Chinanews, Lanzhou, August 5th, title: Why is "the devil" a "nickname" for the PLA special operations battalion commander Liu Jin?
Author Li Chun Sun Libo
"He is very sincere, but he is very cunning on the training ground." The evaluation of his "famous protégé" Liu Jin and the second-level sergeant chief of a special operations brigade in the Western Theater of the People's Liberation Army, Chen Ming, seems to be somewhat "contradictory."
As a soldier Liu Jin led, Li Pengfei also said: "I first met him (Liu Jin), his face was very white and handsome, and he looked very kind, just like a teacher. On the contrary, he is not such a person."
"The devil's head", this is the "kind" term for Liu Jin by his comrades in arms, which is probably derived from the "torture" of the special operations battalion commander to the soldiers during training.
"As long as on the training ground, no one will say he is ruthless." Mi Qian, the acting platoon leader of the women's special combat training team of the brigade, was also "cleaned up" by Liu Jin during the training camp. "He is ruthless, what are we afraid of? , He deliberately fixes something".
Liu Jin (second from right), the battalion commander of a special operations brigade of the 76th Army, led the special operations team for an armed swimming crossing.
Photo by Chen Hao
Liu Jin himself didn't care about these "infamy", and even thought it was the "nickname" of the officers and soldiers.
"Only when you dare to work hard on the training ground can you live up to your mission on the battlefield. This is my biggest feeling."
When he entered the barracks, Liu Jin had not yet formed such a thought.
At that time, his idea was very simple: go to the most painful, exhausting and dangerous place to serve as a soldier, re-grind and forge himself, and do a career.
During the lunch break, he ran a 400-meter obstacle with a gun; when the lights were turned off at night, he carried dumbbells and went out for a run.
The recruits called him "Desperate Saburo", Liu Jin said, "This'desperate' is not an exaggeration at all."
At the end of the recruit training, Liu Jin's graduation score ranked first among more than 400 contemporaries, and his shooting course was full of rings and won the third-class merit medal.
This is rare in the Chinese army.
After coming to the Special Operations Brigade, Liu Jin's performance is still ranked first, and it has become "normal" to obtain a third-class merit every year.
At that time, he still maintained a "desperate" state, but this brutal force was only used in training, which was somewhat "brutal."
Liu Jin (middle), the battalion commander of a special operations brigade of the 76th Army, organized the "devil training" for special operations members.
Photo by Zhang Yongjin
The change occurred in 2010.
This year, Liu Jin completed his two-year study in a military academy and gradually changed his thinking from a soldier to a commander.
"At that time, the whole army had launched actual combat training for a long time. Everyone was shouting,'How to fight the war, how to train the soldiers', but how do the battles be fought? How do the soldiers train? In fact, they are all in the process of exploration." Liu Jin began to study his own actual combat training methods.
Reading books, researching cases, watching videos, indirect experience is easy to get, but it is not as deep as doing it yourself.
In 2012, Liu Jin led a team to Jordan to participate in the joint anti-terrorism training between the two countries.
At that time, the situation in the country was turbulent, and gunfire was chaotic on the streets at night.
The Jordanian army conducts joint training with Chinese soldiers during the day and urgently dispatches combat missions at night.
Liu Jin recalled: "The next day I asked their commander, who had gone to the training with us yesterday? He told me'sacrifice last night'."
The unprecedented approach to the battlefield brought Liu Jin unprecedented shock and thinking, and Sino-foreign joint training has also become a good opportunity to learn from actual combat training.
He combined what he saw and learned during the training with the Chinese military's own situation. The summarized experience report was approved by the superior, and the company conducted a trial before further promotion.
Liu Jin (top), the battalion commander of a special operations brigade of the 76th Group Army, led the special operations team members to parachute.
Photo by Cheng Ye
In 2017, Liu Jin's "road to actual combat" encountered a test.
