Soldiers Assault: Starting from the 7th Steel Company

Chapter 244 Logistics must start with small things

When the ministry announced the transfer of He Yuanchao to the infrastructure department, everyone thought it was normal.

Because He Yuanchao's qualifications and abilities are obvious to all, and the position in the Infrastructure Department is vacant and cannot be left vacant for long, this position is too important, so it is very appropriate to let He Yuanchao go there.

But when Chen Jiang's appointment order was announced, everyone was in an uproar, because he was a cadre on temporary assignment.

At the same time, he also served as the deputy brigade commander of the C brigade. The ministry did not remove him from his position as deputy brigade commander. What does this mean?
Is it still a temporary posting, but the actual work remains the same?
This is truly unbelievable.

However, the military's style is that orders must be obeyed. Questions may exist, but once an order is given, everyone must carry it out unconditionally.

After Chen Jiang took charge of the department's work, his perspective changed significantly; he had to consider issues from the perspective of ensuring the entire army's victory.

In his role in the Quartermaster Department, Chen Jiang knew that most of the quartermaster tasks already had standardized operating mechanisms. After taking over, he couldn't possibly carry out sweeping reforms. Firstly, He Yuanchao was still in the ministry, and secondly, he hadn't been involved in this work for long, so making sweeping reforms would easily cause problems.

Therefore, Chen Jiang decided to start with a small entry point, and his first focus was on the cooking squad in the army.

The composition of the cooking squad has not changed much compared to before. They include cooks, kitchen staff, supply officers, and animal keepers. Their direct superiors are the company's quartermaster and deputy company commander.

The supply officer's task was to go out and buy groceries every day according to the menu, purchasing staple and non-staple food ingredients such as rice, flour, cooking oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and salt.

The tasks of the pig farmers were to use the swill from the army canteen to feed some sows, fattening pigs and piglets, as well as to grow some vegetables and fruits for the troops to eat, so as to improve the troops' living conditions and enhance their combat effectiveness.

The cook is considered to be doing odd jobs, but the chef is the main person in the cooking squad. Usually, the head of the cooking squad is in charge. The delicious and colorful meals of a company depend entirely on the head of the cooking squad's knife skills and spoon skills.

These things are no big deal when the troops are stationed at their barracks, but if the troops are mobilized, the cooks' equipment becomes a problem.

If the destination has a road, there's no problem; you can just load it into a vehicle. But if the destination is a place where vehicles have difficulty traveling, then it's tough on the cooks.

At this point, all they could do was bring all their belongings, even resorting to the most primitive methods of carrying them by hand to the cooking area, then find stones to build a stove and set up large pots.

It's already very hard for us to cook for our own family, let alone for a group of people or even more. From preparing the ingredients to serving the food, it's a complex and challenging process.

How to ensure that officers and soldiers can eat well and be well-fed when fighting in the field was the first goal Chen Jiang set for himself.

Chen Jiang brought this issue to his grassroots research.

He visited various types of military units, from border defense to coastal defense, from mechanized infantry companies to special operations battalions, and witnessed firsthand the challenges and difficulties faced by cooks in the field.

In particular, during a large-scale mobile training exercise, Chen Jiang traveled with the cooks of a mechanized infantry regiment.

Because of the heavy wind and rain, the entire company had to eat half-cooked rice in the muddy ground, soaked by the rainwater.

At that moment, he became even more determined to do this well.

When he reported this idea to his superiors, he received high praise and strong support. The superiors also recommended some domestic research experts in this field to him.

Chen Jiang personally visited them to explain his purpose.

However, the process was not without its challenges.

At first, people were not very willing, because at that time, the focus and resources of domestic military research and development were inclined to develop high-precision and cutting-edge weapons such as aircraft, missiles, and radar. This kind of "cooking vehicle" was really not up to standard. It was felt that the technology was not high, the results were slow, and it was difficult to obtain prestigious awards and attention.

One senior expert even tactfully suggested, "Director Chen, your idea is good, it's about serving the soldiers. But could we put it on hold for now? Our institute's current key projects simply don't have enough manpower available."

