Chapter 70: Comrades-in-Arms

"Comrades-in-arms and comrades-in-arms are like brothers", this is a song that can sing and cry many soldiers, youth and wrestling share weal and woe, change jobs and retirements, and reunite after a long absence, this song will always sound.

After serving as a soldier for three years, because there were no 91 annual soldiers in the squad, only a group of veterans were really sent off, that is, our squad leader and their batch of 92 annual soldiers.

After serving for four years, he was a squad leader for two years, participated in two live-fire target shooting, and in the days when he was about to retire from the army, the squad leader seemed to have lost his soul, always distracted, and sometimes even sat at the head of the bed in a daze for some reason, patted his shoulder and handed him a cigarette, only to suddenly wake up, parting is imminent, and sadness has begun to appear.

Sending off veterans every year is an emotional experience like life and death, and the squad leader has also sent veterans, maybe the previous scene has been swirling in his mind, but he is very strong, and when he is not distracted, he always talks and laughs with the people in the class.

We all said that we would not cry, and we also thought that we would not cry, what was the big deal, wasn't it just to leave the army, "the officers and soldiers of the iron-beaten barracks and flowing water", everyone will have the day to leave, and besides, they left each other's addresses, maybe they will meet again soon.

There are two veterans who have retired from the instrument class, but the squad leader is the most nostalgic for us, the vegetation of the peasant children, the method of leading the troops imprinted with the fine tradition of the Red Army soldiers, including the deputy squad leader of the 93 annual soldiers, everyone has received his sincere help, it can be said that they are all selfless, and they are all regardless of conditions and returns.

The footsteps of parting are getting closer and closer, in the last period of time, as long as we are free, we all revolve around him, and accompany him to play the "Red Five" that will never be fun, which is a unique card skill play in Hangzhou, a group of four, can play all day. It seems that only in this kind of playing cards can the squad leader not be distracted.

Sometimes I will go to the company club to watch the video, and when I meet him and the soldiers of the same year coming back when I stand guard, I seem to be relaxed and comfortable, talking and laughing while walking, but I can always find that they will inadvertently look at the vegetable field, look at the Longjing tea forest, look at the weapons arranged on the position, look at the Qiantang River rushing at the foot of the mountain, and the ordinary things, there is already a deep affection in their eyes.

Time flowed in nostalgia, and soon it was time to announce the discharge order, and at the military meeting, the squad leader and his soldiers of the same year stood in a row, and the recruits they had brought with them took off their ranks, cockades, and collar flowers, and replaced them with bright red red flowers and hung them on their chests.

The ceremony is solemn and the atmosphere is warm, but there is always an inseparable sadness condensation that lingers. The training ground was screaming, the management team was vigorous, and the command of the battle was vigorous and resolute, standing in front at this time, his smile was a little stiff, and his expression was a little twisted and unnatural.

After the order was announced, the send-off military vehicles arranged by the battalion headquarters had already arrived at the company, and at our strong request, several of us, who were already the backbone, were allowed to go to the railway station to see them off.

Farewell military vehicle, both sides of the carriage are plastered with farewell slogans, after the battalion headquarters converged, the formation of a convoy set off, in the carriage, there was only laughter along the way, talking about the embarrassment that had happened to someone, the scene reappeared as in front of him, laughing more cheerfully, it seemed that it was not a parting, the scene was like the previous march at the airport stationed in the training of live ammunition and targeting.

The military car arrived, a few pieces of luggage, we helped to lift, hugged the squad leader into the platform, at this time it was already a sea of people, as far as the eye could see, all were retired active figures, too many people could only be sent to the door of the carriage, the squad leader disappeared, the tickets purchased in advance, to find a seat first, put the luggage for the final goodbye.

The figure of the squad leader disappeared, and we called his name at the bottom, so that we could know which carriage and which position he was, so that at the last moment, through the window, we could feel the reluctance to part, there were too many people to tell the squad leader clearly, and they were all calling his name.

Maybe it was too crowded inside, and the position of the squad leader was a little different from what we judged, and when he finally found a seat and poked his head out of the window to respond, it was already dozens of meters away.

From afar, we could see him smiling as always, laughing and shouting our names one by one, saying "here and here", so that we could recognize his voice and find his place in the midst of the noise.

