The third batch of female soldiers from China went to South Sudan (Juba) Peacekeeping Infantry Battalion. Before joining the army, they studied in Chengdu University, majoring in radio and television in 2012. In 2014, he became the squad leader in the first year of enlistment. In the second year, he won gold and silver in the competition in the central theater. In the third year, he went to Africa to carry out peacekeeping missions on behalf of the motherland. She is proficient in precision shooting, applied shooting, thread connection, climbing fixation and other military skills, and has learned and mastered many languages such as English, Arabic and Japanese.
In the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, the South Sudan Peacekeeping Infantry Battalion and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan awarded all the officers and men of the third batch of peacekeeping infantry battalions from China to South Sudan (Juba) the Medal of Peace in recognition of their contributions to the cause of maintaining peace in South Sudan in the past year.
This is the highest honor for United Nations peacekeeping forces.
As a peacekeeping female soldier, zhangqin stood upright in the awarding team. She felt that it was the proudest time to raise the national flag and sing the national anthem. "It’s exciting." More than 10,000 kilometers away from China, the war-torn South Sudan has been assessed by the United Nations as one of the most dangerous and turbulent countries in the world. Here, it is common to fall asleep and wake up with gunfire.
Zhangqin rarely talks about this with her family. This girl who smiles with her eyes bent into a crescent moon prefers to tell her parents about exotic wonders in the weekly video: at night here, the starry sky will be particularly bright, and children’s hair is often soft and natural; When entering the refugee camp, everyone will give a thumbs-up to the China soldiers and say "China good ”“good China".
That dream
Join the army in sophomore year.
"It’s up to me to decide whether it’s worthwhile to row."
"I want to be a soldier!" When Zhang Liegang first heard her daughter say that she would join the army, she just smiled. At that time, zhangqin, who had just entered high school, was like a little monkey who had not yet grown up. She loved to laugh and make fun. She was booed and performed in class activities. She went to the podium and sang a favorite song.
"I feel like a child, one idea a day, and I don’t know if the baby is really so persistent." The unexpected in my father’s eyes has long been traceable. Zhangqin’s high school was spent in a juvenile military academy, and the seeds sown in the little girl’s heart by the green military camp became more and more eager to break through the ground as she grew older.
As a result, zhangqin wanted to be a real soldier and experience the truest life in the army, and as the only daughter in the family, she lived peacefully.
Before going to college, zhangqin’s biggest setback was that he failed to enter the military school after the college entrance examination. "I still want to toss." After entering Chengdu University, zhangqin began to sign up for enlistment.
Wang Jiazheng, counselor of Wenxin College of Chengdu University, still remembers that zhangqin in the university was very good. "She is a sensible girl, a reporter in the newspaper, a student union officer and a dancer." Looking through the photos of zhangqin’s freshman year, I found that Shunze had long hair, a simple white shirt, and he was somewhat shy for the camera, and the clean breath made people smile.
It is this clever girl who passed the physical examination, political examination and other layers of selection in her sophomore year and received the notice of enlistment.
"At that time, the phones were all ringing off the hook." Recalling this, zhangqin laughed. Because I didn’t tell too many people before, the news of joining the army "exploded" with a bunch of questions and greetings. At that time, what she heard most was similar to "the army is too bitter for girls" and "it’s not worthwhile to go to the army without reading a good book."
"It’s not worthwhile to row, of course, I have the final say!" Zhangqin’s personality is soft but persistent, knowing that too many people write down their answers on the answer sheet of life in a hurry. Therefore, when there is something she likes and wants to insist on, she will hold it tightly.
Zhangqin is training for assassination.
Enter the barracks
Practice everything from the beginning
Failure of others is not the reason to give up.
Hold on to your dreams, hold on to your dreams, and then what happens after that? ?
"pay." Cut your hair short and put away your beautiful clothes. Zhangqin, who wished to join the army, spent only six months, from the soldier of the communication duty station to the commander of the sergeant training team. It was during the training that she met the first hurdle — — Apply shooting.
In training, the application of shooting requires high comprehensive quality of individual soldiers. It is necessary to choose shooting positions at any time according to the changes of topography and features, and also to adjust the shooting distance and correct the trajectory according to the distance of the target. Before zhangqin, many female soldiers "folded their wings" here.
Failure of others is not a reason to give up. In the next four months, zhangqin first appeared in the training ground at 5 o’clock every morning in the dark sky. Quickly leap forward, lie down and crawl, and make fine adjustments in simple and mechanical repetition. In order to practice aiming in lying position, kneeling position and standing position, she hangs a helmet or kettle at the muzzle and aims for hours.
Finally, the hand with the pen has calluses, and the young body is used to bruises. It won the championship in one fell swoop in the examination of shooting subjects and became the best gift for zhangqin. After the training, she became the monitor of the recruit class.
Challenges are always there. In order to participate in the competition of communication specialty in the Central Theater, zhangqin studied communication cable specialty from scratch. When I first started to learn the thread connection, my hand was scratched by the frozen back thread. It’s cold, and thin hands can’t hold pliers. In order to save time, she held another pliers in her mouth; In order to improve the speed, a simple knot should be tied with thousands of … … After a training session, my hand was pricked with blood. At most, I put seven band-AIDS on one hand, and at last my fingers were chapped.
"Later, we won the first place in the group army and won the second place in the cable professional thread connection project as a representative in the final." Talking about this, zhangqin still can’t hide his pride.
