordinate troop elements, even showing signs of a combined arms division.
It had a standard tank regiment, an artillery regiment, a helicopter squadron, a division-level armored reconnaissance battalion, and more.
Compared to a fully established combined arms division, it lacked the most important integrated operations system, equivalent to information troops for the eyes, missile units for long-range precision strikes, and a few other key combined arms operations elements.
It was evident that at this point in 1996, our military’s modernization reform was heading toward combined arms.
A fully mechanized heavy infantry division was structurally the closest to combined arms units, making reorganization into a combined arms division relatively simpler.
The entire division was concentrated in one large comprehensive base, giving it the flavor of a combined arms division.
As T Division’s armored infantry regiment, 702 Regiment was like father like son—its overall structure was a “mini downsized version” of T Division.
T Division had a tank regiment, 702 Regiment had a tank company;
T Division had an artillery regiment, 702 Regiment had an artillery company;
T Division had a direct armored reconnaissance battalion, 702 Regiment had Steel Seventh Company for armored reconnaissance.
…
T Division’s combat unit structure, 702 Regiment had miniaturized versions of them all. It could be said that aside from no helicopters, everything T Division had, 702 Regiment had.
The difference was that the establishment was overall one level lower.
T Division was entirely stationed in this base, so the base covered a vast area, over 10 kilometers from the far left to the far right.
Only a few squads and platoons with special missions were stationed outside due to mission demands.
Grassland Fifth Squad was a typical example!
The new recruits, coming out of the new recruit camp by vehicle and being sent to their respective companies, had to wind all over the base, giving them their first intuitive feel for this super-large comprehensive base.
Seeing such a massive military base, the new recruits were all deeply shocked.
Whether it was dozens-of-ton tanks, rows of neatly parked military vehicles, or various artillery pieces, all elicited cries of amazement.
Especially when a helicopter flew low overhead, it pushed the atmosphere to a peak.
New recruits seeing a helicopter for the first time crowded to the doors or windows to look up at the sky, their eyes filled with shining yearning.
Flying has always been humanity’s most craved ability, and the helicopter fulfilled the new recruits’ craving.
Xu Sanduo, sitting by the window staring at the helicopter, desperately wished he could fly too, but he knew he was just a donkey and harbored no such fantasies.
He never imagined that this stubborn donkey would one day get to ride in a helicopter.
…
Meanwhile, Chen Jun personally led the team back to Steel Seventh Company. The new recruits felt it even more directly walking than riding, and everything they saw and heard along the way shocked them even more.
When the group reached an intersection, the latest 89-style armored personnel carriers equipped to 702 Regiment appeared before Cheng Cai and the other new recruits.
The new recruits were so startled they stopped in their tracks, intimidated by the morale and too awed to move forward.
At 4 meters tall, 6 meters long, 15 meters wide, weighing over 14 tons, with a massive gun barrel protruding from the top turret.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a colossal beast with explosive visual impact.
Chen Jun saw in the eyes of Cheng Cai and the other new recruits not just fear of the huge object itself, but thick envy for the veterans on board.
He seized the moment to pitch: “Like it? This is the latest 89-style armored personnel carrier, can carry up to fifteen warriors at a time. Don’t you want to hop on?
Don’t rush, don’t envy—our company has these armored vehicles too.
Once you’re at the company, you’ll have plenty of chances to ride. That machine gunner up top looks cool, right? If you want to be one, you’ll have to work hard—machine gunners aren’t easy to become.”
Hearing that once at the company they too could ride such awesome armored vehicles, the new recruits became infinitely anticipatory, their eyes sparkling.
