The "King of Soldiers" Father Who Once Received First-Class Merit Awards Bestows Rank on His New Soldier Son!

Not long ago

at a certain army training base

the new recruit commissioning ceremony

First Sergeant Li Xiaolong

personally pinned the brand new private shoulder insignia

on his son Li Rui

Those hands, covered in calluses

once held a steel gun

and pressed the missile launch button

now trembled slightly

“You are a soldier's son

you must have more backbone”

The father's voice was not loud

but each word carried weight

Li Rui's eyes reddened, he straightened his back

and saluted his father

01

In Li Rui's childhood memories

his father was a “vague figure”

“When I was young, I resented him

for having only the army in his heart, not me”

Until the year he turned 6

when his mother took him to attend his father's

first-class merit award ceremony

He stood below the stage

watching his father adorned with a ribbon

and planted the seed of

joining the army to serve the country in his heart

This spring

Li Rui, who is currently in college, made a decision

to enlist

After going through layers of selection

he successfully donned the military uniform

After 3 months of training

he shed his delicacy and immaturity

his elbows developed thick calluses from tactical training

his 3000-meter run improved from passing to excellent

he could do 150 sit-ups in 2 minutes

In the first half of the 2026 new recruit

record-breaking competition

he also won first place in the sit-up event

and was recognized as an advanced individual for breaking records

02

Li Xiaolong is a First Sergeant of a certain brigade in the Army's 71st Group Army

with 29 years of service

He has participated in parades three times

and has taken the lead in many major urgent and dangerous tasks

winning the first prize for outstanding talents among the army's non-commissioned officers

awarded first-class merit once

second-class merit twice, and third-class merit twice

Li Xiaolong often says

his greatest wish

is to pass on his skills to more comrades

For over 20 years

Li Xiaolong has trained over 200 top trainees

of which more than 20 have received awards for merit

and over 30 have grown into technical backbones of their units

03

Now, son Li Rui

has also taken up his father's steel gun

He keeps a photo of his father's military medal

in his notebook

and takes it out to look at when he encounters difficulties

to remind himself not to let down his father's expectations

In a letter home, he wrote

“You were absent from my growth

but have never been absent from the call of the motherland”

“I spent 20 years resenting you

but only took 3 months to understand you”

Some say

a father's love is a silent mountain

and this father and son

have made themselves into two mountains—

one guarding the peace of the country

and the other learning to stand tall like his father

They use the perseverance of two generations

to interpret the great national righteousness of “wishing to serve the country with this body”

Thumbs up! Best wishes!

Source: Central Radio and Television General Military, People's Army, People's Frontline, New Era China Double Support