Go to peacekeeping
Quenched into steel in the war
Force the gunman to surrender his weapon.
For South Sudan, which only became independent from Sudan in July 2011, the dawn of independence did not bring peace. During the protracted civil war, conflicts broke out frequently between government forces and anti-government forces. Under the disaster of frequent wars, the United Nations authorized the establishment of the United Nations Special Mission in South Sudan (referred to as UNMISS) to be stationed in the United Nations peacekeeping force.
China sent United Nations peacekeeping engineering units and medical units to the region many years ago. In July 2016, the conflict in South Sudan continued, and the mission area where peacekeeping officers and soldiers were located was even more affected by the war. Two martyrs, Li Lei and Yang Shupeng, died unfortunately to protect civilians in the local armed conflict.
In August of that year, zhangqin, who had just finished the tournament, took the initiative to find an instructor, handed in an application and signed up for peacekeeping. "There are many places in this world that are not peaceful, and someone has to stand up." Zhang Qin persuaded his parents.
Wan Li went to Rong Ji, and the mountain was flying.
In December 2016, after a long flight of nearly 20 hours, zhangqin arrived in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. Looking down from the plane, the city nourished by the Nile water is still like a malnourished "child". On the endless plains, thatched houses and cement buildings are scattered.
Information released by the United Nations shows that South Sudan is currently one of the most dangerous and difficult peacekeeping mission areas in the world. On the streets of Juba, armed men with guns or pickup trucks with machine guns can be seen every few tens of meters.
"The closest to danger, the gun was pointed at us." Zhangqin mentioned that when going out on a mission, several gunmen came face to face and insisted on breaking into the restricted weapons area.
"According to the requirements of the United Nations, it is forbidden to bring weapons into the restricted weapons area." On the one hand, zhangqin and his comrades-in-arms shouted at the gunmen, and on the other hand, they encircled them according to the favorable terrain. However, gunmen do not compromise easily, and even bluntly want to break in.
It must be stopped! Once the gunmen break in, it will bring a series of negative effects. Not only will it weaken the influence of the United Nations on the ground, but it will also have a bad influence on chinese peacekeepers’s insufficient ability to defend the safety of civilians. In case of emergency, zhangqin and his comrades decisively shocked him by force. Finally, the gunman obediently handed over his weapon. "No time to be nervous, really, this is the daily life of our peacekeepers."
On October 4th, zhangqin was awarded the Medal of Honor for Peace in South Sudan.
hope to
Traces of war can be seen everywhere.
The comforting and lively scene on the streets of Juba
At the Mid-Autumn Festival ceremony, Schumacher, Deputy Special Representative of the United South Soviet Mission, highly praised China’s support for the UN peacekeeping cause and fully affirmed the dedication and professionalism of China peacekeepers. Schumacher especially thanked the female officers and men in chinese peacekeepers for their contribution to the cause of peace in South Sudan.
Zhangqin is proud to be one of them. In chinese peacekeepers, there is no difference between the tasks that female soldiers and male soldiers have to undertake. They patrol the weapons restricted area outside the UNHouse camp, receive foreign guests, exchange cultural information with foreign countries, protect the rights and interests of women and children, and also perform tasks such as guarding and searching weapons in refugee camps.
During the year of peacekeeping, China’s peacekeeping troops often entered the refugee camps to provide help. The tropical sun is blazing, and in refugee camps, shacks are mostly made of similar waterproof sheets, and residents are dressed in rags. Due to the lack of medical conditions, the wounds of local people are often exposed and covered with dust. Thin children, with big black and white eyes, followed the troops and asked for food and water.
Every time I meet a refugee, the children will gather around and stand behind the female soldiers, timidly helping these big sisters comb their hair and wipe their sweat. "I feel sad and gratified." Here, a mineral water bottle will become children’s favorite toy, and it will be played as a football all afternoon. When the patrol car passes by, they will chase the car and keep shouting "China".
On Children’s Day, zhangqin, together with his comrades-in-arms, gave gifts to the children in the local village, and the children jumped and laughed with joy. There were also fellowship with refugee camps and cultural exchange activities with Juba University. Everyone gave a thumbs-up to these China peacekeepers and said "China good".
Nowadays, zhangqin is used to shaking his shoes before putting them on, and cleaning up the mosquitoes, snakes and scorpions that may be hidden in them. She can run for several kilometers in a thick bulletproof vest, and she can finish wearing the equipment in the shortest time.
Of course, the little girl’s shyness will still be revealed inadvertently. In the circle of friends, she will also vomit for the local high price. "The ice cream of 30 yuan is eaten at once, and it hurts."
After feeling distressed, there is also happiness. In her view, although the local war is not over yet and traces of war can be seen everywhere, there have been gratifying lively scenes on the streets of Juba, with shops open for business and more pedestrians on the road. "Looking at those children, in our words, is to hope that they all have a bright future."
Bless strangers and look forward to your future. Zhangqin said that after the expiration of the first sergeant, she might leave the army and then want to go back to school to continue her studies.
In the diary, she wrote in sincere words, "This military road is the most unique scenery in my life. My dream is half finished, and it is this road that makes me understand that it is a world of difference to experience something I like in person and treat it as a dream. I learned persistence, courage, hard work, tempered my character, learned to be independent and responsible. The remaining half, I will go to Do not forget your initiative mind and finish it as always. " (Du Jiangyan)
