China Armed Forces No.25,Vol.1,2014

    The popularity of the annual Touching China Award is based on its winners being common people who have moved the nation by what they have done in their work and daily life. Among the Top Ten Figures of Touching China 2010 was He Xiangmei, a member of the special forces of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), who is respected among his colleagues for his superb skills. However, few people know that this outstanding young soldier was once so fat that he could barely stand the hardship of the military life and almost failed to qualify.

    “The No.1 Fat Guy”

    At 1.69 meters tall and weighing 80 kilograms, He was called “No.1 Fat Guy” among the recruits in his company. He was the last finish the first long-distance run. “If you aren’t cut out for the special forces, then do something else,” a veteran told him. The company leader was considering transferring him to another unit.

    He went to the commander and asked to try again. “Reduce your weight by 10 kilograms,” said the company leader.

    From then on, the young soldier got up 30 minutes ahead of everyone else every morning, and ran three kilometers before joining the others for morning exercises. He carried extra loads, including a sand-filled vest, four hand-grenades and a pair of sand-filled leggings. To build up his arms, the young man doubled his efforts in training.

    Military training is very hard, but He had endured much more than most others. He also faced more risks in training as he was loaded with much more weight. One day he was practicing jumping up from a second floor balcony to grab the edge of the third-floor balcony. But he was carrying an extra 18 kilograms. He lost his grip, but the other soldiers grabbed him. After three months, he lost 14 kilograms and graduated third in his company. He was in the special forces.

    “A Pint of Sweat Will Save A Gallon of Blood” (General George S. Patton)

    His personal training continued to exceed requirements in the special forces.

    Every day in training, He jogged five kilometers in the morning and 10 kilometers in the afternoon, carrying a load of 20 kilograms and as quickly as others.

    The young soldier loved shooting, and began training as a sniper. To help keep his gun steady, He put a stone or shell case on the barrel, and trained for an extra 10 minutes if the stone or the shell case dropped. His body was stiff after training, but he learned to hold the sniper rifle stable for up to two hours.

    A sniper must have sharp eyes. He has trained himself so well that he now sees without blinking for five minutes, even in bad weather.

    Rock-climbing is a necessary skill for the special forces. He always tried to find the most difficult rocks to mount, and often ended up bruised and bloody.

    His one big fear was the sea. At first in marine training, he was fearful of the waves and refused to get into the water. Later he followed the monitor’s order to swim. After training hard, he became a skillful swimmer and can swim 10,000 meters with no load and 5,000 meters with weapons.

    He has developed a habit of exercising hard and relentlessly. To improve at rapid pistol shooting, he practiced over and over, till the fingers on his left hand bled. In six days, he used five rolls of bandages. His efforts paid off. He took just 0.58 seconds to hit his target.

    In 2006, he was made a sniper of the security unit for the APEC meeting in Shanghai.

    Shooting on Instinct

    He had a reputation as a masterful sniper from the outset. Unlike those who believe that “a lot of target practice make a good sniper”, He insists that a good sniper depends on talent.

    The young sniper carries thousands of parameters for shooting, writing down them on small cards so he can review them easily. A sniper must know how to judge the wind direction. He has worked hard in training and can quickly ascertain the wind direction by judging the movements of banners, tree branches and ripples of river water. He has a unique instinct for the wind direction and velocity without the help of instruments. The chief of staff of the troop has checked He’s mental calculations against his own measurements and found them to be extraordinarily accurate.

    The young sniper has his own archives of study materials and notes, and he has kept a diary on his shooting exercises. So far, he has written 12 volumes, noting 850 groups of figures recorded in training and more than 60 charts he drew himself.

    He has also studied the experiences of foreign snipers. China Armed Forces reporter Jin Hao once interviewed He when he was in Beijing for a conference. The two talked about “The Ultimate Sniper”, a well-known training manual for the U.S. Army. The reporter had the book and copied it for He. Afterwards, he received a massage from He: “I will go through it carefully.”

    He spends his evenings searching through books for solutions to problems he encountered during the day. He tests the theories at the shooting range.

    He shares his experience with his colleagues.

    Learning that the PLA had no training manuals specifically for snipers, He and his colleagues gathered materials and ended up with a 300,000-character textbook. So far it has been issued to snipers in the PLA’s Nanjing Area Command.

    Lifelong Pursuit

    It is commonly said among young recruits that “An ex-serviceman can find a good job if he has learned a skill in the army.”

    In 2005, when He finished his term as a sergeant first class, many local institutions and companies offered good money to work for them as a bodyguard. He turned all of them down.

    When he completed his next term as a noncommissioned officer, public security bureaus from big cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou and Quanzhou asked him to join their ranks as a police officer.

    Many people tried to persuade He, saying, “It’s a rare opportunity to become a public servant, particularly at grassroots level, so that you should take it.” After mulling it over for a few days, He replied, “Although my family is not rich, I cherish the thought that a soldier must fulfill his duty. My skills only serve as a weapon on the battleground. They must not be regarded as a tool to work for my own interests.

    “I will be an active fighter and brave scout on the battleground, whenever the nation and the people call. And it will be my lifelong pursuit.” (Translated by Zhou Fang)