Over the past 75 years of construction, combat and development, the Military Region 4’s armed forces have built up the glorious tradition of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the hometown of our beloved President Ho Chi Minh. Bringing into that tradition, the Military Region 4’s Party Committee and Command have been taking measures synchronously for making the armed forces strong and capable of defending the areas.

After our country had become independent, under the Party Central Committee’s guidelines on organising war zones and developing the revolutionary armed forces, on October 15^th, 1945, the War Zone 4 (the present-day Military Region 4) was established. In the resistance war against the French colonialists, under the leadership and direction by the Party and particularly the Annam Regional Party Committee, the War Zone 4 organised and deployed its armies to fight the enemy and they achieved outstanding feats of arms in the South Central Coast and the Central Highlands. At the same time, it built and developed the three-category armed forces, delimited resistance zones, founded the Binh Tri Thien - Central Laos Front, and engaged in combat in the Route 9 and the Central Indochina. In spite of difficulties, the Zone 4’s people and troops cooperated with the main battlefield in the North in launching the Campaigns, namely Le Lai and Phan Dinh Phung, worked with Lao troops to mount the Central Laos Campaign, and took part in combat on the battlefields of Lower Laos and Northeastern Cambodia. Moreover, the Zone 4 organised battles of various scales to prevent and destroy enemy troops, defend the army rear, and annihilate “bandits and spies,” while providing human and material resources to contribute to smashing the Dien Bien Phu group of fortresses and ending the French rule over Vietnam.

In the resistance war against the U.S., for national salvation, the Military Region 4 was divided by the 17^th parallel and became a “bag of fire” with numerous fierce battles. Under the Central Military Commission’s leadership and direction, the Military Region 4 established the fronts of Tri Thien and Route 9 and won victories on those fronts, while cooperating with the country’s people and troops in defeating the U.S. wars of destruction, especially its air operations, defending Quang Tri ancient citadel, and developing attacks to gradually liberate Quang Tri and Thua Thien - Hue. It acted as both rear base and front line in the war and greatly contributed to defeating the U.S. invasion.

After the country had been reunified, with their courage and resilience, the Military Region 4’s armed forces continued to perform the two strategic tasks of national construction and protection, engage in the fight for defending the Southwestern and Northern border, and undertake the international mission. At the same time, importance was attached to consolidating the army rear, building the all-people national defence and the posture of people’s war, enhancing the defence capability, and making the armed forces capable of opportunely, effectively dealing with situations and firmly protecting the areas.

A joint exercise in 2019

In the upcoming time, the tasks of national construction and protection will be more demanding and complex. Meanwhile, the hostile forces are stepping up their “peaceful evolution” strategy, enhancing “self-evolution,” “self-transformation,” and their plot to “depoliticise” our Military, and denying the armed forces’ role. Notably, security in the East Sea and the country’s Southwestern sea will witness complex developments. Thus, the Military Region 4 must always heighten a sense of revolutionary vigilance and make its armed forces comprehensively strong and capable of performing the military-defence work, building the all-people national defence and safeguarding the Homeland.

To that end, first of all, it is vital to build politically strong armed forces as the basis for improving their synergy and combat power. Offices and units within the Military Region should keep well performing the work of political education and ideological orientation and strictly executing the regulation on “political education within units of the People’s Army and the Militia and Self-Defence Force” and the Project on renewing political education at military units in the new period. At the same time, due attention should be paid to raising the quality of educating Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, and revolutionary nature, tradition and task of the Military, the Military Region 4 and units, grasping the hostile forces’ plots and acts of sabotage, and improving troops’ revolutionary vigilance. It is necessary to stringently maintain the order for the Political and Cultural Day and the Legal Study Day, proactively fight against the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within, enhance ideological management and orientation, build cadres and soldiers’ political zeal and absolute loyalty to the Homeland, the Party, the State and the people, and make them capable of undertaking and successfully fulfilling all assigned missions.

