Binjiang Police Affairs

Chapter 814 - 555: What Do You Have? (Part 2)

The demobilized soldier’s surname was Yan, named Yan Huadong, and he was also "drafted into service."These days, many personnel from various units came to the Martyr’s Cemetery to pay homage to the revolutionary martyrs. Wang Tiejun and Yan Huadong put on military uniforms, wore reserve ranks, fastened their belts, with one standing guard at the entrance of the Martyr’s Cemetery and the other at the camp entrance.

When Secretary Chen organized the Development Zone Management Committee and the Sanhe Street Party cadres to come to sweep the tombs, the two of them even played the role of honor guards, marching with goose steps at the front amidst the somber music, helping to lay wreaths.

Seeing that cadres from the regiment had arrived, one of them helped to find chairs, and the other helped to serve tea.

It was Investor Zhou’s first time at the Linghai Reserve Camp, and he was surprised to find that the camp’s gate was more grandiose than the Military District’s. He was even more surprised to find "full-time reserve officers" and "full-time reserve soldiers" in the camp, and couldn’t help but smile and say, "Secretary Han, Director Liu, Director Ding, your camp is built very formally, regularly, and impressively. No wonder the regiment leader said that when the camp construction is completed, they want to invite the first secretaries and instructors from other camps to come and visit."

"Investor Zhou, in the camp, there are only the camp commander and the manager, no Secretary Han or Director Liu."

"Alright, alright, Camp Commander Han, Manager."

Just as Han Yu was about to speak, Old Ding smiled and said, "Investor Zhou, I am still Director Ding. I wanted to ’enlist in the military’ like Secretary Han and Director Liu, but unfortunately, I’m too old and don’t meet the drafting criteria."

On the way here, Yang Jianbo had introduced that the person in front of them was not only a Party cadre but had also served many years as a police station chief.

Investor Zhou, being just a standard camp-level officer, couldn’t afford to put on airs and quickly said, "Director Ding, your coming to the camp to contribute is support for our reserve work."

"What contribution, I’m just retired with nothing to do." Old Ding smiled, got up, and said, "Investor Zhou, you all continue chatting, I’m going to take a stroll to the cemetery. Two units are coming for tomb-sweeping this afternoon, I’ll be worried if I don’t go take a look."

"Alright, I’ll see you off."

"No need to see me off, stay where you are."

Watching Old Ding leave, Han Yu noticed Yang Jianbo seemed hesitant to speak, and couldn’t help but ask, "Investor Zhou, you came to our camp despite being so busy; is there something you wanted to discuss?"

Investor Zhou took a deep breath and, looking a bit embarrassed, said, "Camp Commander Han, I was entrusted by the regiment leader and the political commissioner to come over today. Mainly, there are two matters. Firstly, plans can’t keep up with changes. Just this morning, the division’s Party committee sent a notice to our regiment, instructing us to organize reserve officer training locally. Once the training is nearly complete, the division’s cadre department and military affairs department will come over for assessments.

After passing the assessment, we’ll hold a reserve officer induction ceremony and award ranks to those who have completed the training. Then, the regiment will arrange for cadres and soldiers to come over to assist the reserve officers in organizing reserve soldier training. After the training, there will be an assessment as well, but the assessment for soldiers will be handled by our regiment’s military affairs section."

A meeting for cadres at the company level and above will be held tomorrow afternoon to discuss the training matters.

It’s true that plans can’t keep up with changes.

Han Yu instinctively asked, "We don’t have to go to Jiangcheng anymore?"

Investor Zhou glanced back at Yang Jianbo, with a tinge of awkwardness, and said, "The division might have considered the costs. If we followed the original plan to train at the teaching team, just your camp with so many reserve officers, even training for just a week would cost quite a bit. If reserve officers from all regiments and camps were to go to Jiangcheng for training, the division really couldn’t afford it."

"Not going to Jiangcheng is fine; training locally is more convenient."

"Camp Commander Han, I’m relieved to hear you say that. To be honest, the regiment leader was too embarrassed to come today. Initially, it was agreed that training would take place at the teaching team, but then plans changed, and he wasn’t sure how to explain it to you."

"It’s okay, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about."

"The issue now is that organizing training locally also requires funds; you’re aware of the situation in our regiment. Camp Commander Han, I’m really at a loss for words..."

The reserve forces indeed draw on military budget, but the expenditure comes from the regiment-level office’s working funds and the salaries of active-duty officers.