But Chen Jiang patiently visited them time and time again to persuade them. In particular, he took advantage of a seminar to show the scene he had filmed on the front lines of soldiers eating in the mud on a rainy day. Some of the veteran experts present were moved to tears. In the end, they were touched by Chen Jiang's sincerity and were willing to listen to his ideas.

Chen Jiang had seen this kind of equipment in his previous life, but the equipment used by their special police was not as advanced as that used by the field troops. However, if they could develop this kind of equipment in advance, it would naturally improve the logistical support capabilities of the troops.

So he drew up the field kitchen vehicle he had encountered in the previous session and presented it to everyone.

These experts were all highly learned, and at first they wondered what kind of drawings Chen Jiang could provide? At most, a simple diagram.

But when they actually saw Chen Jiang's blueprints, especially the dense annotations on them, everyone was stunned.

"Director Chen, did you really come up with this field kitchen vehicle?" an expert asked, staring blankly at the blueprints.

"Yes, it's not mature enough in many aspects. Please don't laugh at me. These are just some immature ideas of mine," Chen Jiang replied somewhat embarrassedly, since it did imply that he was plagiarizing someone else's work.

But the other party was clearly stunned.

Everyone crowded around, asking Chen Jiang all sorts of questions about the blueprints, because according to Chen Jiang's design vision, once used by grassroots troops, it would enable "modularization, lightweighting, and intelligentization" of field cooking operations.

A mobile kitchen not only covers the washing, sorting and processing of food, but also has a cleaning and recycling process. Once it is implemented, the workload of the soldiers in the kitchen will be greatly reduced, and the time for serving meals will be greatly shortened.

Because the vehicle is also equipped with a computer, it can scientifically adjust the nutritional balance of the rations according to the soldiers' dietary structure and the battlefield environment, and the variety of food prepared has also become extremely rich.

Of course, if you want to eat stir-fried dishes, the chef will still have to cook them, but the quantity will be much smaller than before.

To improve the mobility of the field kitchen vehicle, the chassis of this vehicle adopts the design of a tracked light armored vehicle, which can adapt to various terrain conditions.

After heated debate and discussion, everyone finally settled on a preliminary design plan. The remaining work was not Chen Jiang's forte, so it had to be left to them.

A few months later, the first prototype was successfully developed. The leaders of the General Logistics Department came to observe it. Chen Jiang also specially trained and practiced a cooking squad from the grassroots level before daring to demonstrate it in front of everyone.

At the observation site, the performance of the field kitchen vehicle far exceeded everyone's expectations.

At the commander's order, the camouflaged kitchen vehicle maneuvered nimbly across various complex terrains and quickly arrived at its designated location.

In less than ten minutes, the vehicles were deployed and the cooks were in their positions. About twenty minutes later, the first pot of steaming rice was ready, followed by four dishes and a soup, the aroma filling the entire observation area.

From afar, this dish looks and smells delicious, making one's mouth water.

"Reporting, sir! The standard meals for a company have been prepared. Please give instructions!" the cook reported loudly.

The visiting leaders stepped forward and carefully examined the quality of the food.
"Reporting to the commander, the rice is cooked by steaming, using the electricity and engine heat from the kitchen vehicle. It can cook enough rice for an entire company at once!" the cook explained loudly.

He now knows this car like the back of his hand and cherishes it dearly.

If this thing had existed a few years earlier, the cooking squad positions would have been highly sought after.

Minister Zhou, who was in charge, nodded in satisfaction. Although the rice was steamed, it was easier to distribute to the soldiers and much more efficient than cooking it in a large pot in the past.

He scooped a bowl of rice, tasted some with a spoon, and said, "Hmm, not bad, just the right texture!"

Then I tasted a bite of the freshly stir-fried green pepper and shredded pork.

"Great! It tastes delicious! And it's hot enough!"

After tasting a few vegetarian dishes, we then experienced the "main dish" that had been prepared – braised pork belly.

He then smiled and said to the others, "What are you all standing there for? Get some rice and try it. Don't waste so much food!"

Everyone laughed and stepped forward, and the cooks hurriedly served everyone rice.

The officers and soldiers ate together at a makeshift table on the training ground.

While eating heartily, Minister Zhou asked Chen Jiang, "From the start to the end, it took less than an hour in total?"

