What does it mean for a border guard to be at the front of a patrol? Wangdui Tsering, deputy commander of a regiment of the Army's Tibet Shannan Military Division, said that this means danger, and it also means that danger has become commonplace.
After guarding the border for 18 years, Wangdui Tsering has experienced countless dangers on the patrol road. He has also witnessed the transformation of the patrol mode of the Chinese border defense forces from "on foot and horseback riding" to today's drone patrols and monitoring points.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army’s Long March. In a recent interview with a reporter from China News Service, Wangdui Tsering said that the snow-covered border defense line is the "Long March" for border guards in the new era.
Seeds on the Plateau: Knowledge supports the dream of joining the army
When he was a child, Wangdui Tsering's grandfather wanted to send him to a temple to become a monk. But the mother firmly believed that knowledge can change destiny and insisted on sending her children to school.
For the next five years, there was a real struggle in the family: every Friday after school, my grandfather would wait at the school gate to pick Wangdui Tsering to go to the temple to chant sutras; on Sunday afternoon, my mother would come to the temple gate again to pick him up and return to school to continue studying. After several arguments, his mother's persistence finally prevailed. Wangdui Tsering finished primary school, was successfully admitted to the Tibetan class in the mainland, and left the plateau to study.
After getting the opportunity to apply for the Kunming Army Academy, he called his family to ask for their opinions and received their full support. On the day I received the admission notice from the military academy, the red cover and red five-star printed notice slowly unfolded, attracting envious looks from the folks around me.
In Tibet, it is an honor for the whole family to have a military cadet in the family. When he went to study in the Mainland, his parents made a special trip to the airport to see him off and repeatedly told Wangdui Tsering: "Hold on, learn your skills well, and be a useful revolutionary soldier."
In 2008, Wangdui Tsering graduated from the military academy. The opportunity to stay in the mainland and develop in the army was presented to him, but he made a different choice: to return to Tibet and take the initiative to apply to join the front line of border defense. "When you are a soldier, you must guard the gate of the motherland. This is not only the border of the motherland, but also my hometown. Only when the border is stable can my hometown develop better." With this simple belief, he rushed to the snowy border without hesitation.
Leading a patrol is a responsibility
The truck drove on a dusty road for more than three hours before reaching the company. After getting off the bus, the soldiers' faces were covered with gray, and only their eyes and teeth could be seen clearly. The actual conditions are far more difficult than imagined: roads are potholed, communication signals are intermittent, mudslides and landslides often block access, and supplies are difficult to supply in winter.
This was the starting point of Wangdui Tsering's journey to guard the border.
In 2009, Wangdui Tsering went on patrol for the first time in his life. The patrol route climbed from an altitude of more than 3,400 meters to more than 5,000 meters, alternating between horseback riding and hiking, which lasted five days and six nights. Along the way, you climb over mountains and canyons and pass through primeval dense forests. The weather changes can be described as "one day is divided into four seasons, and the weather is different ten miles away." How difficult is the road? "There are some places where not even an eagle can fly." Are you afraid? "No, because there are veterans taking us."
Only when Wangdui Tsering became a veteran and began to lead patrols did he understand what kind of responsibility it meant to be at the front.
During a patrol, Wangdui Tsering led the team through a section of ice. This was a new route, and he stood at the front of the line and felt his way forward. "When I inserted the trekking pole into the ice, it was very strong. When I stepped on it with my left foot, I suddenly fell into the ice cave." There was noisy echo in the ice cave, and I couldn't hear what my comrade was saying. He struggled to climb up, but there was no place to grab or pedal. The comrades threw down two backpack ropes and pulled Wangdui Tsering up.
"For the front line of border defense, this kind of thing is normal. Because of the complex road sections, annual climate changes, and changes in the geographical environment, this kind of danger exists everywhere on the front line of border defense." Wangdui Tsering said.
"The most important thing in leading troops is the word 'lead'. If the commander himself does not rush forward, why should the soldiers rush with you?" Wangdui Tsering knew that the responsibilities on his shoulders were increasing. He had to comprehensively study and judge the route, coordinate supplies, and protect the safety of all officers and soldiers. "The soldiers I brought out must also be brought back safely."
After guarding the border for eighteen years, Wangdui Tsering has conducted more than a thousand patrols, large and small, running in dangerous areas that "even an eagle can hardly fly over", and faced dangerous situations such as rolling rocks, ice caves, avalanches, and mudslides several times. The length of the patrol road under his feet is accumulating into his own "twenty-five thousand miles."
Border Patrol changes
Wangdui Tsering has been in the border defense force for nearly 20 years. He has personally experienced and witnessed the development and changes of border patrol.
"In the beginning, we either did it entirely on foot, or on foot combined with horseback riding." Wangdui Tsering said that now many locations can be reached directly by vehicles, and you can get off the car and go to the patrol point, which greatly improves the efficiency of patrolling.
The way patrols are conducted has also changed. "For example, in some areas, we used to encounter avalanches when patrolling on foot. Now we can fly drones at the foot of the mountain to survey the patrol points." Wangdui Tsering also said that many patrol points have been installed with monitoring equipment. "We can see not only this one point, but also the whole picture."
The living conditions of border guards have also been greatly improved. From the beginning, many places did not have electricity and had to burn firewood for heating. Today, power grids and 5G networks cover the border lines, and digital intelligence is used to control border defenses. Wangdui Tsering said that with the support of scientific and technological means, the safety factor of border patrols has been greatly improved, and the soldiers guarding the border have also gained more confidence to persevere.
The average altitude of the patrol points is more than 5,000 meters. Even a native Tibetan warrior like Wangdui Tsering will encounter times when "his heart can't stand it, he has to take a break after taking two steps, and the taste of blood comes to his mouth." "Altitude is equal to everyone, it just depends on whether you have the willpower to conquer that peak." He said.
The garrison environment is harsh and traffic information is blocked. Every day we repeat the people we see, the sky we see, and the roads we walk. What abilities should a qualified border guard possess? Wangdui Tsering’s answer to this question is: “I can endure loneliness.”
"What do you think the mission of the border guards is?" Wangdui Tsering said. The answer was actually very simple, "It is to guard the border." He measured the patrol road over and over again with his own steps, not to show others, but to let the motherland behind him know that they are stationed in this land. "Every time you climb to the patrol point and unfurl the national flag, you will feel that this is all our value." "The national border is the end point that I will spend my whole life measuring and defending." This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, and Wangdui Tsering also Talking about his understanding of the Long March: "The older generation's Long March climbed snow-capped mountains and crossed grasslands to help the Chinese people stand up; the Long March of our generation is to defend the country built by our ancestors. The 'Long March' of the border guards in the new era is this snow-filled border defense line."
