After Being Reborn, I became a firefighter again?

Chapter 65: Chapter 29: The Deputy Squad Leader Can Carry, That’s Normal!

Back at the base of the New Training Building, dismissal was at three fifty.

The Chief of Staff had shown leniency.

The 6:30 reveille was postponed to 7:00 that day, morning exercises were canceled, and breakfast was served directly.

Afterwards, the squad leaders were gathered for a briefing, then went back to their squads to inform the new recruits that they could sleep until six o’clock.

Subsequently, many old soldiers grumbled resentfully, "You guys are living the life! When we had emergency call-ups before, forget about sleeping that night! Push-ups, squats, folding blankets! Now the regiment won’t allow it! You bunch of tender greenhorns, none of you can take hardship—little emperors, one and all! Now the leadership is coddling you like children!

Blah blah blah.

The old soldiers were of course indignant.

When they were new recruits, this was how they had been hardened, and now it was their turn to be old soldiers, many of the ’fun’ they had before were no longer permitted.

Little did they know that in a few years, these new recruits would feel even more indignant. Year by year, the troops underwent reforms, with increasing protection for the recruits. When they were new recruits, they served the old soldiers’ water for washing their faces and feet; when they became old soldiers, they served water for the new recruits to wash their faces and feet.

In the ten years that followed, many disordered practices were forcibly stopped.

Of course, the military’s benefits were also getting higher. At this time, conscripts received allowances of three to four hundred, while first-level sergeants made a salary of one to two thousand. By 2011, conscripts’ allowances rose to over five hundred, and by the third year, a first-level sergeant’s salary had jumped to 2500, 2800. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

By 2016, a first level sergeant could earn four to five thousand, and with additional allowances for firefighting hazards, squad leader supplements, special position supplements, etc., a high-earning first-level sergeant could take home nearly six thousand, while a third-level sergeant could earn over ten thousand.

Social security contributions were nearly ten thousand a year, and serving up to fourth-level sergeant could complete the 15 years needed, and there would be no worries about pensions thereafter.

In ordinary non-Xinjiang, non-Tibet, non-plateau regions, the severance pay for sergeants ranged from over a hundred thousand to several hundred thousand.

In special regions, there was a significant increase.

When it comes to wages, soldiers were already surpassing many of their civilian peers.

Serving in the military was no longer a poor man’s game.

In the past, the educated were reluctant to join the forces, but as benefits improved, everyone’s enthusiasm for the military grew, and the cultural requirements of the troops rose with the tide.

Joining the military, becoming a non-commissioned officer required a high school education, and for college graduates to rise through the ranks, a second-tier university degree was required—third-tier universities had to step aside.

Entering the military wasn’t as straightforward as it used to be, with limited spots available.

More and more educated people were joining the military, and the overall quality was getting higher.

For a high schooler like Fang Huai, even after attending Military Academy and earning a college degree, and with a record of military merit, he would still need to self-study for a graduate degree as a stepping stone if he wanted to rise to the rank of Cadre—a task harder than reaching the heavens.

The military had a certain mechanism for the exclusion of the weak, but it wasn’t all about toughness and training blindly without embracing science.

Professional skills and education gradually took more advantage and offered more opportunities than physical fitness.

The high-level perspective and consciousness gradually filtered down, becoming guidelines and documents, directing military reforms. Those who went with the flow prospered, while those short-sighted, unable to see beyond the leaves, were gradually eliminated.

...

Dawn broke.

The winter in the south was too dull; it couldn’t even freeze a person to death.

It had rained coldly this morning.

Truth be told, if possible, Fang Huai would like to make a phone call home and ask his uncle to send a couple of cotton-padded trousers with fur to him.

As for whether a colonel sending cotton trousers to a new recruit would cause any issues, he no longer cared.

F*ck it, it was so cold he was shivering, and he didn’t even have time to think about lust, let alone worry about what impact it might have.

He noticed something was wrong when he woke up to make his bed in the morning.

Some wizard had opened the windows in the hallway, and a mere corridor was now filled with a dual magical assault of poison and ice.

A new recruit who had done a full-speed three kilometers and a leisurely four kilometers in one day, with his meniscus already critically damaged, still had to train.

So, when Fang Huai joined everyone in complaining about the f*cking barracks during this morning’s exercise break, his tone was exceptionally sincere.

"Man, it’s f*cking cold, and they’re still doing static leg training on a Friday, freezing to the point that I can’t even breathe through my nose!"

"Damn it, if they let me take a hot shower now and lie in bed for a smoke, I’d gladly die!" Chen Zhongqiang said.

Fang Huai retorted, "No need for that, at least throw in a beauty to keep me company for the night, then I’m willing!"

Lu Zexian burst into laughter, slapping Fang Huai on the back, his face full of teasing.

"Squad Leader Fang, you’re a leader now, and you’re still saying things like this?"

Fang Huai pursed his lips, pinched out a pinky, and said, "The state stipulates that only those at the Deputy Department Level and above are considered cadres. Even our Company Leader is just at the proper company rank, which is equivalent to an office clerk on the civilian side, a section-level cadre. Me, a Deputy Squad Leader, what kind of leadership is that?

What am I supposed to say?

If I could raise the temperature by ten degrees, I’d be willing to trade ten years of your life for it!"

Lu Zexian’s eyes widened.

"Damn, I’ll trade all my sixty years of life to heat you to death, you Turtle Son!"

...

Unexpectedly, really unexpectedly.

By 10 o’clock, a big sun came out, and it actually started warming up.

Everyone laughed, saying it was the ten years of Lu Zexian’s life that did it, even Hao Chengbin couldn’t help but inquire and then joined in the teasing of Lu Zexian.

Lu Zexian didn’t mind the teasing.

But when he had a moment, he would look up at the sky, muttering to himself.

"Trade failed, trade failed, trade failed..."

He couldn’t help but believe it, Fang Huai’s performance over the past few days had truly been of a shining divine caliber.