We heard the squad leader's loud shout, and we all ran towards him, and it was like this in the running, the squad leader's loud shout, and suddenly changed, maybe he himself didn't expect it, without a little psychological preparation, the shouting suddenly turned into a howling cry.

Said okay not to cry, or crying, there is no meaning of convergence at all, the momentum is so loud, it is estimated that the entire train station can be heard, tears are like rain, crying in the throat, still keep calling our names, still keep repeating "here", it seems that as soon as they stop, each other will lose their traces, and it is difficult to appear.

The squad leader cried, the momentum was too loud, infected the entire farewell scene, ignited all the parting thoughts, as if the silent ** bucket was suddenly detonated, those who leaned out to find farewell comrades, and were holding hands with their comrades to say goodbye, all began to cry, some of them could be restrained at first, and finally they all cried loudly, so indulgent, unscrupulous, unrestrained, and without scruples.

Said not to cry, it turned out that I couldn't help myself, and none of the people in the same class could control their emotions, and all the relaxed and casual just now disappeared, and the sadness of parting became stronger and stronger, turning into tears and crying, joining the crying, and responding to the squad leader running towards him.

The train has started slowly, the squad leader Wu leaned out of the window, hugged us tightly and did not want to separate, the whole train was like this, until the train was about to disappear, those figures leaning out of the window and waving arms, still a little bit visible, and at the same time there seemed to be tears hanging on the face.

This kind of farewell, until the graduation of the military academy assigned to the grass-roots company as a cadre, did not experience it again, time has passed, in most cases it is to see off the veterans as cadres, it is difficult to see the sadness of parting in the year, and there are no tears in this way, the comrade-in-arms is deep, and the feelings between soldiers are the purest and truest.

The time was about the second year of the army, and I suddenly got a severe cold in winter, both nostrils were blocked, I could only breathe through my mouth, and I couldn't sleep at night.

The cold lasted for a long time, and one day when it was my turn to stand guard, I was discovered by the instructor who checked the post, and he immediately showed great importance and concern, especially asking her wife to go to the Air Force Hospital to contact an acquaintance, ask about the symptoms, and bring some special medicine.

Maybe it's because the effect of the medicine is really obvious, maybe it's the instructor's brotherly care for the infection, after taking the medicine, the nose is cleared for the first time, and the second cold is all cured. Feel cared for, helped, and remembered.

After participating in the military academy unified examination, I was planning whether to go home, I had served for two and a half years, and I had not asked for a family leave, and my homesickness was already quite strong.

One day, the platoon commander suddenly found me and told me an unexpected news, the cadres of the Guilin Air Force Academy who took the student files came to Hangzhou, and at this time, the test results had not yet come out, and he arrived early because his hometown was in Hangzhou, so he went home for vacation first.

Coincidentally, this cadre of the Guilin Air Force Academy used to be a teacher during the platoon commander's study, and the platoon commander was also from Hangzhou.

The platoon commander is tall and sturdy, it is said that he was born in the internal security army, he can do ten exercises on the single parallel bars, and his handsome posture and elegant movements are particularly eye-catching, and when we were in the first year of service, he was assigned to our platoon as a platoon commander.

The platoon commander's wife is a native of Jiangxi Province, serving as a cadre in the Air Force Sanatorium, because of this relationship, the platoon commander regards us Jiangxi people as fellow villagers, and is particularly concerned about the college instructor who receives the students' files, and during his vacation, the platoon commander enthusiastically arranged for him to stay in the Air Force Sanatorium.

Guilin Air Force Academy is the college for our army to recruit students, that is to say, the first to ensure its admission, when filling in the volunteer, for the sake of safety, the first application I filled in is the Guilin Air Force Academy.

The platoon commander not only told me the news, but also took me to meet the instructor, and worried that he would not find anyone, he rode his mountain bike early in the morning and drove me to the Air Force Sanatorium, and rushed to his door before the call for the troops to get up sounded.

This mountain bike is too impressive, I went to various duty points at night to check the posts, and the platoon commander took me with me many times, and every time I rode this car, he carried me every time.