"Reporting to the commander, the total time is 58 minutes. Under actual combat conditions, it could be even faster," Chen Jiang replied.

They had tried similar drills many times before.

"How long would it have taken a traditional mess hall to complete the same task?" another leader asked.

"It will take at least two and a half hours, and even longer if there is bad weather or complex terrain," Chen Jiang reported truthfully. He had obtained these figures from multiple grassroots units, so they were quite accurate.

The leaders exchanged approving glances, and then Minister Zhou asked, "What do you think of this four-dish-and-one-soup meal?"

The others all agreed that it was good.

For field rations at that time, reaching this standard was already considered quite good, and the dishes were both delicious and visually appealing, making them quite acceptable.

Suddenly, someone asked, "If an entire company of soldiers needs to eat, how much time would it take to serve them food and clean up afterward?"

Chen Jiang smiled and said, "Our soldiers usually eat quite quickly, and even faster during wartime. Apart from the time needed to serve the food, the cleanup and washing afterwards are very quick because the food can be put in directly and the machine will do it automatically."

Chen Jiang had a soldier from the cooking squad operate the equipment, and it proved to be very convenient and efficient.

"What if the vehicle breaks down or is attacked while in motion, damaging critical components?"

Chen Jiang calmly replied, "We have designed a modular backup plan. Key components have spare modules and replacement parts, which can be replaced in a short time. At the same time, we have also retained traditional cooking methods as a last resort to ensure that officers and soldiers can have hot meals under any circumstances."

What impressed the visiting leaders the most was another achievement that Chen Jiang reported at the same time—a newly developed individual self-heating food.

He had someone demonstrate on the spot: a soldier took out a flat food bag, tore open the packaging, poured the water bag inside into the heating pack, and then quickly put the inner bag containing rice and dishes into the outer layer and closed the lid.

Within minutes, the bag began to emit heat.

Ten minutes later, the soldier opened the bag, which contained steaming hot rice, fragrant shredded pork with garlic sauce, stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts, a small serving of instant seaweed and egg soup, and candy.

Unlike previous individual rations that required open flame heating or could only be eaten cold, this ration uses chemical self-heating technology, requires no fire, is silent and smokeless, and is highly concealable, greatly satisfying the needs of frontline troops for hot food.

This is a revolutionary technology in field rations.

Several leaders tasted it themselves and nodded in approval.

However, Minister Zhou still offered his suggestions: "Well, the idea for this self-heating food is excellent, solving the problem of availability. But frankly, the taste is still somewhat different from freshly stir-fried dishes and freshly steamed rice. Could the nutritional components be further optimized to meet the needs of high-intensity combat? Also, its shelf life and stability in extreme environments need further improvement. We should strive towards long-term storage and food that officers and soldiers love."

Overall, he was very satisfied with Chen Jiang's recent work performance and immediately said that he could apply to his superiors for approval. If approved, the program could be promoted throughout the army, which would be a great boon for front-line combat troops.

During his tenure, Chen Jiang's vision was not limited to "food" but expanded to multiple dimensions such as "clothing, housing, transportation, and storage".

Whenever he had free time, he would take his subordinates to conduct in-depth visits and research at the grassroots level. He especially liked to chat with ordinary soldiers. Over time, many officers and soldiers felt that Chen Jiang did not have the airs of a superior leader and were willing to confide in him.

During a visit, Chen Jiang noticed that the soldiers had a lot of complaints about the training shoes.

When Chen Jiang and his comrades first joined the army, the training shoes used in the unit were basically green "liberation shoes". These shoes were made of cotton canvas uppers and rubber soles, and were lightweight and comfortable. However, they had poor breathability and moisture permeability, which made them prone to bacterial growth and athlete's foot.

By the early 21st century, they were finally replaced by new training shoes with antibacterial and odor-resistant technology, which enhanced the protection of the ankles and insteps.

Although the sole is thick, the new design gives this shoe better grip than traditional liberation shoes, resulting in better athletic performance and stronger protection against foot odor and bacterial infection.

However, it is still not waterproof. Although the upper dries easily compared to the Liberation Shoes, the breathability is still relatively poor. After a long training session, the feet still suffer.

(End of this chapter)