Female soldier put off wedding day for navy escort mission

During the days hosting the broadcast, she made friends with many soldiers. Sometimes a soldier will call her during the broadcast and request a song, sometimes another soldier asks her if she can broadcast a specific song for him and then send it to his family members, even though they cannot hear, because he is in a bad mood, and sometimes there will be a soldier knocking at the door of her broadcasting room and asking for the broadcasting script because he missed a some of the broadcast. Hu is always willing to meet their demands because it proves that they enjoy her broadcasts.

On October 6, Hu was given an unexpected surprise. Originally, that day was the date her wedding was scheduled for. That night, the leaders on the warship held a "dinner party" for her in the little dining hall. At the party, traditional food, such as meat balls braised with brown sauce and a kind of traditional Chinese food called "zaoshengguizi" meaning having their first baby soon, were put on the table, just like real Chinese wedding parties, and there was also tobacco, wine, speeches by the leaders and the blessings from the officers and soldiers. The only regret was that there was no groom present, yet she still shed tears of happiness.

After graduating from the Naval University of Engineering in 2006, Hu first was assigned to the signal company to the leadership post of the female soldier squad and was elected as an outstanding grass-root cadre member in her first year, and also won first place in a speech contest held on the base. It seems that she was meant for the microphone: when she studied in military school, she was an announcer for her university's broadcasting station; when she came to the base, she was a commentator in the exhibition hall on the base's history, and last year, she was in charge of narrating for the military committee leaders who came to the base for inspection. Currently, she is a "lark bird" in the escort group, playing the touching chord on the ocean with her sweet voice. She still remembers the scene when she participated in the high mountain and sea-island service: in over 20 days, as a person in charge of recreational activities, she climbed up the Mount Yandang and Donghu Mountain following the service team, and luckily became the first female naval officer to scale that mountain to the highest lookout point.

Nurse Shao Xiaoqin (front left) and deputy physician Sheng Ruifang (front right)  on the ship "Zhoushan", part of the Chinese navy third escort formation, at a  China-Russia joint naval ceremony held in the Gulf of Aden on September 10. On  November 29, the two guided missile frigates "Zhoushan" and "Xuzhou" of the  Chinese navy third escort formation officially bid farewell to Gulf of Aden  and embarked on a return voyage to the motherland. Seven female soldiers on the  escort formation expedition returned home with the ship.During the 4-month escort, they provided reliable medical care to safeguard the health of escorting officers and men, who affectionately call them "patron saints" of health.

Hu both loved and hated the warship when she was a child. Because her father often went to sea and had little time to stay with his family, Hu missed out on much paternal love. Zhu Jianbiao, vice captain of "Qiandao Lake" who was a subordinate of Hu's father, told Hu that once her father ordered them to go to sea and they ran into a typhoon. They were all indomitably buffeted with the atrocious sea conditions and her father was so tired that he spit blood. Hearing that, Hu could not help crying, because in her eyes, her father has been tall and strong and cannot be defeated, yet she never thought that he would spit blood, which was something her father never told her.

She thought this may be the spirit of an old navy soldier.

On December 6, the formation visited Malaysia on the homebound voyage. The warship slowly entered the Port Swettenham in Kuala Lumpur and the officers and soldiers walked into Malaysia with grand posture special to the navy. The female soldiers wore white navy full dress, standing by the board side, bright and brave. The local reporters took many photos of them. The following day, the bold photo of the escorting female soldiers appeared on Malaysia's Sin Chew Jit Poh and the media highly praised the elegant demeanor of the Chinese female navy soldiers. On the night of December 8, the formation held a buffet party on the deck to express their thanks to the Malaysian military and the local overseas Chinese representatives in Port Swettenham. The night of Port Swettenham was beautiful and the wind was genial. Hu served as the host of the evening party. She wore the full dress and presided over the party with her enthusiasm, fluent language and natural and graceful manner, which won the appreciation of all the guests.

When the escort convoy finally returns to port, Hu, returning triumphantly in the gorgeous glow of the sun, will be a true bride.