Chapter 409: Camel Bell, Platoon Leader Wang Ye
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
On this night, many people actually stayed up late, and even some veterans about to retire couldn’t sleep all night.
The situation was completely different from the previous few days.
But time doesn’t stand still because of everyone’s sadness.
“Let’s eat!
On the morning of the 30th, in the cafeteria, Wu Jianfeng sat there without saying anything else.
With just a simple “let’s eat,” he then bowed his head and began to eat dumplings on his own.
It’s a military tradition to have dumplings when you board the vehicle and noodles when you get off.
Today is the day these retiring veterans bid farewell to the military, and it’s also their last meal in the army.
So, this meal consists of dumplings only.
In the Eighth Platoon, no one moved, and Wang Ye was also watching Luo Yang and Wei Qinghai.
“Hehe, I won’t be polite!” Wei Qinghai, with red eyes and a chest adorned with a red flower, forced a smile and picked up his chopsticks to start eating dumplings.
“Mmm… very delicious, Old Luo, try them…” Wei Qinghai finished one and immediately called out to Luo Yang, who also had a red flower on his chest.
“Alright!” Luo Yang nodded and silently started eating.
“Old Wang, you guys should eat too, don’t just watch, eat up. Today’s dumplings are filled with beef, they taste really good!” Wei Qinghai once again called out to the others.
“Okay!” Wang Ye nodded and picked up his chopsticks.
“Zhang Qi!”
“Here!
“Wang Xiaoyou!”
“Here…”
At nine in the morning, all the soldiers from the regiments stationed in this area who were about to retire gathered in formation on the large training ground on the side of the regimental headquarters.
In front of them, on a platform, the regimental commander and others stood.
In addition to them on the platform, below the platform, Wang Ye was now standing in formation with some soldiers from other regiments, all facing these veterans who were about to retire.
At the moment, the chief of staff was calling out names one by one.
One name after another, the roll call continued for over ten minutes.
In the entire regiment, not counting the regiments stationed elsewhere, there were over four hundred people retiring this time.
“Approved, the personnel mentioned above are discharged from active duty!”
When the chief of staff finished calling the names.
The regimental commander stepped forward.
“Comrades, all good things must come to an end.
Starting tomorrow, you won’t hear the wake-up call anymore, and you won’t have to worry about your platoon leader lifting your blankets and scolding you.
At the same time, you won’t have to worry about the terrifying night patrols in the middle of the night.
You, have graduated from this military crucible!”
After saying these words, the regimental commander shouted and then turned away.
There was no lengthy or extravagant speech, and no unnecessary delay.
With just a few simple sentences, the several hundred soldiers in formation below were once again brought to tears.
The chief of staff stepped forward again, taking the regimental commander’s place. He looked at the numerous veterans below and shouted loudly, “Once a soldier, always a soldier! I hope you will remain true to the spirit of a soldier even after retirement.”
After a pause, the chief of staff loudly declared, “Now, 1 invite all retired veterans to take the oath!”
“If there is a war, I will answer the call!”
“If there is a war, I will answer the call!”
With tears in their eyes, the retired veterans on the training ground solemnly made their pledge.
“Alright, let us perform one final military salute!
To the military camps where you once fought.
To the land and flag you once defended.
To the comrades you fought alongside, let’s perform one final military salute!”
“Atten-hut! Salute!
Wang Ye had been silently watching the veterans across from him.
Honestly, at this moment, his emotions were indescribable.
“Send off comrades…
Embark on the journey…
Silent tears in our eyes…”
Suddenly, while the retired veterans were saluting, a song resonated throughout the entire camp.
“Camel Bells,” a song that Wang Ye’s new recruits had learned in basic training, but they hadn’t sung or heard it since joining their respective units, suddenly played through all the loudspeakers in the camp.
For a moment, the many retired veterans who had just saluted with tears in their eyes now had tears streaming down uncontrollably.
However, this was just the beginning.
Next, as Wang Ye and his comrades took the stage to remove their insignias and receive their flowers, the soldiers, accompanied by the song, cried even more intensely.
In front of Wang Ye, Wei Qinghai, who had been cheerful and even shared a laugh while eating dumplings this morning after a night of drinking and crying, was now hugging Wang Ye like a child, crying loudly.
Wei Qinghai, perhaps he had thought that leaving the army would be a relief, and he could leave with a smile.
But now, as the insignias and flowers were taken off, he understood what Zhou Qi and the others had said last year when the batch of veterans retired.
For a soldier, the uniform is the skin, and the insignia and flowers are the bones…
At noon on this day, because they had just bid farewell to their comrades, everyone’s emotions were still a bit low, and their appetites weren’t great.
However, the military is a magical place.
Here, there’s a remedy for healing.
No matter what illness you have, a single dose of it can alleviate it effectively.
“Run, everyone start running! Those in the back, catch up quickly!”
On a hill outside the camp, Wu Jianfeng stood by the road and shouted loudly.
Yes, this was the military’s remedy, the Armed Cross-Country Five Kilometers. One round wasn’t enough; now after running out, they would have to run another five kilometers back.
It was midday, and the men hadn’t even had a satisfying lunch, so they were panting and exhausted as they ran.
Of course, the effect was quite good.
Running two rounds of mountainous cross country for a total of ten kilometers, after gasping for fresh air and getting extremely tired, it was indeed an effective treatment for the inner sadness.
Darn it… if I had known, I would have gone with Old Wei and the others… Oh, my legs feel like they’re going to break!”
