PLA's military sports training reform aims to steel crack troops

Borders soldiers of the "Heihe Good Eighth Company" receive training in snow in Heihe, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, Jan 4, 2015. (Photo: China News Service/Wei Jianshun)

The General Staff Headquarters (GSH), the General Political Department (GPD), the General Logistics Department (GLD) and the General Armaments Department (GAD) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) recently jointly issued the Outline on Military Sports Training Reform and Development (2015 - 2010) (hereinafter referred to as the Outline).

The Outline systematically puts forward the guidelines, development goals, main tasks and relevant policies on military sports training reform and development.

The military sports training is not only the basic way to upgrade the physical and psychological qualities of the troops but also the effective means to cultivate their willpower and combat spirit, said the Outline. It is an important step to promote the organic combination between soldiers and armaments and to enhance the combat skills, according to the Outline.

The Outline requests that that it is necessary to form a military sports training system with the Chinese military characteristics and conforming to the features and laws of modern warfare. The troops trained according to this Outline should be strong and skillful enough to fight and win battles, the Outline demands.

The main tasks of military sports training reform and development include completing the management system, reforming the training contents, improving the training methods, perfecting the training system, cultivating a contingent of sports training instructors and bettering the training conditions, so as to upgrade PLA troop units' military sports training level.

To mobilize the enthusiasm of the officers and men for participating in the military sports training, the Outline puts forward some supporting policies, according to which, soldiers' weight should meet a standard compulsively, the military sports training will be linked to personnel management, and the soldiers with flying colors in military sports training will be honored.