The successful construction and steadfast defence of socialist Vietnam pose a significant, challenging, but illustrious mission for today’s young generation. Recognising their responsibilities, the Military youth, with an enthusiastic, innovative, and resolute spirit, continuously cultivate and refine the admirable qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” in all areas and consistently consider this as a practical solution to actualise their aspirations for dedication and personal growth.

In recent years, recognising the importance of cultivating and refining the qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” in response to new demands and tasks, the Youth organisations at all levels within the Army have grasped and diligently implemented Directive No.855-CT/QUTW, dated August 12^th, 2019, by the Central Military Party Committee, on promoting the tradition, dedicating talents, and being worthy of the title of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” in the new era, aligning with learning and following Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts, ethics, and style; organised activities such as political forums themed “Military youth promote the qualities of ‘Uncle Ho’s Soldier’, firmly countering individualism”; developed plans for individual commitment and implementation; and conducted regular inspections, periodic reviews, and recognition of outstanding individuals. Notably, alongside the entire Army and the youth nationwide, the Military youth have vigorously participated in revolutionary movements like “The Military youth reach new height”, “The Military youth advance into science and technology” and “The Military youth cultivate virtue, hone talents,  and proactive, innovative, and worthy of the title of Uncle Ho’s Soldier,” to yield significant results, providing motivation for the Military youth to strive for new heights in education, work, training, combat readiness, scientific research, production, regularity building, discipline fostering, and the robust defence of the sacred independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of the Fatherland, protection of the lives and property of the people, and disaster and epidemic prevention and control particularly, notably during the COVID-19 pandemic and in international duties and the United Nations peacekeeping operations. They have also actively engaged in building the Party, the State, and the political system, fighting against any plots and activities of “peaceful development,” “self-evolution,” and “self-transformation,” and countering the distortion and “politicalisation” of the Army by hostile forces to steadfastly protect the ideological foundation of the Party. It can be affirmed that, regardless of the role, job, or circumstances, the Military youth have always acted with initiative, pioneering spirit, and the heroic revolutionary ideology to effectively fulfil the functions of “combat forces, working forces, and production forces, continually enhancing and illuminating the noble qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” in the new era.

Youth of Divsision 301 under Hanoi Capital Command practise combat readiness

Currently, the task of protecting the Fatherland is evolving, presenting new and higher demands for the entire Party, people, and Army, including the Military youth, with a mix of favourable conditions and challenges. To successfully fulfil this lofty mission, the youth of the nation as a whole, and particularly the Military youth, are entrusted by the Party, the State, and the People with crucial responsibilities at the forefront to break through into new and challenging endeavors. This is considered an honourable and proud duty, a profound responsibility of the youth towards the Party, the Fatherland, and the People. Recognising this responsibility, the cadres, Youth Union members, and young soldiers in the Army are committed to continuously cultivating and refining the qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” and view this as one of the foremost and crucial solutions to realise their aspirations for dedication in the mission of defending the Fatherland. To achieve this, it is essential to focus on implementing several key aspects:

Firstly, the Party committees and commanders at all levels should thoroughly grasp and strictly implement the resolutions and directives of the Party regarding the youth and youth work and enhance leadership and guidance for the youth work and movements. As President Ho Chi Minh emphasised during his time that “Nurturing revolutionary generations for the future is a vital and necessary task”, all levels of Party committees, political commissars, political cadres, commanders, and political organs need to concretise this through specialised resolutions, improve the regulatory system for leading and guiding youth work; pay attention to planning, training, nurturing, and building a pool of young cadres for the Army; direct the construction of strong youth organisations in terms of politics, ideology, ethics, organisation, and action, contributing to the development of the Party organisations; grasp and timely resolve the legitimate concerns and aspirations of the youth, creating favourable conditions for in-depth, orderly, and effective youth organisation and movement activities; proactively prevent manifestations of “self-evolution”, “self-transformation” and negative impacts of social evils, bad information, and distorted rhetoric of hostile forces; build a good and healthy cultural environment in units; and protect, nurture, develop, and perfect the core values of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier,” serving as the foundation for realising the aspirations for dedication and personal growth of the Military youth in building and protecting the Fatherland.

Secondly, it is necessary to strengthen political and ideological education and enhance awareness of the qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” for cadres, Youth Union members, and young soldiers. This is a top priority solution to enhance awareness and responsibility for the Military youth to inherit and continually uphold the noble qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” in the new era. All levels must effectively carry out education activities that help the youth appreciate the values of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” qualities. They need to understand that such an esteemed title is not acquired naturally but is the result of the persistent and indomitable struggle of many previous generations. Particularly, it is required to educate the Military youth to have absolute loyalty to the Party, the Fatherland, and the People; foster unity and blood ties with the people; have a strong determination and readiness to sacrifice and overcome all difficulties and hardships, willing to accept and excellently fulfil any assigned tasks; and possess revolutionary ethics, a sense of self-reliance, self-strengthening, humanitarian spirit, comradeship, and solidarity for mutual assistance. Emphasis should be placed on educating traditions; building trust and revolutionary ideals; transmitting experiences to equip the youth with comprehensive and in-depth knowledge; promoting the spirit of daring to think, speak, act, take responsibility, innovate, create, and confront difficulties, challenges, and take actions for the common good, etc. It is also required to continually innovate the content and form of education, closely integrate general education, individual education, and task-oriented education, with a focus on effectively breaking through the stage of “Nurturing revolutionary ideals, awakening the aspiration for dedication, and enhancing responsibility awareness for cadres, Youth Union members, and young soldiers”; strengthen forums, seminars, exchanges; develop and maintain activities such as the “Young Theoretical Club”; build and promote a contingent of presenters and propagandists for the Youth Union; leverage information technology, making the most of the advantages of modern media and social networks; and intensify the struggle on the ideological front to firmly protect the ideological foundation of the Party.

