Peng Shaowei, a 26-year-old "seven-year" soldier from Meishan, Sichuan province, said: "The brotherhood is pure here. When you get used to it, you know you can always rely on the group. After that, you want to stay, and feel uneasy after leaving the group, even if you stay down on the plains where it's far more comfortable during leave."

Peng has decided to stay at Trang-lung for a further nine years, when he will retire "honorably" as a chief sergeant at least, and may even be promoted to a higher rank.

'Sense of responsibility'

The Tranglung company is more fortunate than its counterparts in Taxson and Tragola, who patrol a vast mountainous area on the northern slopes of the Himalaya range. The Taxson guard post sits at about 4,900 meters above sea level, while the Tragola post is more than 5,300 meters.

"I was a naughty boy and dropped out of middle school two years ago. Now I am much more disciplined and have a stronger sense of responsibility. I will continue my education when I go back home. I want to go to college," said Liao Mingsong, an 18-year-old soldier at the Taxson post, who will finish his two-year term of service at the end of the month.

Liao said he had learned a lot from the other soldiers. "At first, I didn't understand why they were so attached to this barren land, which brings us endless illness, pain and homesickness. Now I feel a strong reluctance to leave," he said. "Protecting the motherland gives me a strong sense of honor and duty. This is the privilege of being a soldier, compared with my peers at home who kill their time playing video games in Internet bars."

The 12 soldiers at the Tragola guard post - the highest point and the harshest place in the battalion's sphere of action - come from across China. Their average age is 24, and they average five years of service in the region.

None of them has undergone the annual physical checkup because they "already know the results" and none of them has told their families exactly where they are serving because that knowledge would cause "extra concerns". None of them admitted to enjoying home leave, because "it's costly in time and money, and entails 'makeup' (some soldiers apply light cosmetics to improve their weather-beaten appearances)", as one put it.

Wang Xin, a 20-year-old soldier from Heze, Shandong province, who works in the cookhouse, said: "Two years ago, when I cooked for the first time at Tragola, I ruined the meal because I didn't know how to use a pressure cooker (an essential tool at high altitude, where food takes a long time to cook). The old soldiers ate up the half-cooked rice without complaint and then comforted me again and again. From that moment, I regarded them as my brothers."

Wang Wei, a 25-year-old guard from Dezhou, Shandong province, who is in his seventh year at the Tragola post, made light of the incident. "Half-cooked rice is much better than the snow we sometimes have to eat on our patrols, and the conditions today are much better than those our predecessors faced in the 1960s. Guarding the Tragola post is an honor for the soldiers in our battalion - it proves our resolve, power and love for the motherland," he said.

Contact the writer at liyang@chinadaily.com.cn