Winning at the Turning Point - A Motivational Classic That Changes the Fate of Veterans

Author: Shi Xiangqian, Yang Jun / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: A New Path for Independent Career Choice
When the train of the times entered the 21st century, everyone aboard felt the speed accelerating and the scenery outside changing more rapidly. Some scenes flashed by before one could even take a clear look. Change is inevitable; stagnation means being left behind by the times. Reform has become the theme of the 21st century, and for the military, reform is urgent and imperative. The military is an armed group that carries out political tasks and serves as a strong backing for national security and a solid pillar for social stability. Building a revolutionary, standardized, and modern army with strong combat capabilities is the grand goal of China's military construction. To achieve this grand goal, the military's "inflow" and "outflow" must remain smooth at all times—on one hand, qualified new personnel must be smoothly integrated into the military organization, and on the other hand, military personnel who have completed their missions (including soldiers and officers) must be smoothly discharged from the organization. Therefore, some military personnel retiring from active duty and returning to civilian life for reemployment is an objective need to enhance the military's combat effectiveness and achieve the grand goal of building a revolutionary, standardized, and modern army. It is also a realistic and objective phenomenon in China's socialist modernization drive.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Party and the government have formulated a series of regulations based on the specific conditions of each period. Through the efforts of the entire Party, the entire military, and local governments at all levels across the country, millions of veterans have been properly resettled. However, with the advent of the socialist market economy, the resettlement of veterans has encountered many new situations and challenges. The contradiction between the market economy system and planned resettlement has become increasingly prominent, making the reform of traditional resettlement methods imperative. In 2001, the Provisional Measures for the Resettlement of Military Transferred-Officers was approved and implemented by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission. This reform marked a significant shift from the decades-old model of military resettlement, introducing a combination of planned allocation and independent career choice for the first time. Under the planned allocation system, transferred-officers were still responsible for arranging jobs and positions by local Party committees and governments. For those choosing independent career choice, the government provided employment assistance and disbursed retirement funds. The Provisional Measures also implemented necessary preferential treatment and safeguards for transferred-officers, especially those opting for independent career choice. The promulgation and implementation of the Provisional Measures marked a major step toward standardizing, institutionalizing, and legalizing China's military resettlement system. As the saying goes, "The sea is vast, and fish may leap freely; the sky is high, and birds may fly unrestrainedly." For veterans determined to contribute to the nation and pursue independent career choice through their own abilities and qualities, with national policies as a guarantee and retirement funds as a safety net, seizing the right opportunities, making full use of policies, and advancing with the trend is the most appropriate time.
Over the decades since the reform and opening-up, the soldiers of the three branches of the Chinese People's Liberation Army have written one answer after another with their loyalty and devotion: In the face of severe and complex political tests, the vast majority of officers and soldiers firmly supported the Party Central Committee's decisions, maintaining a high degree of ideological and political alignment. During the deployment to Hong Kong and Macao to fulfill defense duties, complete military preparations, participate in joint exercises, engage in flood control efforts along the Yangtze, Nenjiang, and Songhua rivers, and maintain social stability, the entire military demonstrated unwavering loyalty to the Party, the state, and the people. After the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission made major decisions to reduce the military's personnel by 500,000 and prohibit the military and armed police from engaging in business, all levels acted swiftly, without hesitation or compromise, ensuring the smooth implementation of central decisions. Amid the deep reforms and adjustments of interests in the state and military, all officers and soldiers the larger interests, firmly supporting and upholding the reforms.
Tracing the historical vine, we can clearly see that the employment resettlement of veterans, as an important system of the Party, the state, and the military, has developed in close step with the nation's reforms and construction. It is precisely because our military has achieved outstanding merits and made significant contributions to the nation and society that the Party and the government are committed to building it even better. Therefore, the retirement of some active-duty military personnel is not only an objective need for the modernization of the military but also a necessity for the nation's reform and economic and development progress. For individual veterans, it reflects the noble spirit of prioritizing the collective over personal interests. We say that serving in the military is glorious, and so is retiring, because you have successfully and completed your mission as a soldier and embarked on a new journey.
In real-life social settings, the realization of one's value and the meaning of life are examined in relation to one's activities and the direction of societal development, as well as in terms of one's responsibilities and contributions to society. A female soldier once said wisely upon her discharge: "We have shed blood and tears, perhaps experienced happiness and disappointment, but all of the past comes together to form stations and roads on the journey of life. When time pulls away, the distance we have traveled gains aesthetic significance."
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