That year, he and 7 comrades in arms went to Pakistan to participate in an international competition, and competed with 14 teams from 6 other countries.
This three-day and two-night field march was carried out in an unexplored virgin forest. The team members carried an average of 45 kilograms per capita and had to complete more than 50 practical subjects in a distance of more than 60 kilometers.
Li Pengfei still remembered that the Chinese team set off at about two o'clock in the afternoon, and the high temperature of over 40 degrees Celsius made the players breathless.
After completing the first lesson, "The kettle is basically empty".
After two o'clock in the morning, a cliff suddenly crossed in front of the team.
Should we go around 20 kilometers more to ensure safety, or go down to the bottom of a dark cliff and move forward as soon as possible?
As the captain, Liu Jin must make difficult choices.
After some weighing, Liu Jin decided to lead the team down to the dense forest at the bottom of the valley.
The barbed cane was bloodshot, and snakes entangled the soldiers' calves from time to time... Only one kilometer in an hour, the morale of the team members also fell to the "bottom".
Liu Jin summoned everyone to one place, tore off the wire on the location alarm, and lost the "life-saving straw."
Four hours later, when the team walked out of the dense forest, the two machetes in their hands were all curled up.
When they reached the assessment point, the Pakistani examiner said to Liu Jin: "Captain Liujin, China, number one, very good!" (Captain Liujin, China, number one, very good) Be in a leading position.
In this competition, Liu Jin and his comrades made the Chinese national anthem sound at the awards ceremony as they wished.
This experience also brought an improvement to the "road to actual combat" of the special forces brigade.
Summarizing actual combat experience in exchanges with foreign troops, the brigade's special warfare training has been continuously upgraded.
Drawing on the standards of foreign counterparts, Liu Jin participated in the establishment of the brigade’s own "Hunter School" and began to organize the special forces "Sirius Training" to simulate the real battlefield environment and set up extreme training conditions for the "Devil Week".
One of the subjects is marching in the quagmire. Participants must travel 10 kilometers in the stinking quagmire with their backpacks on their backs, and even immerse themselves in the mud and sewage during the "enemy aircraft reconnaissance".
According to Mi Qian's recollection, she and the girls from the Women's Special Forces team dragged each other while crying, and they just waded through this "devil's road".
At the end of the training camp, she used half a bucket of shampoo in order to wash off the smell on her head.
However, the suffering of "Devil Week" is far from over. Throwing tear gas into the culvert, catching wild snakes to scare people... There are still many ways that Liu Jin "tortures people".
"I must have hated him very much at the time." Mi Qian told reporters, "but now I am grateful to him, because after I experienced those, all the sufferings and all the pains now can be carried over." Women's Special Operations Squad Squad leader He Peipei also said: "Participating in the'Devil Week' hates Instructor Liu the most, and I am most grateful to him for completing the'Devil Week'."
"Before each training course, I will tell you what is the purpose of training this course? How to use it in actual combat? It may be hundreds of times more cruel than current training in combat." Look at Liu Jin. Come, if you want to train a true special warfare pioneer, you must be cruel.
If this is not the case, it seems to be a "care" for the soldiers, but it is irresponsible for their lives when they are actually on the battlefield.
Liu Jin (right), the battalion commander of a special operations brigade of the 76th Army, conducts diving training.
Photo by Chen Meng
In Li Pengfei's eyes, Liu Jin has his own mode of thinking whether it is tactical concepts or military training.
He can formulate different training plans according to different ages, different levels, and different people. "Like a doctor, he can prescribe the right medicine." Liu Jin cares about the soldiers he leads and will provide help at the first time.
Many officers and soldiers who spoke with reporters said that the "devil" to Liu Jin is actually a respectful name given to him by the soldiers, and an affirmation of the actual combat training he established. Many officers and soldiers signed up for the "Sirius Training", all in the name of "the devil's instructor", just to seek some training and challenge Liu Jin's "extreme challenge". (Finish)