China's reserve army, the youngest force in China, has utilized
computer networks to mobilize, assemble and train staff.
A
reporter recently attended a modern reserve soldier drill taking
place in a regiment of an infantry division in East China's Anhui
Province.
The reporter saw a commander issuing orders by clicking a mouse in
the regiment headquarters. The orders were sent in a few seconds to
all battalions and companies via the net.
Two hours later, over 1,300 reserve officers and soldiers scattered
over many villages and towns had arrived in the appointed area with
their heavy weapons including anti-aircraft guns, anti-aircraft
artillery and rocket guns.
Wu
Xiaolong, the division commander said that the drill is not only to
commemorate the ten year anniversary of Chairman of the Central
Military Commission Jiang Zemin's inscription of China's
reserve army, but also a good test for the troop's
up-to-dateness.
In
November 1991, Jiang inspected the infantry division and made an
inscription for them.
In
that year, Anhui Province suffered from serious floods and the
reserve army made a great contribution to fighting the floods and
saving state property.
China's reserve army has been listed in the organizational system
of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), according to Wu.
The reserve army is now unified and has conferred army flag and
code names. It is also equipped with some heavy weapons.
China's reserve army is one of most important forces to deal with
unexpected events and emergency situations. It would also be
quickly mobilized should war break out.
China's reserve army was first founded in 1955. At that time,
Chengdu, Wuhan, Kunming and Lanzhou milltary area commands
organized over 100,000 reserve soldiers.
But in 1957, the reserve duty system was abolished.
In
1983, China reorganized the reserve army.
In
the 1990s, it was enlarged from a single infantry to a
comprehensive force including infantry, artillery, armoured forces,
signal corps and antichemical warfare corps.
In
1995, China enacted laws to protect the construction of the reserve
army.
Currently, high-tech training measures are being widely used in
China's reserve army and the personnel educational level has been
greatly improved.
According to Wu, in Anhui reserve army's infantry division, six
percent of officers have a Master's degree, 78 percent have
graduated from institutes of higher education and 68 percent are
technical personnel.
The division has also produced their own military software
including civil air defence forces software and high-speed
mobilization software.
Nowadays, the division can offer network drills, network
information transmission, network supervision and network
commanding.
(Xinhua News
Agency November 15,2001)