By Yang Xiaolin and Xiao Ruixi
A civilian driving school instructor gives instruction and demonstration to soldiers. (Photo by Gao Hongbi)
BEIJING, Sept. 25 -- From September 5, more than 300 soldiers from a PLA Army unit started to take part in the driving courses of a civilian driving school in southwest China. They were trained on subjects including basic theory, pattern driving, road driving, emergency avoidance, vehicle maintenance, fault diagnosis and troubleshooting. Besides, they also conducted additional training on nighttime driving, long-distance driving, heavy load driving and other subjects combined with the military operational requirements and battlefield environmental characteristics.
The Army unit began to explore the model of civilian-military joint training for military vehicle drivers last year. With the help of local driving schools to train military vehicle drivers, it can reduce the troops’ training pressure, so that troops can spare more time and effort to carry out military training and war preparation.
The civilian driving school assigned with this training task provided specialized classrooms and training fields for the troops, and selected those instructors with the best experience.
It is learnt that after returning from the civilian driving school, the soldiers will take refreshment training on several battlefield driving subjects and special vehicle adaptability.