Military career: Starting with a recruitment letter

Chapter 46: The Joy of Progress, You Don’t Understand
Perhaps due to the increased amount of physical training during the week, the breakfast specifications for the new recruits have been improved.

The standard of one and a half pounds plus four ounces was broken.

Before meals, the three meals a day on the table basically consisted of stir-fried cabbage with oil residue, stir-fried shredded radish, stir-fried potatoes, and finally a big stew of cabbage, radish and potatoes.

It makes a total of four dishes, plus an egg drop soup with unusual egg drops.

It's a little better today.

The dishes were still the same, but there was an extra porcelain bowl on the table, which contained eight boiled eggs and vegetarian buns.

Wait until the duty officer gives the order to start eating.

As soon as Chen Mo sat down on the bench, a few black claws stretched out in front of him and reached into the porcelain bowl to take eggs.

The porcelain basin was closest to him, so Chen Mo picked up a bun and held it in his hand. In that era, the concept of washing hands before meals was not so popular.

If you don’t hurry up, the white buns will soon turn into black buns.

Chen Mo chewed the vegetarian bun bite by bite and drank the rice soup along the edge of the bowl. His behavior was quite normal.

But Yang Dali, Zhu Gaituan and others next to them had hands that were shaking so badly that they were almost as bad as the auntie who served food in the university cafeteria. They couldn't even hold an egg steadily while peeling it, and it kept falling onto the table with a "bang".

This is a sequelae of severe exhaustion caused by excessive training.

Lao Pao sat aside, observing the state of the new recruits in the class. After a long while, he spoke: "Remember what I just said to you."

"It's best to adapt to military life as quickly as possible and like it here, otherwise, you will be very miserable."

"During the physical fitness week, according to the outline issued by the brigade headquarters, we must complete the 150-kilometer target in five days."

"Starting today, we'll gather at 5:30 for morning exercises, then run five kilometers carrying a ten-kilogram weight. Around 6:20, we'll rest for ten minutes, then run another five kilometers before dinner."

"After dinner, we stopped watching the news broadcast and ran ten kilometers around the camp before the nine o'clock evening roll call. That's a total of twenty kilometers round trip."

"This was the first day. There were no weights to allow you to acclimate. The next four days will focus on the physical training syllabus."

"The pre-meal song and the recitation of regulations have been temporarily cancelled. The drills will be arranged based on the actual situation, but the housekeeping standards cannot be lowered."

"Chen Mo."

"Here!" Chen Mo was still chewing a bun. When he heard the squad leader calling him, he quickly stood up.

"Sit down and talk." Lao Pao waved his hand. "As the squad leader, you must shoulder the responsibility of supervising internal affairs. You must also set an example during training and lead our squad through the physical fitness week sprint."

"Understand?"

"Yes, monitor."

"Well, after dinner, you lead the team back to the dormitory and take care of the housework first. Wait for my notification for morning exercises."

After Lao Pao finished arranging everything that needed to be said, he stood up and walked to the kitchen of the cooking team. After a short while, he brought out a bowl of buns and placed them on the table.

There are more than before.

This is a blatant special treat. Chen Mo quickly took two more and started to eat them voraciously.

The others were not polite either, and each of the young men was a big eater, competing with each other.

Don’t worry about whether you are tired from training or not, the most important thing is to fill your stomach.

Everyone knows that the regulations for physical fitness week are definitely related to the recruit competition.

After breakfast, Chen Mo and the others quickly washed the dishes and walked out of the cafeteria.

I ran into a military officer and rushed to the cafeteria in a hurry.

At first, Chen Mo just took a glance and didn't look at him any further since he didn't recognize him.

Unexpectedly, after the other party ran past them, he turned back and stared at Chen Mo.

"Are you the scholar?"

"Come on, come on, let's go to the company headquarters." The lieutenant pulled Chen Mo with him without saying a word.

"Commander, what's going on?"

Chen Mo was a little confused when he was pulled away.

Although a lieutenant is not qualified to call the commander "chief", he is a new recruit and does not know the other party, so he will definitely do whatever is convenient for him.

"You are a scholar, right? You will know when you get to the company headquarters." The lieutenant didn't want to explain and continued to drag the man away.

When Lao Pao came out of the cafeteria and saw his soldiers being abducted, his eyes immediately popped up: "Fuck you, get out of here!"

