By Lai Yuhong and Shuai Shaopeng
The Airborne Platoon contest of International Army Games 2020 (IAG 2020) entered the fourth stage on August 29, 2020. In the past few days, the Chinese participants have carried forward the tenacious fighting spirit and went all out in the air and on the ground.
The first event of airborne assembling and rapid march under the Airborne Platoon contest kicked off on August 24, with the Chinese team as the first contestant. However, the clouds were too thick that day, and the synthetic wind in the air reached 20m/s, which was unqualified for parachuting. The three Mi-8 helicopters carrying Chinese participants were forced to return after taking off.
One hour later, the competition resumed. Due to the influence of the wind, the Chinese participants scattered in a large range during parachuting, and the last paratrooper Yang Shangyuan landed in the grass farther from the assembly point. In order not to delay the assembly time, he rushed to the assembly point with equipment at full speed, regardless of his bleeding scratches.
When all the 22 members assembled, the Chinese team immediately began a 1km race with parachute and a 10km rapid march. Due to the low temperature, the physical fitness of some participants declined through the run. As the contest requires that the gap between the head and the tail of the team should be no longer than 50 meters, Chinese participants adjusted their strategies accordingly, encouraging and helping each other, and finally crossed the finish line with a total time of 48 minutes and 33 seconds.
Next day, the Airborne Platoon contest entered the stage of individual vehicle race. Unlike previous years, this year, the Chinese team used Russian vehicles in the contest for the first time. There were only three and a half days to get familiar with the situation of Russian vehicles. Moreover, the competition venue and the training venue are quite different. Chinese team members were facing severe challenges.
The Chinese team dispatched three vehicle squads to compete. After shooter Gao Song's third squad set off, he calmly responded and hit all randomly appeared targets. But the last machine gun target was nowhere to find.
"Fire all the bullets!" At the moment when every second counted, Gao Song decisively fired the remaining ammunition. Reversing, shifting gears, accelerating, rushing out of the shallows, driving over slopes, crossing dirt ridges, and so on, the driver Zhang Youwen drove the vehicle, rushing to the finish line at full speed.
However, on the deceleration belt less than 200 meters from the finish line, the track of the vehicle suddenly broke, and the vehicle slid forward for more than 10 meters. Without time to hesitate, the three crew members got off the vehicle and carried out on-site repairs. Everyone raced against time and cooperated to successfully install the track and drove the vehicle across the finish line.
After the game, the Russian commander spoke highly of the Chinese team, "Although the overall performance of the Chinese team has been affected due to a vehicle failure, its spirit of never casting away and never giving up is worthy of everyone's admiration."
"Every competition is a battle, and we must do our best to win!" The encouragement by the Chinese team leader Zhao Dongsheng on the opening day of the Airborne Platoon contest, has been turned into actual actions of all the Chinese team members.