What Is a Sergeant Major?

"Do you really want to be the Assistant Squad Leader?"

Fang Huai's excited expression did not quite match Hao Chengbin's initial impression of him over the past two days.

Fang Huai had long prepared his words.

"Squad Leader... my dad told me that if I joined the military, I had to be brave enough to take responsibility. I think I have what it takes, and I also want my family to see my progress."

"Mm." Hao Chengbin nodded. "You understand correctly. This is responsibility. In the military, Assistant Squad Leaders have specific duties and requirements. But if you want to improve, you need enough ability. Besides keeping your quarters in order, training well is also a top priority. Right now... you're still lacking a bit physically. Work harder."

"Report, Squad Leader, understood!"

Hao Chengbin entered the company office with satisfaction, his hands clasped behind his back.

He felt that this was encouragement for Fang Huai. The Chief of Staff had already given Fang Huai encouragement, so Hao Chengbin had to make sure Fang Huai earned Outstanding Soldier. Otherwise, it would not only mean Fang Huai was a lousy soldier—it would also mean he was a lousy squad leader.

Twenty Exercise One pull-ups, learn the swinging motion... strengthen his arm and core training a bit, and it should not be a big problem.

As for core strength and arm strength, Fang Huai had already given up on them.

What he needed to improve was his grip strength.

For pull-ups, core strength and arm strength were not enough. He also had to be able to hold onto the bar and endure the pain caused by friction.

The simplest method was to tie his hands to the pull-up bar with a backpack strap and hang there for a while. The soreness was something anyone who had tried it would understand. Without wrapping his hands, his wrists hurt; with them wrapped, his palms hurt. Ten minutes was enough to peel off a thick layer of skin.

After hanging from the bar for long enough, his palms would repeatedly split and heal, forming thick calluses. Then they would naturally stop hurting, and his grip strength would improve as well.

Without those conditions, he could only clench and release his hands in the air. It was the simplest exercise, but also the greatest test of patience. Fang Huai decided that this would be where he began tempering his will.

His enthusiasm lasted about twenty minutes.

He kept clenching his palms until assembly, but after going downstairs to move things, Fang Huai forgot all about it.

All he could say was that there was a reason people slacked off.

A group of them huffed and puffed as they carried bedding and folding stools from downstairs to each company office, then immediately prepared to return to their squads and wait for supplies to be issued.

Folding stools, socks, shirts, dress uniforms, and one pair of standard-issue underwear.

Things they would not even have glanced at back home had somehow become rare treasures worth excitedly discussing for quite a while.

"I heard the socks issued by the military are especially good quality, and super warm too!"

"Yeah, even the underwear won't wear out! Scratch it however you want, and it won't pill!"

"Are you kidding? Military stuff is military equipment! I just looked at that little stool—it can be used as a seat, and you can flip it up into a table too! It's badass!"

"Beep—shh! Beep—shh!"

The whistle sounded.

The brothers of Ninth Squad rubbed their hands eagerly.

"Seventh Company! Put on Camouflage Uniforms, hats, and camouflage belts! Assemble downstairs! Training!"

"Damn... they haven't even issued everything yet, and we're training already?"

"Motherfucker, what was coming always had to come!"

"Fuck, where's my belt?"

"On the bed, in front of the quilt! We put them there together just now, and you already forgot? Idiot!"

The hallway was filled with the same traditional cries of dismay until Wang Jian appeared, and the cursing instantly died out.

"Hurry up, hurry up! Opening training ceremony! Squad leaders, form up your men immediately!"

Seeing that Squad Leader Hao was not around, Jiang Peng took the lead, rushing into the hallway and calling out to the squad.

"Ninth Squad, assemble! Assemble!"

Fang Huai came out while fastening his belt, adjusted his hat, and took his usual place, second from the end.

Everyone formed a long line in the hallway. Jiang Peng stood at the very front of the formation. He had no idea how to dress the ranks, but his face was full of excitement.

"Close on me...!"

Jiang Peng stretched his hand over the head of Sun Lianhai, who stood first in line, immediately provoking dissatisfaction. Sun Lianhai slapped his hand away.

Hao Chengbin came out of the company office while talking on the phone. The moment he saw Jiang Peng, he covered the receiver, lifted his leg, and kicked Jiang Peng in the ass. Frowning, he asked, "What number are you?"

"Report, Squad Leader! Fifth!"

"Then what the hell are you standing here for? Get back!"

Everyone burst out laughing.

Hao Chengbin raised the phone again and jerked his chin at Sun Lianhai. "Quick march, move!"

"Squad Leader Hao!"

"Squad Leader!"

On the way downstairs, many sergeants took the initiative to greet Hao Chengbin. Hao Chengbin responded with raised hands while continuing his call. In the eyes of Ninth Squad's recruits, they finally realized their squad leader's standing among the veteran training instructors, and they felt especially proud of it.