This time I took the initiative to ask me to ride him to sit, passing through a construction section, there is a pile of sand and gravel next to it, when I was about to go around, a truck came on, it looked like it was going to hit head-on, before I could react, the platoon commander had already stood up from the back seat, and dragged the car to hold it, and even the car took people to freeze, which shows its strength and strength.

There was a false alarm, I met this instructor before breakfast, he received us quite warmly, promised quite happily, as long as I was admitted, I would take my file away, and later entered the Guilin Air Force Academy, in the cultural examination organized by the college, I saw him again, he invigilated our mathematics.

After meeting the instructors, I began to take a vacation, during which I found out that someone in my hometown was teaching at another Air Force Academy, which happened to be one of my volunteers, and I made a special trip to visit under the leadership of my father and fifth uncle.

The day after I returned to the company, I received news from my hometown that my file had been taken away in advance, and two other fellow soldiers of the same year had been admitted to that air force academy.

After the news of his hometown arrived, news from all sides also began to come, the old leader called, the first time to know, the first time to know, the first time to care, the first time to congratulate, the brigade fellow also called, the company also received a notice from the superiors.

The orderly soldier who participated in the review of the teaching team with the battalion headquarters also called, and he was also well-informed enough to tell me that he and I were admitted to the Guilin Air Force Academy, but he was admitted to a two-year secondary school, and I was a three-year junior college.

Soon after getting the news of the examination, the fellow of the brigade came to Hangzhou to play, he was admitted to the bachelor's degree, those days were the most relaxed and casual days, accompanied him to travel all over Hangzhou, several fellow villagers gathered together at night, and there were many scenes of pouring beer.

In addition to accompanying this fellow of the brigade headquarters, more time was spent with the orderly at the battalion headquarters, waiting for the military academy to be completed, and the company was quite tolerant of my movements, and as long as there was a leave of absence, it would be approved.

This orderly of the battalion headquarters, who loves basketball, is tall and flexible, and is the main force on the basketball court at any time, because the basketball ball also secretly talked about a partner in Hangzhou, often mixed together, and they are very familiar with them, during which he also specially presented me with a set of silk basketball jerseys, which have been worn for many years, and are now treasured.

It was not until he graduated from the military academy that he returned to the old army, and I was assigned to the Fujian coastal army, so I had little contact due to inconvenient communication.

I can't remember what day it was, but the battalion headquarters officially notified me to go through various departure procedures, and I still have time, so I am going to go home halfway and report to the college.

The squad organized a simple farewell party, and the deputy squad leader of the 93rd annual soldier took over as the squad leader after the old squad leader retired from the army, and my sentence "If you don't shoot at the first point, don't be a third-class meritorious" was used by him to train the soldiers as a word of encouragement.

At this time, I knew that the bold words have been remembered by others, if they are not realized, it may not be a positive motivational word, or it may be a negative example of frivolity and ignorance, but fortunately, it has been done, and it is estimated that it will be circulated in this class for a few years.

Carrying his bags and leaving the company, there were not many things, two marching bags, a backpack, and the comrades-in-arms in the squad, both old and new, helped pack up, crowded to the gate of the position, and then walked down the boulevard under the support of the fellow villagers of the same year.

Two and a half years of youthful memories have been left here, on the boulevard, the dense trees on both sides once covered the convoy of marching with weapons, once covered our first step into the modern metropolis with youth, once covered us to clean the roadside ditch and sweep away the road garbage.

I don't know when I will go back this time, and when I go back, whether these familiar faces are still there, whether the familiar environment is still there, whether there are still people stopping to watch the tide on the embankment at the foot of the mountain, and whether the verdant Longjing tea garden is still growing luxuriantly.

It is inconvenient to carry more luggage, arrive at Longxi under the mountain, and the moment I stepped into the taxi, several fellows helped me close the car door, and walked slowly, there seemed to be tears flashing, and in another year and a half, they will all be discharged from the army and return to their hometowns, so they can naturally see, but at this time farewell, it is still difficult to hide the sadness.

In the taxi, a lonely figure, a few simple bags, the houses on both sides of the scenic spots fly by, there are too many memories, from now on may be dusty, I don't know when to reopen, the upcoming military school life, yearning, full of longing, I don't know what kind of excitement there will be, what kind of story will be left.