The army in the Western Warfare Zone focuses on the mission, and organizes the practical training in the plateau cold area in a regular and systematic way——

Plateau Training Anchors "New Coordinates" (Battle Song of Building a Strong Army in the New Era)

From "stationed training on the plateau" to "stationed on the plateau", from "adaptive training" to "comprehensive practical training", from new equipment "shining sword" to new battle methods "quenching"... In recent years, with the sonorous pace of reform and strengthening the army, the western theater army "clocking in" on the plateau has become more intensive, the training in cold regions has become normal, and the level of military plateau training has significantly improved. This year, the troops have dozens of tactical achievements to fill the training gap.

To the south of Qilian Mountains and to the west of Qilian Mountains, with an average altitude of more than 4000 meters, it is the roof of the world where three million jade dragons fly, and it is also a forbidden area where birds fly away and people disappear.

From early summer to early winter, the officers and soldiers of the army in the Western Warfare Zone fought against the cold and hypoxia on the snowy plateau, presenting a magnificent picture of actual combat and training. Since its establishment, the Army of the Western Theater of Operations has focused on its mission and has organized its troops to train on the plateau for three consecutive years. Over the past three years, with the sonorous steps of reforming and building a strong army, the plateau training practice has also been constantly promoted in the process of assiduous exploration.

What are the new changes and characteristics of the current plateau combat training? Not long ago, the reporter went to the hinterland of Kunlun Mountain, where the wind and snow were looming, to visit the plateau training ground.

　 New normal of space-time dimension

From "training on the plateau" to "stationed on the plateau"

September 6 last year was a day worth remembering for Qiu Shaoyun's troops. With the joint witness of thousands of officers and soldiers, the statue of Qiu Shaoyun moved into the brigade's new camp on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. The return of the "longest serving soldier" marks the full completion of the brigade's task of moving to the plateau.

"It used to be the 'training plateau', but now it has become the 'stationed plateau'. There is a word difference, but more than one point needs to be changed," said Yu Yang, the brigade leader.

From the Gobi Plain to the snowy plateau, from temporary training to long-term stationing, the height difference is the biggest problem, but it is not only the altitude that needs to be crossed. How to organize high-intensity physical training? How to maintain the performance of weapons and equipment? How to carry out effective maintenance At the beginning of the move, a series of problems lay ahead.

Over the past year, they have carefully combed the impact of the plateau cold environment on the army building, and stepped up data collection, experience accumulation, and system improvement from the daily training work. Military training is closer to the reality of the plateau, and the army building is more in line with the needs of plateau operations. The officers and soldiers have more confidence to adapt to and win the plateau.

"Regular altitude training is far from enough to build a force that can defeat the plateau, and it is necessary to promote the normalization of altitude training." The army leaders in the war zone said that in the past, stationed training on the plateau was often conducted in summer and autumn, which was a period of relatively stable plateau climate, but other seasons often became "training blind spots".

Last autumn, a synthetic brigade completed its transfer from the desert desert in the northwest to the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. It moved more than 2000 kilometers along the shifting road, climbing to more than 2000 meters above sea level, and became the combat brigade with the highest altitude in the western theater army station.

"I didn't feel much at first. After all, I had been stationed at the plateau for training before, and the material preparation was quite sufficient." Fan Yujian, the commander of the second battalion, said that the problem gradually emerged after the arrival of winter.

It was the first winter they spent on the plateau. Heavy snow fell one after another, and the temperature kept falling. Not only the performance of weapons and equipment was greatly affected, but officers and soldiers felt that their action response was much slower. The original winter training content had to be adjusted accordingly. Fan Yujian, the battalion commander, said frankly: "This is a situation that has never been encountered before, and it is somewhat unprepared."

War often does not occur in familiar regions and environments. To promote combat training, we must adapt to a variety of battlefield environments and strive to improve the "strangeness coefficient" of training.

In the past three years since the establishment of the army in the Western Warfare Zone, the party committee research, discussion and training meetings have been carried out on the snowy plateau for many times. Groups of generals and officers have faced the cold wind and fought against hypoxia, observed live drills on the spot, analyzed and discussed operational problems, and sounded the "charge" to promote the normalization training in the plateau.

Over the past few years, the "clocking in" of highland training of powerful troops has become more intensive, covering almost all arms and professions, gradually finding out the characteristics and laws of troops carrying out combat tasks in cold highland areas, and initially forming a relatively complete highland training database.