"...All right, we're having a meeting here. Don't add oil to that hydraulic Breaching Tool Set yet. Don't mess around with lubrication and maintenance just because you looked at the manual. Get the equipment technician from First Squadron to handle it!"

"Mm, hanging up."

Hao Chengbin ended the call, turned around, and shouted.

"Line up properly going down the stairs! Corps Leaders are coming today, so don't whisper among yourselves! If anything goes wrong, forget about showering this weekend! Extra training!"

The recruits throughout the stairwell immediately fell silent.

Fang Huai, however, felt no ripples in his heart.

A shower... I'd rather not take one.

I'd rather do extra training!

The Training Ground.

"Welcome March" played continuously as the formations of nine companies stood neatly arrayed.

The reviewing stand at the Training Ground had three tiers with three rows of seats. The backdrop read, "2007 New Recruit Training Regiment Opening Training Ceremony." Beside it was the China Firefighting emblem, featuring a fire ladder, fire axe, and crossed hose nozzles within a police emblem.

A line of sedans stopped at the entrance to the Training Ground, and a group of officers waiting there immediately crowded forward.

"The Corps Leaders are here!" someone in the crowd exclaimed.

A group of middle-aged officers in Peaked caps and dress uniforms got out of the cars outside the Training Ground. Surrounded by attendants, they looked impressively imposing.

"Damn, I'm becoming an officer someday too! A general!"

"You wouldn't even dream that big! Do you even know what a general's insignia looks like? None of the Corps Leaders here today are generals!"

"Look, those guys are all pretty old!"

"So what if they're old? In thirty years, you'll be old too!"

"You don't know shit. In the military, the older someone is, the higher their rank! If you see someone with white hair who's still serving, he's definitely a big shot!"

Fang Huai could not help smiling.

That was not entirely wrong.

Every rank in the military had a regulated maximum term of service. A full-regiment colonel who had not been promoted to deputy division level by around forty-five generally had to apply for reassignment. Anyone still in the military past fifty had to be at least a deputy division-level senior colonel, and could serve until retirement at fifty-five.

If someone was still serving past sixty under delayed retirement, he had to be at least a general.

The same applied to enlisted men. If a sergeant could advance to the seventh term and become a First Class Sergeant Major, he would receive deputy division-level benefits.

But becoming a First Class Sergeant Major was far harder than an officer reaching deputy division level. There were fewer than two hundred active First Class Sergeant Majors in the entire country, far fewer than generals. Every one of them was an elite specialist with highly refined skills.

Fang Huai had once seen a sixth-term sergeant, a Second Class Sergeant Major, who excelled at information technology. Supposedly, when he was advancing to his sixth term, an airline outside the military had tried to poach him with an annual salary of 1.2 million yuan. He had refused. The words he left behind spread throughout the entire corps.

"The skills I learned in the military should be used to contribute to the military."

1.2 million yuan in the early 2000s.

Forget First and Second Class Sergeant Majors. Even the quartermaster from Fang Huai's old squadron, a Fourth Class Sergeant Major, was over two hundred jin of pure fat. He jogged at a leisurely pace, yet he was still ferocious on the Flip Board Obstacle and could perform Exercise Five on the pull-up bar. Supposedly, he had once knocked out a man over six feet three with a single slap.

A standard case of fat hiding muscle—a new-energy fatty.

There was a reason the military respected veterans. Whether sergeants or officers, they all faced intense elimination mechanisms. Those who could serve until they were old were all talents, and leaders besides.

And do not let their age fool you. Once they took off their clothes, they could beat up three of you.

Who would dare disrespect them?

The group of leaders approached, then ascended the reviewing stand and took their seats one after another.

The music stopped. A dark-skinned figure ran to the very front of the entire formation, stopping five meters away.

"Fifteen centimeters between each man side to side! Seventy-five centimeters front to back! Eyes right... DRESS!!"

Chief of Staff Yang Yonghua's loud voice echoed across the more than twenty-acre Training Ground.

The entire formation began to shift.

"Eyes front!"

"Eyes right, dress!"

"Eyes front!"

"At ease!"

Everyone sensed the solemn atmosphere. Other than orderly footsteps, there was no sound.

Yang Yonghua turned around, took several large bounding steps, and ran to attention at the left side of the reviewing stand. He turned toward it and saluted.

"Reporting to the Political Commissar! New Recruit Training Regiment: 853 expected, 848 present. Five are away on official business. Please give instructions!"

The senior colonel in the center returned the salute.

"Begin the ceremony!"

"Yes!"

Yang Yonghua ran back to his command position.

"Attention!!"

"At ease!"

After the formal request procedure was complete, the colonel at the side of the reviewing stand began introducing the leaders attending that day.

The Political Commissar, Corps Commander, Headquarters, Political Department, Logistics Department... it seemed that everyone except the Fire Prevention Department had come.

If Uncle had not died next year... he had already spent several years as Deputy Detachment Leader of the Provincial City Detachment, a full-regiment colonel... According to Mom, he was about to be promoted to senior colonel too.

