Honing brings out spirit. In the past, the militant spirit of the officers and men was primarily forged in war, and however, it has, in nowadays, made way for the approach of tempering this spirit principally by banking on the fulfillment of various tasks with the preparedness for military struggle as the driving force. The historical missions fallen on the shoulders of the army in the new century and the new period are glorious tasks that must be achieved by virtue of carrying forward and promoting the militant spirit, and they are likewise an immense platform for nourishing and enhancing the militant spirit.

　　The modern war surely will be high-tech war that the Chinese army never experienced before, and for that matter, it has set new and even higher demand on the militant spirit, the fighting willpower and the combat style of the servicemen due to the complexity of the future battlefield and the cruelty of the information warfare. To win the local war under the informationalization condition, we are required all the more to forge and develop the first-rate militant spirit while making a success in various works with the preparedness for military struggle as the driving force.

　　The militant spirit epitomizes the professional mentality of the servicemen and moreover makes up the spiritual prop on which hinges the every issue of survival and development of the army. No matter how the armaments develop and how the patterns of the operation vary, the militant spirit of the servicemen will always remain the essential element of the combat effectiveness of the troops. In terms of the preparedness for military struggle, the preparation of militant spirit constitutes the vital part that cannot be overlooked all the time. The process of fostering the militant spirit is also the process of boosting the all-round development of the army and enhancing the combat effectiveness of the troops.

　　The military training stands for the centerpiece in army building with a long-term and continuous nature, the fundamental military practice to improve military skills and the ultimate answer to building up the militant spirit. All the armies---be they ancient or present, Chinese or foreign---with elated militant spirit are mostly well-trained ones. In the practice of "not a single day is spent without training and not a single moment is let go without doing preparedness for war" rests the only chance for the budding militant spirit to grow up to the full-fledged one.

　　By Zhen Weiping

　　(May.25, PLA Daily)