In late September, in a tactical drill examination, a army group of the Shenyang Military Area Command adopted new method of "setting examination questions as well as deciding who are to sit for examination on the spot, and conducting examination in light of the requirements of actual combat". By doing so, the comprehensive qualities of the officers and men have been greatly improved.

　　In order to achieve the anticipated objectives of tactical drill examination, the group army attached great importance to highlighting the actual combat requirements in examinations, and broke away from traditional examination mode, which attached importance to basic theory to the neglect of practical applications, attached importance to common subjects to the neglect of specialized subjects, attached importance to command-and-staff knowledge to the neglect of knowledge of troops". In view of the above-mentioned situation, army group established the following examination principles: to examine the basic theory as well as actual combat skills; to examine requisite contents as well as applicable capability; to examine operational planning as well as actual line of thinking for command. In the examination, they took the troops to unfamiliar areas to set examination contents then and there so as to test the commanders' capability in decision-making and scientific planning as well as the ability to organize coordination and quick reaction. In order to be strict with examination, the army group worked out unified standard for all examinations and publicized examination results in time so as to ensure the authoritativeness of the examination.

　　When working on tactical problems of command post, the logistics department of a division marked a location on the map, which was convenient for mobility of troops but not ideal for concealment. The examination team gave the score in light of the examination standard. After the examination, the staff officers of the organ and examinees exchanged their ideas and found out measures to solve the problems discovered in the examination.

　　By Shao Guangren and Han Guang

　　(October 23, PLA Daily)