Like militia training, reserve forces training at the current stage can only rely on self-funding.

Han Yu had already prepared mentally, smiled, and said, "Isn’t my finding sponsorships everywhere for the sake of the unit’s construction? During the training, our camp will cover the meal expenses and training subsidies."

"That’s wonderful. Camp Commander Han, you’re so straightforward; I really don’t know how to thank you."

"I’m the camp commander. Organizing training is part of my duty; there’s nothing to thank for that."

The regiment contributed nothing, yet it possessed a camp.

Investor Zhou genuinely felt embarrassed, hesitated for a moment, and said, "There’s also the issue of attire for reserve officers and reserve soldiers. The application report that Jianbo took back was seen by both the regiment leader and the political commissioner, and theoretically, the regiment should address it. However, the regiment doesn’t have the budget for this, and neither does the division, making this quite difficult to handle."

"Doesn’t the regiment have a warehouse? Doesn’t it have military uniforms?"

"The warehouse is full of old office desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and single beds left over from before; there really are no uniforms."

The Armed Forces Department might be poor, but they still issue a set of training clothes to participating militia. You’re a notch above the Armed Forces Department, yet you don’t even issue uniforms.

With nothing, how can you form a reserve force?

Han Yu wanted to ask what resources they had, but held back the words.

Investor Zhou took a cigarette from Liu Degui, continued, "The regiment leader and the political commissioner considered that without uniforms, there would be no cohesion, and tasked me with finding a way to get a set of spring-autumn regular clothing for each reserve officer in the camp."

"Not for company commanders and instructors?"

"It’s hard to make something out of nothing; the regiment truly has no solution."

"You can apply to higher authorities; even the Armed Forces Department has a warehouse, so the Military District should too, and surely there’s a big warehouse at the Provincial Military District."

"Camp Commander Han, the clothing warehouses exist at the Military District and the Provincial Military District, but they don’t distribute just because we apply. There is no higher-up plan to distribute attire to reserve forces. If we want all camp members to wear uniforms, we’d have to purchase them, and it’s not cheap."

Han Yu asked quietly, "Not cheap?"

Yang Jianbo, more embarrassed than Investor Zhou, said with a wry smile, "Commander, you’re in the police force; your police uniform is quite similar to our military uniform. The quality is good, but the cost is also high. If we purchase them ourselves, as previously applied for, it wouldn’t come cheaper than one and a half thousand per set."

Fearing that the Binjiang Water Army Commander wouldn’t believe it, Investor Zhou opened his briefcase and took out two forms.

One was the "Retired Personnel Clothing Item Return List," and the other was the "Demobilized Personnel Clothing Collection Form."

Pointing at the detailed descriptions of items to be returned and collected, he explained, "Camp Commander Han, I don’t know if your police force collects old uniforms when issuing new ones, but our active-duty military personnel must return them upon demobilization or retirement. Each item is clearly priced, and missing any item results in a deduction."

Mentioning this, Liu Degui, who had remained silent, grew frustrated, lit a cigarette, and said, "We soldiers defend our nation, contribute to the country, and yet when we demobilize, they take back our uniforms, not allowing us to keep our ranks and insignias.

They say integration with global standards. Yet why do foreign veterans get to keep their uniforms? Letting us take our uniforms home as a memento would be wonderful, given we dedicated our youth to the nation, sweating, and sometimes even bleeding!"

If someone else had said this, Investor Zhou would explain that the superiors’ requirement mainly aims to prevent uniforms, ranks, and insignias from entering society, as their misuse by wrongdoers could harm the military’s reputation.

But when Old Liu said this, Investor Zhou dared not speak.

Because Old Liu truly had been to battlefields and indeed bled!

He had served both in field forces and the Armed Forces Department. Had the Armed Forces Department not been transferred to local leadership, he might well still be an active-duty officer now.

Quickly, Yang Jianbo said, "Old platoon leader, Investor Zhou wasn’t talking about whether uniforms can be kept after demobilization or retirement; he was saying that attire is expensive."

"Boxers, socks, shoes, undershirts, ties, cotton coats and pants, sweaters and pants, autumn clothing, indoor slippers, wash basins, toothbrush holders, quilts, mats, backpack straps, mosquito nets, summer quilts, water bottles, satchels... Fine if these aren’t there, but if we don’t even have a military uniform, then this reserve force is no better than civilian soldiers!"