Chinese special operations cadets trained in Venezuela

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Yang Tao
Time
2020-05-07 17:56:47

 

We bring the useful experience back to China.

By the end of the devil training, only 21 soldiers left out of the 71 three months ago. As a tradition at the school, the president put a commando badge with a 2cm metallic pin on Zhao Guohua's left chest. The badge brought him honor and set him thinking.

"Two things about the hunter school have left the deepest impression on me - one is the tempering of willpower, and the other is the realistic training atmosphere," said Zhao.

He also discovered an interesting pattern during the training. The trainers didn't seem to care whether a soldier ran to the front line during a specific session. Instead, they would punish the one who performed too superbly and the better the performance, the harsher the punishment. For the trainers, only those who made it to graduation could be considered winners.

"Any form of war is strenuous and painful. When you are in a limit state, it's your willpower that keeps you on, not physical strength or some specific skill," - that’s Zhao's understanding of what the hunter school is aiming at.

Another impression he had of the trainers was that they were "highly conscious of realistic combat". There was a time when the trainer held their shooting training in a knee-deep ditch in the mountain rather than on the shooting range or an open clearing. Targets were on the branches on the cliff, on waterside weeds, or on piles of rocks, so the soldiers had to search and shoot at the same time.

"We can learn from that," said Zhao, adding that "our training should focus on specific skills, such as distance, speed, and precision, while paying close attention to overall capabilities in a realistic war environment."

The training at the hunter school made him realize that the consciousness of training and war-preparedness should not be slacked for a second. After coming back in September 2019, Zhao collected many case studies to temper his ability of judgment and reaction, and while on duty, he often suggested the leaders organize emergency training of specific contingents.

At one time, Zhao was assigned to inspect the preparation of war-readiness materials, including whether the batteries in tactical flashes have power and whether the workboxes are properly loaded. He also organized special training to help soldiers take guns more quickly, as "these details reflect how well a force is prepared for war".

Despite a tight schedule, Zhao Guohua still recalls those days at the hunter school every once in a while, where a wooden badge with his name on it is hanging on the wall of honor. He doesn't want to recall the painful training, but he knows that the rare and thought-provoking experience has brought him too much change.

 

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