A naval aviation station on the Jiaodong Peninsula used to be a secluded place with hard living conditions. But recently, the reporter found that the barracks was thick with digitalized atmosphere.

　　Digital sentinel

　　After the breakfast, the reporter arrived at the north gate of the barracks. As it happened to be the weekend, soldiers were leaving the barracks in twos and threes. They inserted their cards into a electronic device at the sentry box, and the electronic device immediately displayed the following information on the screen: photo and unit of the card-holder, reasons for leaving, and time to return to the unit. And then the electronic device sent out sound signal to allow the soldier to leave the barracks.

　　According to Wang Ruicong, political commissar of the station, the higher level had a strict control over the number of servicemen leaving the barracks. Some units used to approve leave of absence exceeding the stipulated number. By installing"digital sentinel" at the gate, those who approve the leave of absence have to input the names of persons, the reasons for leave of absence and other related information into computer, the electronic device can monitor and control the people leaving the barracks with the help of information inputted into the computer.

　　Dispatching vehicles with click of mouse

　　In the morning, the reporter went to the motorcar company. Political Instructor Li was dispatching vehicles to ground service unit to transport some equipment. He went over to the computer, and swiftly input names of drivers, car numbers, the reason for using vehicles, etc into the computer, and then with the click of mouse, the information was transferred to "network dispatch center". In less than one minute, this group of information turned into "green". According to Li, "green" indicated that the superior had approved the application. While "red" stood for disapproval, and "yellow" means waiting for approval.

　　Stationmaster Shi Yuehua told the reporter that management, dispatch and use of vehicles used to be a big problem. In order to solve this problem, they developed the "vehicle network dispatch system".

　　Purchase on network

　　At dusk, Hu Songhai, who was in charge of food supply, sat before the computer to input what he wanted to purchase into computer, 50 kg of watermelon, 7.5 kg of green beans, 10 cartoons of fresh milk…. Finally with the click of mouse, he finished the purchase of foods for the next day.

　　Reading and playing games on network

　　In the evening, the network reading room was packed with people. Soldiers were absorbed in reading all kinds of E-books.

　　Ye, a first-class NCO, loved reading. He always came to the network reading room every weekend evening. He told the reporter that in the past there were not many books in the company, and he himself could not afford to buy many books. It was all right now. There were so many different kinds of books in the network reading room, and he could choose whatever he wanted, his appetite for knowledge was satisfied.

　　By Xu Feng, Wu Gang and Li Binfu

　　(December 3, PLA Daily)