Furthermore, it is important to actively renew and improve the emulation and commendation work, the Determined to Win Emulation Movement and other campaigns associated with the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW and the Central Military Commission Standing Board’s Directive 87-CT/QUTW on the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle as well as the Campaign titled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period so that troops will promote the virtues and tradition of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh. Due regard should be paid to well implementing the policy, mass mobilisation, and internal political protection work, encouraging cadres and party members’ role and responsibility, and making mass organisations and soldiers’ councils strong and capable of accomplishing all assigned tasks.

Second, the Military Region 4’s armed forces should continue to be consolidated and made compact and strong. To do so, it is essential to review and achieve the goals and targets set by the Politburo’s Conclusion 16-KL/TW, dated July 7^th, 2017 on the organisation of the Vietnam People’s Army towards 2021 and the Decision by the Ministry of National Defence on the organisational structure of the Military Region 4’s armed forces. Competent offices of the Military Region 4 should cooperate with units in developing and executing the Project on the organisation of the Vietnam People’s Army in the period of 2020-2025 so as to adjust the organisational structure of units in a “compact, strong” manner and maintain a balance between the standing force, the reserve force and the militia and self-defence force as well as between weapons and personnel. There is a need to identify function and task of each office and position, particularly in the Military Region 4’s agencies.

Consideration should be given to consolidating the organisation of main and local units under the plan for the Military’s organisation in peacetime to ensure their compactness, strength, mobility, and combat readiness. Priority should be given to staffing units tasked with training and combat readiness, raising the quality of military standard order building and discipline management, and building safe, comprehensively strong offices and units. Due attention should be paid to building a “powerful” reserve force with sufficient quantity and high quality, frequently grasping and managing members of this force for mobilisation and expansion when necessary. The militia and self-defence force should be made “strong and extensive” with the proper quantity and structure. Importance should be attached to developing this force in the key areas and the coastal militia and self-defence units to contribute to maintaining political security and social order and safety, opportunely, effectively settling defence-security situations right at grass-roots levels.

Third, it is vital to achieve a breakthrough in raising the quality of training and combat readiness to meet the task requirements. Offices, units and schools should continue to grasp and effectively implement the Central Military Commission’s Conclusion 60-KL/QUTW, dated January 18^th, 2019 on executing the Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW, while providing “basic and practical” training for all troops, placing emphasis on synchronous, intensive training, considering basic training as the foundation, regarding tactical training as the centre, and viewing the training of cadres as the key. Due attention should be paid to renewing the contents, programmes, and methods of training and exercises, organising training courses on the use of new weapons and equipment, manoeuvre training and night-time training, combining tactical training with physical training, and making training relevant to combat reality, objects of struggle, combat environment, and materiel. Great value should be attached to maintaining regulations on managing, commanding and operating combat training, holding refresher courses and competitions, and avoiding merit-driven disease during the training process.

Investments should be made in constructing training grounds, acquiring training equipment, applying information technology and simulation devices to training and exercises, and building the Military Region 4’s Military School into “a smart school capable of approaching the 4^th industrial revolution.” Due regard should be paid to strictly maintaining regulations on combat readiness, developing plans on exercises for main, local, and militia and self-defence forces, ensuring safety, and enhancing combat readiness capacity to meet the task requirements.

Fourth, significance should be attached to financial, logistics and technical work. Offices and units should grasp and effectively execute resolutions and directives by the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region 4 on the financial, logistics and technical work, while renewing financial, logistics and technical support in a close, quick, synchronous, sufficient, timely fashion, with priority given to units tasked with combat readiness, border, sea and island defence, training, natural disaster, fire, and epidemic prevention and control as well as search and rescue. In the process, offices, units and schools should closely manage and effectively, economically employ financial, logistics, and material resources.

Those above-mentioned measures have been synchronously, effectively implemented by the Military Region 4’s Party Committee and Command in order to build the armed forces with a high level of synergy and combat capacity and make them capable of playing a core role in performing military-defence missions, building the all-people national defence and firmly protecting the areas.

Lt. Gen. NGUYEN DOAN ANH, Commander of the Military Region 4