Unfurling flag with pride, passion

Rifle drills

But for Chu, the hardest part of training was practicing marching and standing still while holding a rifle.

One of the training drills was to hold a rifle with a bayonet attached while standing in a fixed position.

"I needed to fix my hand in position, hold the gun, and press my wrist against it with my hand solidly pinned. The rifle was about 3.5 kg to 4 kg and you had to hold it still for three to four hours. When I ate, my hand became shaky and I couldn't even hold the chopsticks," he said.

They also needed to practice hoisting the rifle over their shoulders vigorously. After each training session their hands and shoulders would be bruised and swollen.

Holding a rifle in a fixed position was eventually removed from the training schedule, but carrying a heavy weapon while goose stepping is difficult enough.

Zhang Yang, 23, who joined the military in September last year, was selected as a member of the national flag guard unit in April.

He said initially he couldn't wait to get his hands on a rifle, but after carrying one against his shoulder for more than two minutes it felt like "torture".

"One night when I went to bed, I eventually fell asleep with my arm held up high because it hurt so much and I couldn't move. Sometimes, I also dared not straighten my legs in case of cramps. When I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I had to support myself against the wall," he said.