Figure: "Hurt Locker" on the peacekeeping battlefield

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Chen Zhuo
Time
2019-05-24 20:15:30

Editor's note: May 29 is the “International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers” and the day to pay tribute to all men and women who have served and continue to serve in UN peacekeeping operations. So far, more than one million people have gathered together under the UN flag and saved countless lives since the first UN peacekeeping mission on May 29, 1948.

The Chinese military has participated in 24 UN peacekeeping operations and sent more than 40,000 military peacekeeping personnel since 1990. Chinese peacekeepers have won high praise from the United Nations, the local governments and people for their excellent combat effectiveness, good behavior, consummate skills and strict discipline.

(Sergeant Gao Weifeng places the explosives and returns to the initiation point during an ammunition disposal mission. (Photo by Li Zhiqiang)

By Li Zhiqiang

“The ammunition disposal mission has been successfully completed today. Thanks to the efforts of the Chinese engineer contingent who have always maintained a high level of professional standards,” said the official from the ammunition department of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) to Sergeant Gao Weifeng after the fourth successful ammunition disposal mission recently.

Sg. Gao is a bomb disposal specialist of the 22nd Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Born in 1994, Sg. Gao Weifeng is of medium build with a tanned face. As an experienced “hurt locker”, he has completed more than 50 ammunition disposal missions since joining the army seven years ago, participated in various international military competitions, and performed security tasks for events such as the China-Eurasia Expo, having been honored as “Outstanding Soldier” for five times and cited for six times.

In July 2018, the regiment which Gao was assigned to was been ordered to form the 22nd Chinese peacekeeping engineer contingent to the DRC, when Gao was just about to take a vacation home.

“This is a good opportunity and you must fight for it! Do not worry about me and your mother. Fight for the glory of our country and our hometown!” Gao’s father inspired him in a phone call. Family support removed his hesitation.

The days that Gao and his comrades arrived the mission area overlapped with the upcoming presidential election in DRC. The ongoing demonstrations, frequent riots and heavily armed government troops on the streets made him feel that the war was not far .

In October, the peacekeeping engineer contingent received an email from MONUSCO asking whether they could carry out the destruction of expired ammunition in the Pakistani peacekeeping infantry battalion. This task was heavily loaded with a tight schedule.

As a specialist who has performed several bomb disposal tasks, Sg. Gao immediately expressed his confidence in completing the mission. It was his first time to perform such missions abroad. He spent the whole night looking up for information, studying the performance and explosion principle of local military ammunition that he was not familiar with.

In February this year, Gao was assigned to perform another ammunition disposal mission. The mission was conducted in the Sangay area which is 130 kilometers from their barracks, the “Chinese Peninsula”. The area is a riot zone filled with anti-government armed forces and therefore, the security concerns were significantly high.

Faced with big challenges such as numerous varieties of bombs, high operating risks and difficulties, limited working space, unclear performance of explosives and firearms provided by the foreign military, Gao fought for two consecutive days without fear. He and his comrades completed the disposal of 134 mortars, two 25-kilogram anti-tank rockets and 89 other ammunition.

It was the biggest and most difficult ammunition disposal mission for Chinese peacekeeping engineers in DRC during the past 16 years. That time, Gao had also send a video to his family prior to the task as his last words, just like what he always did.

There was no cloud in the blue sky, and the scorching hot sun ruthlessly baked on DRC’s war-torn and disease-ravaged barren land in May. Wearing an explosion-proof suit and a protective helmet, Sg. Gao carefully walked toward the detonation point with a cannonball. From time to time he was soaked in sweat. It was a short 100-meter distance from the initiation point to the detonation point, but it is very far for Gao who has been walking on this road for a very long time.

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