How big is 2 square meters? In a university campus, it is equivalent to the area of a study table, or the size of a camping tent on the lawn. In an ordinary family, it's about the size of a table, and it's a little short of a single bed. However, in the guard company of the service support team of an information and communication base, 2 square meters is the size of the outpost, blooming the youth of young soldiers and carrying their mission. The 2-square-meter outpost stands at the gate of the barracks, which is very close and far away from the outside world. The insistence of obscurity day after day gives them enough time to think about the significance of being a soldier. "The great rivers and mountains of the motherland have a corner I protect!" This is the words of a company soldier after 00. If you don't go close to them, the reporter can't imagine how these young soldiers on the post are so hot-blooded and cute. Stand still, corporal Li Jiaming habitually stood on tiptoe, his shoulders stretched out, his chest straight in front, and his whole posture was extremely straight. Next, he needs to keep this action for two hours. After two years on sentry duty, Li Jiaming "grew nearly 2 cm tall". When standing guard, Li Jiaming often had the same scene in his mind - on the vast grassland, a sentinel with a steel gun stood tall and looked into the distance Li Jiaming will never forget this scene in the TV series soldiers' assault. Now, standing on the sentry post, Li Jiaming more and more understands the line in the TV series: "glory lies in plain, and difficulty lies in long." Above 2 square meters: the ordinary world of a group of soldiers ■ Zhang Shaobo, special correspondent of PLA Daily The sentry of the guard company of the service support team of an information and communication base is handing over the sentry. Photographed by Xia Junjie "Entering the camp, I'm the first one to be seen." On the first day of coming to the guard company, Li Jiaming heard a sentence: "the post is the battle position, and the post is the war!" Now, Li Jiaming is the monitor. This sentence has become his most common sentence to recruits. Guard company, an ordinary company, whose task is to guard this camp. For a long time, Li Jiaming was the "male god" in the hearts of company recruits. He is tall and straight, holds the steel gun tightly, and has sharp eyes... At the end of last year, the bus pulled a group of recruits into the barracks, and the guard on duty at the gate of the barracks is Li Jiaming. Through the window glass, a dozen recruits assigned to the guard company unconsciously leaned forward. "What is the biggest attraction for you to be a soldier?" Seeing this question on the questionnaire, the recruits' answers are diverse: "being a soldier is an easy thing to connect with the country", "it's cool to wear military uniforms" Seeing Li Jiaming's tall and straight posture on the post, this group of recruits suddenly had an image understanding of "cool". Soon, they learned that the "cool" of sentinels also meant rigorous training. Pull out the army posture, train the queue, learn the regulations... From the recruits to the 2-square-meter post on the station, private Wang Haoyang, who has just turned 19, has experienced more than two months. That day, dressed, Wang Haoyang looked down again. With his hands down, he inserted his thumb into the outer belt and leaned back, smoothed the wrinkles that had just appeared on his clothes, looked at the shiny black leather shoes on his feet, and rubbed them with shoe polish... After a careful look, Wang Haoyang walked to the sacred sentry box with satisfaction. Shoeshine shoes, dress the army, wash gloves, and iron clothes are known as the "four piece set" of the guard company. At first, private Yan Yulong would change a new pair of gloves every time he stood guard. In his opinion, only white and flawless can be worthy of the sacred steel gun in his hand. Yan Yulong felt more excited than nervous when he stood guard for the first time. His eyes are like scanners, looking at pedestrians, constantly patrolling the "battlefield" in front of him. Whenever he glances over the warning sign of "the guard is sacred and inviolable", Yan Yulong's sense of sanctity will naturally arise in his heart. Especially when there are people and vehicles passing, he will subconsciously straighten his chest. On weekdays, we only see the posture of Guard soldiers during the day, and often ignore that they are still silently holding their posts after the dead of night. Although no one pays attention, they are still meticulous and resolute. "I was the first one to be seen when I entered the camp." In Yan Yulong's view, he is the "Facade" of the whole courtyard. Although few people remember his appearance, he will remember everyone who passed in front of him. The officers and soldiers held an assassination contest. Photographed by Xia Junjie "The smallest loneliness, multiplied by 365 days, is huge" It is said that practice makes perfect, so is standing guard. Although they are all "stations", there is still something particular about how to stand. After staying in the guard company for more than 3 years, corporal Li Jiyuan's posture became more and more upright, but he also left a unique mark of sentinel on his body. At the beginning, Li Jiyuan stood guard according to the action essentials of "being at home with a waist", but this action lasted for a long time and was easy to get tired. Later, he mastered a skill: send the waist and crotch forward, which will save a lot of effort, but recently he often feels low back pain. In order to avoid "occupational disease", he returned to his former habits. Low back pain is a common symptom of the officers and soldiers of the guard company. There is always a strong smell of plaster in the dormitory. It's not difficult to understand: I have to stand on several shifts every day. When the task is heavy, it may take sevenoreight hours. At first, first-class soldier Liu Mingzhao was very sensitive to the taste of the plaster and often choked to sleep at night, but now he was "immune". Lifting his back, his body was covered with plaster, like an irregular jigsaw puzzle. Compared with the troubles caused by injuries, some pain will make young soldiers excited—— Military Boxing, shield and stick, assassination drill... These are the necessary skills of every guard soldier. When the body becomes red and