Youth of Military Region 9 help local people in preventing flood

Thirdly, revolutionary action movements among the Military youth should be intensified, aligning them with the Party’s, the State’s, the Army’s, and the Central Youth Union’s campaigns. In the context of nationwide youth activities in general and the Military youth in particular, it is crucial to train through practical experiences and create conditions for the Youth Union members and young soldiers to study, work, and contribute. Youth Union committees at all levels need to continue promoting the movement “The Military youth cultivate virtue, hone talents, and proactive, innovative, and worthy of the title of Uncle Ho’s Soldier in the new era” through specific and effective content, targets, and actions. This includes focusing on building role models among the Military youth: “Beautiful Aspiration - High Responsibility; Good Learning - Excellent Performance; Solidarity - Strict Discipline”; adhere the Youth Union’s movements to the Determination-to-Win Campaign, movements, especially the Drive entitled Promoting tradition, dedicating talents, and being worthy of the title of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” in the new era, resolutions and directives of the Party committees at all levels regarding party building and rectification; Resolution No.847-NQ/QUTW, dated 28 December 2021, by the Central Military Commission on promoting the “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” qualities to firmly resist individualism in the new situation, etc. The proactive and creative spirit of the youth should be leveraged to actively engage in learning, training, scientific research, and application of scientific and technological achievements to military activities; master knowledge and control weapons and technical equipment, be proactive and innovative, focus on improving the quality of training, combat readiness, and production, etc. With the spirit that “Where there is the youth, there is nothing difficult,” the Military youth must be the core force to lead in safeguarding the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of the Fatherland and firmly protect the ideological foundation of the Party and achieve victory in the Army’s tasks, especially in challenging, difficult areas, remote areas, border areas, and islands.

Fourthly, the awareness and responsibility of “self-reflection and self-correction” in the process of self-cultivation and moral training of the youth should be enhanced. President Ho Chi Minh taught that “Revolutionary ethics do not fall from the sky. It develops and consolidates through persistent daily struggle and training. Just like how gems shine brighter with more polishing, and gold becomes purer with more refining.” Therefore, the Military youth should uphold a sense of self-awareness, honesty, and straightforwardness, “self-reflecting” to recognise their limitations, shortcomings, especially in their thoughts and lifestyles. Then, they should actively “self-correct,” prevent, push back, and eliminate behaviours and thoughts incompatible with the revolutionary ethical standards and the cultural values of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier”; harmonise the relationship between common and individual interests, following the principle of prioritising the interests of the revolution, the Party, the People, the Army, and the collectives of units, agencies and putting them on top; resolutely avoid opportunistic thinking, personal gains, or collusion for personal or family interests that may affect the common interests of the collective. Only when each soldier, especially each Youth Union member and young soldiers, wholeheartedly serves the common interest and contributes to the stability and development of the unit, can individualism be pushed back, contributing to preserving and promoting the “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” qualities. Today, facing both positive and negative impacts of the market economy, the fourth industrial revolution, and fierce opposition from hostile forces, each of the Military youth needs to elevate their sense of self-discipline and cultivate revolutionary ethical qualities to lay the foundation for the resilience, intelligence, and aspirations of Vietnamese youth in the Ho Chi Minh era.

Finally, it is essential to improve the quality and effectiveness of coordination with local youth organisations, twin units, and related forces, contributing to the successful performance of the function of working forces. They should continue to effectively implement Coordination Programme No.159/CTr-CT-TWĐ, dated 20 January 2021, between the General Political Department of the Vietnam People’s Army and the Central Youth Union on promoting the pioneering role of youth in building and defending the Fatherland in the period of 2021-2025 and beyond; strengthen coordination activities with party committees, authorities, local youth organisations, and twin units in effectively carrying out mass mobilisation work, actively participating in social welfare programmes, building cultural life in residential areas, and activities such as “Repaying gratitude and fulfilling responsibilities,” poverty reduction, new rural construction, civilised urban areas, disaster prevention and recovery, etc., contributing to building political bases, consolidating defence and security, developing the economy, culture, and society, strengthening the solidarity between the army and the people, and ensuring a robust “people’s heart-and-mind” posture; and actively engage in foreign military affairs, contributing effectively to the Party’s international integration policy.

The cause of building and defending the socialist Vietnam is entering a new phase with new dynamics and beliefs. Inheriting and promoting the glorious tradition of nearly 80 years of construction, fighting, maturation, and victories of the Vietnam People’s Army, cadres, Youth Union members, and young soldiers are determined to strive for cultivating virtue, honing talents,  and being proactive, innovative, and worthy of the title of “Uncle Ho’s Soldier” realising the aspiration for dedication to build a prosperous, flourishing, civilised, and happy Vietnam, deserving the trust and expectations of the Party, the State, the People, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence.

Senior Colonel TRAN VIET NANG, Head of the Military Youth Board