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"I want to go to the bridge and take a look."

■ Yang Chen and Deng Boyu

Standing at the crater of Ulanqab, you can see the whole view. The wind blowing in your face always reminds Wu Hongwei of the vast ocean he saw when he boarded the submarine bridge.

Takayama Painting

Wu Hongwei is a mechatronics soldier in a naval crew of the Southern Theater Command. He is currently on vacation in his hometown in Inner Mongolia.

Born in the grassland, Wu Hongwei yearns for the vastness of the world by nature. When he signed up for the army, he chose the navy without hesitation, "I want to see the distant ocean with my own eyes." But fate seemed to play a "half-hearted" joke on Wu Hongwei. He joined the navy, but was assigned to the submarine force. His love for the sea was folded between the closed cabins and the winding pipes.

Two years after joining the army, Wu Hongwei, who was successfully promoted to sergeant, welcomed his first vacation. During this period, he met with his comrades who joined the army in the same year and shared their military experiences - some followed the warship to visit many countries, and some encountered "dolphins chasing the waves" during the escort in the Gulf of Aden... But Wu Hongwei could not get a word in. Although he had become a qualified crew member, he had never seen the scene of a submarine cutting through the waves. He was more of a "still water runs deep" under the sea.

"What is the scenery on the sea like?" Wu Hongwei once asked Li Guozhong, a second-class sergeant who had been in the submarine for more than 20 years. However, Li Guozhong's reply surprised him: "Although I have been to many faraway places with the submarine, I have never been on the bridge and looked out at the sea."

Anyone familiar with the submarine force knows that submarines sail underwater most of the time. Even if they occasionally surface, most crew members have to stick to their positions. Only a few crew members on duty on the bridge have the opportunity to see the magnificent scenery above the waves.

"Let's go to the bridge and have a look." A voice sounded in Wu Hongwei's mind. However, he suppressed the thought as soon as it came into his mind - after being on the submarine for a long time, he knew very well that the organization and discipline on the submarine were strict. If everyone wanted to walk around and have a look, it might cause chaos.

Putting aside his thoughts, Wu Hongwei returned to his position. In the intense and busy combat readiness training mission, time quickly came to the beginning of this year. In order to let everyone spend an unforgettable collective birthday on the boat, the crew team collected the wishes of officers and soldiers who had birthdays that month.

This was Wu Hongwei's first birthday underwater. Hearing the news, the long-buried idea came to his mind again. However, this time, he hesitated.

In recent years, Wu Hongwei has become more and more calm and reserved in his training and missions. In the words of his parents, the young and unrestrained boy has become more and more calm and reserved.

However, even the calmest and most reserved people will still reveal their true desires when faced with them. When asked about Wu Hongwei's day wish, someone saw his dilemma. After several patient inquiries, Wu Hongwei finally spoke his mind: "I want to go to the bridge and take a look."

The crew leaders present were all surprised. It was not difficult for the crew to help Wu Hongwei realize this wish, as long as it did not affect the normal navigation of the submarine. Finally, they agreed to let Wu Hongwei board the bridge on the day the submarine returned to the surface.

"There is only one week left before returning home." Before going to bed one day, Wu Hongwei wrote a sentence in his diary. As the return date approached, he began to count down in his own way.

Wu Hongwei was full of energy and enthusiasm during the rest of the voyage. Finally, the day came when the submarine surfaced.

In the early morning, the towering bridge and the morning sun rose from the sea. Wu Hongwei walked to the hatch of the bridge, waiting for the long-awaited order.

That day, he got up an hour earlier than usual. He had heard from his peers serving on surface ships that the clouds at sea were the most spectacular, the starry sky at night was the most brilliant, and the most beautiful thing was the morning glow at sunrise, which could change into a variety of colors.

Facing the morning light above his head, Wu Hongwei climbed the long gangway: "Reporting to the duty officer, Wu Hongwei requests permission to go to the bridge." "Agree to go to the bridge." The duty officer and lookout guarding the bridge made room for Wu Hongwei.

Standing on the bridge, what Wu Hongwei saw was not the sky full of rosy clouds as he had expected, but another kind of grandeur - the wind was high and the waves were rough, and between the sea and the sky, beams of light shot through the clouds towards the sea.

He was a little confused for a moment: Was this "black clouds pressing down on the city, threatening to collapse, armor shining towards the sun, golden scales opening", or "wind returns, clouds break, rain clears, and the reflection of the sun on the lake warms and brightens again"? No, this was a scene Wu Hongwei had never seen before. While listening to his comrades' introduction, he looked around, his eyes unconsciously sweeping across the stern of the boat - under the thick shell, that was his battle position. "Fighting on the raging sea!" At that moment, these four big words rushed straight into Wu Hongwei's head from the bottom of his heart, and he almost shouted out loud.

That night, a long article was added to the "Ocean Post Bar" of the crew team - "Guarding our small positions in the vast deep sea, our families don't know where we are, and we can't see our figures on the sea, but we know: we are doing the most magnificent cause in the world!"

(This article was published in the "Grassroots Fax" edition of the "Liberation Army Daily" on August 5, 2024)

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Editor: Su Pei