swollen, and then recovers from long-term redness and swelling, a pair of "steel muscles and iron bones" is officially practiced. In the long run, the left forearm of the training clothes was abraded by the shield belt, and the tiger mouth of the right hand was always rubbed with a large black by the rubber baton, which made them "feel more military" no matter how they washed it. Many young soldiers love to watch military movies and TV dramas, but the life of the guard company is very different from their imagination. Everyone wants to do magnificent things, and the guards even the young soldiers are no exception. In the company library, the oldest are military novels, "these books can meet all the fantasies of being a soldier". First class soldier SUN Hao's twin brother is a soldier in the combat army. Once, my brother even read his suicide note to him on the phone: "dear brother, when you see this letter, I may have sacrificed..." Hearing this, SUN Hao felt a little sad. Knowing that this was written by his brother before participating in the exercise, he pondered for a long time and had a deeper understanding of the military mission. "Walking in the camp, others can recognize us as soldiers of the guard company at a glance." First class soldier man Quanzhi is proud of being a sentry. Some time ago, his girlfriend sent him a box of facial mask, and he handed it to other comrades in arms, "what you want is to be a soldier". "Before coming to the army, the pictures about being a soldier in my mind were all dynamic. Now most of my personal experience is static." For young soldiers, the pain of training is not bitter, but the most painful is silent loneliness. "The smallest loneliness, multiplied by 365 days, is huge." After standing guard for a long time, people will become silent. To get along with loneliness and reconcile with loneliness is the "quality" that the officers and soldiers of the guard company must have. The taste of loneliness is generally similar, and the methods of getting along with loneliness are different. Private Shi Shenming's method is to "hold a concert", that kind of silent singing, and all the grass and trees around the sentry box are his audience. At first, he sang online pop songs, and later mostly military songs. Private Shi Zian likes to stand guard at night: "at that time, I can look up at the starry sky. Every time I look at the stars, I think of my family and the lights of thousands of homes, and I feel no longer lonely." "Cool things are often bitter" Raising the flag before the wake-up call is the system of the guard company standing still. Soldiers dressed in uniforms, carrying the five-star red flag, walked to the flag platform, stood at attention and saluted the national flag, which means the beginning of the day in the camp. On the national day of 2019, corporal Chen Haojie was most unforgettable. The company organized a flag raising ceremony, surrounded by barracks officers and soldiers watching the ceremony, as well as families and children holding small red flags. At that moment, he felt for the first time: "at his post, he could hear the heartbeat of the motherland." A few hours later, they sat in the study room, staring at the TV to watch the live broadcast of the National Day parade. When the honor guard of the armed forces raised the flag, their hearts soared with the same pride. "Right - look!" At this moment, on the Tiananmen Square, at the 15th position in the 9th row of the pedestrian team, Yu Shenyang, a young officer, swayed his head to the right, valiant, vigorous and powerful, kicking and walking through Tiananmen Square. 1 minute 06 seconds, 96 meters... After seven months of training, Yu Shenyang kicked five pairs of leather shoes, which also let him know that 128 steps are not easy! What the soldiers in front of the TV didn't know was that a few days later, Yu Shenyang, who came down from the parade ground, was transferred to the guard company commander. Standing in a military posture with a big brimmed hat, measuring the pace with a ruler, and practicing kicking with a kettle on the toes... This made the young soldiers realize that "cool things are often very bitter." Four years, 1460 days, 3000 shifts of persistence... Two hours per shift, corporal zhaopengyu's biggest feeling is slow: "the feeling of time static will suffocate." Until one day, Zhao Pengyu had a video chat with his grandmother and suddenly found that he couldn't understand his elderly grandmother's speech. At that moment, he realized that time was really passing. Everyone has a different perception of time, and even the same person has a different perception of time at different stages. On the same shift, recruits feel that time passes more slowly than veterans; The same is standing guard. The first hour will pass faster than the next... This is the consensus formed by the sentinels. The life of the guard company was cut lock by lock by lock by the guard on duty. For the Sentinels who stick to their posts day and night, two hours is their unique time scale. Corporal Yan Biao's dream is to travel to Tibet. When doing the strategy, all his journeys were measured in two hours. For example, he will want to take this mode of transportation, which is probably when he stands on several shifts. The ability to perceive time gave birth to the concept of measuring time. "I want to see the outside world!" This is the thought of Jiangsu first-class soldier Liu Ruixu when he was a soldier. After two years in the army, most of Liu Ruixu's footprints were in this camp. In his spare time, Liu Ruixu likes to watch ordinary world. His favorite sentence is: "in this ordinary world, there is no day that is calm." Calm can only be a person's heart. In Liu Ruixu's view, although the life of standing guard is very boring, it also cultivates a person's character and willpower. "Let him come and go, and I will stand still." He said. Officers and soldiers compete in tug of war. Photographed by Xia Junjie "The significance of being a soldier lies in being a soldier." At 9:50, sentry Gao Guosong was on duty for 1 hour and 50 minutes. In another 10 minutes, his comrades in arms will come to pick up his steel gun. In 24 hours, Gao Guosong will leave the barracks In the past, Gao Guosong was upset because he had more shifts than others; Now, Gao Guosong can't wait to sleep in the sentry box and stay with the post for a while longer. According to Gao Guosong,