PLA doubles new recruits' training period to improve combat readiness

The Chinese military has doubled the training period for new recruits of its ground forces from three to six months in a bid to improve their combat capabilities, state media reported Friday.

The new recruits of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will be trained on professional skills before they are allocated to different companies, which have their own schedules and pace for professional skills training, Global Times quoted the PLA Army announcement as saying.

The PLA is the world's largest military with two million troops.

The new recruits could not keep pace with veterans, and veterans are not receiving enough training, the announcement said.

The problem has influenced and curbed the sustainable development of the PLA Army's combat capability, an anonymous official of a training bureau was quoted as saying in the announcement.

"Now the new recruit training is more effective, and they will be allocated to combat units after being fully trained to the standard of a qualified soldier," the official said.

Tian Liang, political commissar of the 2nd group of new recruits in the 71st Group Army said: "The extended training period and additional training content have ensured the new recruits can blend faster into different units and be prepared for combat".

The enrolment period has been held in summer and autumn since 2013, before that it happened in winter.

The change in 2013 allows new recruits to join the PLA Army in September and also helps increase the proportion of university graduates among the recruits.

The new recruits are placed alongside veterans in March after six months of training, it said.

The additional three months of training gives six months to the new recruits to adapt to military life and receive comprehensive training, the report added.