Recently, in the book review section, some readers have been saying that the design of the protagonist coming from a military family in my story is unreasonable. Dear readers, please don't get upset. Let me tell you a true story. First of all, the reason I write about military matters is because I have an elder relative, who is a military man. He is in his sixties now and has many stories, all of which are true.
Back then, he participated in the Sino-Vietnamese Self-Defense Counterattack. I heard the stories from him. That year, my elder was a battalion commander and was sent to the front as a reserve force. However, as a reserve force, they would only go into battle if the front line forces were defeated. At that time, there were many soldiers in China, and the PLA was full of talented people, with brave soldiers and fierce generals. The reserve force had just arrived when the enemy was defeated.
My elder, the battalion commander, was not satisfied. He said to the deputy battalion commander, "We've come all the way to the front line, and if we go back without any military merit, it would be too unlucky." The deputy battalion commander nodded in agreement. So, the two of them gave gifts to a fellow townsman in the staff department and managed to get a mission. The staff department assigned them the task of capturing an enemy sentry.
Unfortunately, they fell into an ambush, and the entire battalion was surrounded. The battalion commander and the deputy battalion commander decided to split up, with the deputy battalion commander taking the rear to give the others a chance to escape.
The elder who managed to escape the encirclement looked around and saw that the deputy battalion commander was missing. His subordinates told him that the deputy battalion commander had stayed behind with a group of people, trapped in the encirclement. The battalion commander realized this was unacceptable and shouted, "We have to go back and save the deputy battalion commander!" Then, my elder and the deputy battalion commander met again inside the encirclement.
The deputy battalion commander was furious. "I finally got you out, and you come back? Are you waiting to die together?" But they had to run. This time, they broke through the encirclement together. In the end, my elder jumped off a cliff and was rescued by his comrades.
After the war ended, when the soldiers and their families gathered, the deputy battalion commander's wife, holding two children, came to the reception hall. Outside, there was joy and celebration, but inside the hall, it was unusually quiet. When the deputy battalion commander's wife opened the door, she saw a group of people kneeling outside, with my elder leading them, followed by all the survivors of the battalion.
It turned out that on that day, the deputy battalion commander, knowing that someone had to stay behind to ensure the safety of the others, chose to stay behind again, leading dozens of people to fight to the death with the enemy.
Although I don't know what posthumous rank the deputy battalion commander was awarded or how much money he received, I do know that my elder and the surviving soldiers from that battalion each contributed money every year to support the deputy battalion commander's wife. This shows that their family was not doing well.
I'm not criticizing the Chinese military; I'm just telling the truth.
As for my elder, due to his military achievements, he became a division commander a few years ago. In recent years, he has done something to secure a good future for his son, but I won't go into details.
During that war, he was wounded in many places. It wasn't until 2005 that he had surgery to remove the shrapnel from his body, and the military did not reimburse him.
It's not that they wouldn't reimburse him; the military could provide free treatment, but the medication they provided was of poor quality. I just laugh it off.
Out of necessity, he paid for the surgery himself because the shrapnel was causing him unbearable pain. The military men of our fathers' generation were not as glamorous as you might imagine. They had to carry heavy telephone lines and march ten kilometers, and they were stationed in remote areas where there was hardly any oil. Sometimes, they had to eat chili peppers to keep warm in the winter.
When they reached the rank of battalion commander, the military allowed their families to live near the base. In the villages near the border, the military would provide a house (you know, those old rural mud houses), and that was it.
You had to clean up the house yourself. Life in the border regions was really tough, and the military men were not as impressive as you might think.
As for my elder's son, he was beaten more than once. Do you know the hardships faced by military families?
I won't specify a particular place or army. I just want to tell you that in our border regions, there are several military units scattered in the mountains along the border. So, every time an officer was promoted, they might be transferred to a different place, meaning that the families of these officers had to move to a different city, village, or town. This made it difficult for their children to make friends and often led to them being bullied by the local children.
If a teenager beat up your six- or seven-year-old child, would you, as an adult, seek revenge? How would your colleagues view you? Would you risk your future?
Moreover, who wants others to see them living a hard life? When everyone was on equal footing, now you have to ask for help. Can you understand that feeling?
I can confidently say that which child of a border military family has not been bullied by local children? Which one has not encountered extortion or robbery? Which parents would fight over such trivial matters? It's all nonsense.
My story is based on reality with some exaggeration, not completely fabricated. I really hope readers don't equate certain military personnel with border military personnel; they are not the same.