Maybe at next year's recruit training, he would be sitting on the reviewing stand as well.

"...Next, let us invite Political Commissar Zou Tong to speak!"

Clap clap clap.

The senior colonel in the middle stood up and gave a somewhat imperfect military salute. Still, the motion of raising and lowering his hand carried considerable authority.

"Comrades."

"Today, we are holding the opening training ceremony for the new recruit training regiment. On behalf of the corps party committee and all firefighting officers and soldiers throughout the province, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new comrades! I would also like to extend cordial greetings and heartfelt thanks to the recruitment officers who successfully completed their mission and returned in triumph..."

"Now, just after the victorious conclusion of the 17th National Congress, as the entire Party and nation work actively to secure new victories in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, you have answered the call of the Party and the people. You have resolutely chosen military life, come from every corner of the country to join the Firefighting Forces, and entered the Red Gate of firefighting..."

"New comrades, Guizhou is an inland mountainous province blessed with beautiful mountains and rivers, a pleasant climate, abundant resources, and many ethnic groups. At present, with the comprehensive implementation of the national 11th Five-Year Plan..."

"The Firefighting Forces are active-duty troops entrusted with multiple special missions, including fire prevention and suppression, Emergency Rescue, and handling sudden incidents..."

"New comrades, the future belongs to you, and your prospects are infinitely bright. The Party and the people look forward to your growth and success. The military needs you to become true fine men of the armed forces. I hope you will maintain a sense of urgency, seize every moment, study diligently and train hard, complete your transformation from ordinary citizens into qualified soldiers as soon as possible, and become Four Haves Soldiers with ideals, morality, education, and discipline! Thank you, everyone!"

Clap clap clap echoed below the stage.

The leader's Mandarin was not very good.

The average age below the stage was only eighteen or nineteen. Talks of development and policy left most of them looking bewildered. I came here to be a soldier. Local development is the government's business. What does it have to do with me, Zhou Whoever?

In any case, it was encouragement. Applauding was the right thing to do.

Only veterans understood the arduous missions represented by every word.

Among those present, some would give their youth, and some would give their lives, safeguarding these development plans. Some would still be children when they died, never understanding what those words truly meant, yet they charged forward without regret.

They charged into seas of fire, into disaster zones, into mountains and ravines, leaving their lives behind there.

Those who came back alive would be interviewed, and reporters would always ask what they had been thinking at the time. The simplest and most common answer was always, "I wasn't thinking about anything."

During Fang Huai's five years as a firefighter in his previous life, every few days he would hear that a comrade from some squadron had died again, or that someone had been disabled while saving people. Standing here now, he was filled with emotion.

He hoped they would remain forever young, forever with tears in their eyes, living in peaceful times and never meeting calamity.

He suddenly realized that there was quite a lot he could do. A new understanding rose in his heart.

Perhaps being reborn could change more than just himself.

The speeches soon ended. After the Political Commissar, the Corps Commander's speech was exceptionally concise and forceful.

"Train hard. Serve the country!"

"Each company, move out and begin training!"

With a single sentence from Yang Yonghua, the entire Training Ground sprang into motion.

Seventh Company was assigned a prime spot beside the barbed-wire fence in the corner. Hao Chengbin immediately led his squad over and claimed the position next to the fence.

When Ninth Squad reached its training position, Hao Chengbin revealed a slightly mischievous smile.

"Brothers, you're in luck. Outside this fence is a driving school."

Everyone looked confused.

"Squad Leader, what does that mean?"

Hao Chengbin chuckled and pointed at a gap in the fence large enough for half a person. "See that? That dog hole. You can run, crawl out through it, and head down the slope. Once you're out, you can catch a taxi."

They looked at one another.

"Squad Leader! I definitely won't run away! I came here to be a soldier. The leader just said it—we're here to serve the country!" Yue Tao declared passionately, thumping his chest.

"Exactly, Squad Leader. We worked so hard to get in here. Why would we run?" Chen Zhongqiang said indignantly, feeling as though they were being looked down on.

Hao Chengbin smiled. "If none of you are planning to run, then I'll tell you another piece of good news... lots of people pass by the driving school outside every day. While you train, you can watch pretty girls."

"Holy fuck..."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Squad Leader, that's ruthless." Fang Huai could not help giving him a thumbs-up too.

Reborn or not, did that mean a thirty-five-year-old man would stop looking at pretty girls?

You had to understand, this damn recruit training regiment had practically no women at all. There were several beautiful female officers in the office building at the training base near the entrance, but the recruits were down in the low-lying area after entering, while the Training Ground was farther inside. They could not see the office building at all.

After enough time passed, even the cafeteria aunties started looking somewhat delicate and pretty.

No wonder his squad in his previous life had been squeezed toward the middle of the Training Ground, while the squads led by veteran sergeants were all positioned against the wall.

The old squad leaders really were devious. The benefits came just like that!

(Saving chapters, saving chapters. Once it goes premium, there'll be a ten-thousand-word burst.)