A brigade of the PLA Navy under the Eastern Theater Command has launched its first dedicated training program for squad and station leaders, an initiative described in official accounts as an effort to "temper steel and quench fire" in the ranks. The weeklong course aims to build a politically steadfast, technically proficient cadre of petty officers and junior non-commissioned officers by combining ideological instruction with hands-on professional development.
Organizers say the program targets four priorities: correcting mistaken mindsets, confronting practical problems, plugging capability gaps, and improving selection mechanisms for unit leaders. Training adopted a problem‑oriented approach that mixes classroom theory, discussion seminars, and experience-sharing sessions, with participants split into groups to debate command challenges and exchange lessons learned from leading troops.
The brigade intends to make the training a routine, institutionalized part of its personnel development, enlarging coverage to reach more grassroots leaders and thereby elevate squad-level performance across the unit. That emphasis on regularized, bottom-up professionalization sits alongside broader PLA reforms aimed at strengthening political loyalty while enhancing small-unit competence and readiness.
For outside observers, the drill is notable less for its novelty than for its signal: the Eastern Theater, responsible for the Taiwan Strait and East China Sea, is prioritizing improved leadership at the lowest command echelons. Better-trained squad leaders can materially boost operational effectiveness in high-tempo maritime scenarios, from patrols and gray-zone competition to amphibious and joint operations, even as the emphasis on ideological fidelity underscores the Party’s insistence on political control at every level.