In the dormitory, Zhang Wen sat on a small stool and made a wry smile.
Wang Ye looked over and said with a laugh, “Do you want to call them? They probably haven’t gone far, and you can ask them to wait for you!”
“Hehe!” Zuo Zicheng also chuckled, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Do you want me to pack your things for you?”
“Haha, forget it… forget it, I’m just one step away!” Wei Qinghai also smiled awkwardly.
With one step, you couldn’t retire. Even if he wanted to leave, he couldn’t, unless he was in a special situation like Yan Zhiming.
“Hehe, you’ll be two steps away soon!” Peng Yuhang added with a laugh.
A ten-kilometer run had helped dispel some of the sadness, and now, thinking that he would soon become a “two-stepper,” Wei Qinghai couldn’t help but feel a bit excited inside.
“Yeah, it’s about time. You guys will be ‘two-steppers’ too, it’s happening so fast!” Wang Ye sighed.
Upon hearing this, Peng Yuhang looked over, and his relaxed expression turned into a wry smile. “Come on, Brother Wang, stop talking!”
“That’s right, Brother Wang, you should shut up. We haven’t even reached ‘two-steppers’ yet, but look at you, you’ve been a ‘one-dot-two’ for a long time!”
“Hehe!” Wang Ye chuckled and didn’t continue speaking.
He didn’t want to tease them.
“Wang Ye!”
After resting in the dormitory for about ten minutes, suddenly, Wu Jianfeng’s voice came from downstairs.
“Here!
Wang Ye got up and replied, then immediately greeted the others and ran downstairs.
“Company Commander!”
When Wang Ye came down, Wu Jianfeng had just arrived at the company office door.
“Come in!”
Wu Jianfeng turned around and said.
Afterwards, when Wang Ye followed him into the office, Wu Jianfeng handed him a folder.
“Starting today, you also need to adapt to your new role!” Wu Jianfeng said with a smile.
Wang Ye was slightly bewildered.
“Why are you staring blankly? The new recruits will be here in a few days, and during these days, as the platoon leader of our Second Regiment’s new recruits, you’ll join several other first-time squad leaders to receive pre-training at the regiment headquarters!”
This year, there was a difference in the role of the squad leaders for the new recruits. Technically, the veterans could handle it.
However, nurturing new talent was an important task in the military.
For example, this time, there were five first-time squad leaders, including Wang Ye.
“Huh? Company Commander, why are there only four squads?” Wang Ye suddenly looked up as he opened the file Wu Jianfeng had given him.
This file contained the list of new recruits, even though they hadn’t arrived yet, their classes had been organized.
In the file Wang Ye was holding, there was information about the entire Second platoon of new recruits, including their photos.
Wu Jianfeng took a drag from his cigarette and smiled as he replied, “Thanks to your outstanding performance last year, the regimental commander applied for more recruits, and since the division headquarters considered that our regiment produced someone like you, they were happy to grant us an additional platoon’s quota.
However, the regiment wasn’t prepared to set up an entire new platoon, so according to the original plan, one platoon leader for each of our three regiments. But when it comes to squads, each platoon will have four!”
“Alright!”
Wang Ye really didn’t expect that this would be related to him.
However, it wasn’t a bad thing either.
“Okay, the other two new recruit squad leaders have names on their lists. Later, you’ll go and deliver the information about the new recruits in their squads to them. Also, about Zhou Qi’s information, you hold onto it for now, and when he comes back, you can give it to him!” Wu Jianfeng gave his orders again.
For the Second Regiment, the allocation of the squad leader positions for the four new recruit squads had already been decided.
Two for the Fourth Company and one each for the fifth and sixth Companies.
Among the two for the Fourth Company, besides Wang Ye, there was Zhou Qi, the one Wu Jianfeng had mentioned earlier, who was now Wang Ye’s squad leader.
In Wu Jianfeng’s words, last year Zhou Qi was influenced by Deng Hai, and even though he managed to continue into the second phase this year thanks to Wang Ye’s help in dispelling that negative influence, there was still a stain on his record.
So Wu Jianfeng was giving him another chance.
Liu Tao, from Dongguang…”
Coming out of the company commander’s office, Wang Ye held the folder and walked while jotting down all the information about the new recruits in his platoon.
Being a proper platoon leader, this was something he had to do.
In fact, during the past few days, Meng Wenbin had taken the time to instruct Wang Ye on how to be a qualified platoon leader.
Although in terms of achievements and personal capabilities, Meng Wenbin couldn’t match Wang Ye, he had been a platoon leader for a year and a half.
His experience as a platoon leader was definitely stronger than that of Wang Ye, who was still a rookie without any practical experience in the role.
Over the short distance, when Wang Ye arrived at the fifth Company, he had already memorized the information of all forty new recruits in his platoon thanks to his exceptional memory.
“Commander Wang!”
At the entrance of the fifth Company, as Wang Ye walked over, the sentry on duty greeted him with a salute and said, “Commander Wang.”
Wang Ye was slightly taken aback, then chuckled, “You calling me Commander’ almost scared me. I thought there was a senior officer behind me!”
Wang Ye smiled, and the sentry was also a Private First Class, in the same batch as Wang Ye.
“Hehe, I just called you that. After all, you’re a platoon leader now, so it’s not wrong to call you ‘Commander’!”
“No, please, just call me Wang Ye!”
After chatting for a few moments with him, Wang Ye helped him call over the new recruit squad leader for the fifth Company.
After providing the new recruit information to the squad leader, he then headed to the sixth Company..