"What are you doing?" Lao Pao walked up to him in two steps.

Seeing Zhou Yongjie coming over, the lieutenant's anxious expression immediately turned into a wry smile: "Hello, old squad leader."

"I asked you what you are doing here?" Lao Pao squinted his eyes and looked like he was not in a position to talk.

"That's right, old squad leader." The lieutenant smiled awkwardly: "The company commander asked us to make a record of the mobilization of new recruits for training, as well as a record of thematic education. I came here to ask Xiucai for help."

"What the hell are you doing? Don't you know what's going on during physical fitness week?"

"Get out." "Yes."

The lieutenant did not dare to refute. He looked back at Chen Mo every few steps, looking reluctant to leave.

After the people had gone away, Lao Pao looked at Chen Mo and said, "You have some knowledge. The company commander has been thinking of letting you work as a clerk. Do you want to do it?"

Documents?

Chen Mo was a little hesitant. The grassroots company had the busiest clerical work in the entire company.

Including the company commander and the instructor have to stand aside. If he is asked to work as a clerk, the physical training week plus the various materials to be filled out will definitely exhaust him.

But then again, clerks come into contact with more information, so it is easier for them to be recognized as advanced or join the party. If they know how to handle things, it is even easier for them to be promoted to officers than ordinary soldiers.

Chen Mo was wondering whether he could hold on.

Seeing that he was silent, Lao Pao waved his hand and said, "Don't think about anything now, just focus on your physical fitness first."

"If you fall behind this week, you won't be able to catch up later. After this period, the training schedule will be more relaxed. I'll take you to talk to the company commander."

"Let's go back to the dormitory."

"Yes."

Some soldiers had strained their ligaments during morning exercises, and some had practiced handstands.

He walked with his whole body weak, like a wimp, and his legs were bowed.

So during the morning exercises, the duty officer informed each class to do as they pleased.

Chen Mo felt that there were actually many benefits to following a lazy squad leader. At least other classes would send out some students to practice basic formations.

But Lao Pao was different. He didn’t even return to the dormitory and no one knew where he went.

Passing by the bathroom on the first floor, Chen Mo brought the mop back to the dormitory and was about to call everyone to clean up the room together.

Yang Dali sat down on the ground and kept groaning: "I'm really exhausted. Hey, Chen Mo, how come you look fine?"

"Yeah, during drill today, I saw three squad leaders trying to catch you but failed. How come you can run so fast? Do you have any tricks to teach me?"

Feng Junling looked up at Chen Mo, who was also slumped on the ground, his back leaning against the iron frame of the bunk bed, looking decadent and unloved.

The others were not much better off. They sat there rubbing their legs and felt as if their whole bodies were being electrocuted. They kept screaming "Aiyahah".

This sudden and substantial increase in training volume required more than physical fitness to sustain it.

But he was hanging on by a thread.

Looking at a group of new comrades who were looking at him eagerly, Chen Mo leaned the mop against the wall.

He grabbed a bench and sat down among the crowd, saying with a smile, "Brothers, do you remember what the squad leader said this morning?"

"What? You like the military camp?" Yang Dali's mouth almost curled up to his ears: "Stop it, I was running today and saw my grandmother waving at me."

"I kind of regret joining the army."

"Pretty much. What the squad leader said was just a lie to deceive us. Who would be so stupid as to fall in love with this rotten place for no reason?"

Feng Junling also complained on the side.

Chen Mo hesitated for a while, but ultimately decided not to continue persuading him, because it would be useless to say more to the recruit at this time.

Chen Mo couldn't guarantee whether soldiers would like the barracks.

But those who have truly experienced transformation in the military camp will definitely like this feeling.

Through training, I was tired at the beginning, but felt relaxed after running five kilometers.

This feeling is truly addictive.

From knowing nothing and understanding nothing, he grew up little by little, improved little by little, and became an excellent soldier.

Especially when you recognize this change in yourself and receive applause, recognition, and even rewards for your progress.

That sense of accomplishment must be unparalleled.

Unfortunately, these new recruits nowadays have no idea what the joy of progress is.

Saying it is in vain.

Some experiences can only be truly understood through experience.

Since he couldn't persuade them, Chen Mo simply stood up and pulled up all the guys lying on the ground to tidy up their rooms.

Now is not the time to be lazy.

Who knows what evil things are going on in the company.

There are still many training tasks waiting.

(End of this chapter)