The Tank-Armoured Brigade 405 is tasked with training, combat readiness, and some other missions entrusted by the Military Region 3. Over the years, the Brigade has grasped and seriously implemented the Conclusion 60-KL/QUTW, dated January 18th, 2019 by the Central Military Commission (CMC) on continuing to realise the CMC’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW, the Resolution 280-NQ/ĐU, dated April 10th, 2013 by the Military Region 3’s Party Committee, and the Resolution 438-NQ/ĐU, dated January 6th, 2013 by the Tank-Armoured Corps’ Party Committee on “raising the quality of training in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond,” while completing the contents and targets of its training, combat readiness, and assigned missions. However, since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively, profoundly impacted on its task performance. To effectively take part in COVID-19 prevention and control and well perform the central, routine task of training and combat readiness as the “dual goal,” the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have drastically, synchronously adopted various measures and produced good results.

First of all, the Brigade has enhanced all-level party organisations and key cadres’ leadership and direction over training, combat readiness, and COVID-19 prevention and control. Grasping the spirit of “fighting the pandemic like fighting enemies,” the Brigade’s Party Committee has issued the specialised Resolution 03-NQ/ĐU, dated April 6th, 2020 on “leadership over COVID-19 prevention and control.” In this regard, emphasis has been placed on raising the quality of training and combat readiness amidst pandemic prevention and control, stabilising cadres and soldiers’ ideology, consolidating the organisational structure of affiliates tasked with combat readiness, urgently providing training courses relating to COVID-19 prevention and control properly, and ensuring logistics, financial, and technical support for all missions.

Adhering to guiding documents and directions on combating the COVID-19 pandemic by the Military Region 3, all-level COVID-19 prevention and control steering boards, and local party committees and authorities in its stationed areas, the Brigade has established its steering board on COVID-19 prevention and control and opportunely released documents on curbing the pandemic. It has frequently stepped up the work of propagation via the internal radio system to render its cadres, employees, and soldiers fully aware of the symptoms and impacts of COVID-19 and preventive measures as well. It has strictly maintained regulations on command, office, and combat duty, closely controlled the entrance and exit of personnel, food, and vehicles, and required its staff members to comply with the 5K message (in Vietnamese) delivered by the Ministry of Health (namely, “Khau trang”: face mask, “Khu khuan”: disinfection, “Khoang cach”: distance, “Khong tu tap”: no gathering, and “Khai bao y te”: health declaration). Cadres and soldiers who had come back to the Brigade from high-risk areas were quarantined under regulations. Moreover, the Brigade has required its offices and units to enhance the work of political education and ideological management to opportunely grasp cadres, employees, and soldiers’ ideology and take measures for raising their responsibility for training, combat readiness, and pandemic prevention and control. Besides, the Brigade has allowed its soldiers to make phone calls for their families in rest hours and days off, while cooperating with families in encouraging their children to well fulfil the military service. As a result, throughout waves of COVID-19, particularly the 3rd one (7 out of 21 communes in the Brigade’s stationed areas had recorded SARS-CoV-2 cases), the Brigade has still ensured the absolute safety and all cadres and soldiers have always kept their mind on their work, readily undertaken and successfully fulfilled their assigned task.

Live firing during an exercise

It should be noted that members of the tank-armoured force regularly work together in a narrow space. Hence, to minimise the impacts of COVID-19 and increase the quality of its training and combat readiness, the Brigade has stringently maintained the “5K + vaccine + technology” procedure. In the preparation process, offices and units have sufficiently prepared facilities, training grounds, records, and training equipment. The Brigade has promoted knowledge of its cadres, employees, and soldiers to apply technical initiatives and technologies to designing lesson plans, electronic lectures, and training equipment. It has actively cooperated with local party committees and authorities in enlarging its training grounds during COVID-19 prevention and control. Significance has been attached to consolidating a contingent of cadres at all levels both qualitatively and quantitatively with a sense of responsibility and great experience in the training work. The Brigade has also organised refresher courses for cadres, particularly those at platoon and company levels and new graduates. Focuses of those courses have been placed on overcoming weaknesses in the training work and on COVID-19 prevention and control so as to improve cadres’ command capacity and training method and satisfy the requirements set by the “dual mission.” Besides, the Brigade has actively cooperated with the Military Region 3’s medical force and local medical sector in vaccinating its cadres and soldiers against COVID-19. It has developed plans and projects for training and combat readiness in case of infections occurring amongst its troops and for its participation in pandemic prevention and control within localities.

In the training process, the Brigade has adhered to the motto of “basics, practicality, thorough grasp,” while creatively applying viewpoints, principles, and connections of training. Great value has been attached to organising practical, night-time, tasks-based, and situations-based training courses to better troops’ command capacity, manoeuvrability, and camouflaging and diversionary tactics. More training courses on chemical prevention work, military medicine, and natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control have been held to proactively, opportunely, effectively respond to non-traditional security challenges and well perform search and rescue operations. Grounded on higher echelons’ guiding documents and plans as well as the developments in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brigade has proactively adjusted its training plan, renewed its training method, and avoided overcrowding. Under the Brigade’s direction, offices and units have proactively changed and planned training courses in a scientific, proper manner to ensure the contents, programmes, and quality of training. In the training and working process, all cadres, employees, and soldiers have been required to use face masks and sanitiser and keep the compulsory distance for COVID-19 prevention and control. Affiliates of the Brigade have also provided training courses for cadres and soldiers that had been absent or for those who had taken part in COVID-19 prevention and control. Due attention has been paid to inspecting, investigating, and evaluating the outcome of training in a serious, substantive fashion to opportunely draw lessons and overcome weaknesses in the training work.

Amidst the complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brigade has stepped up the application of information technology to training and exercises as an important measure to raise the quality of training, reduce overcrowding, and ensure the safety during pandemic prevention and control. It has directed its offices and units to actively apply information technology to designing electronic lesson plans and use pieces of software to give instructions on dealing with situations, better the organisation of training courses, and improve commands and offices’ capability. Its affiliates have been encouraged to employ training simulators to enhance troops’ capability in managing and mastering weapons and technical equipment, especially the modern ones and enable troops to acquire theoretical knowledge as the basis for practising using materiel.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the Brigade has placed emphasis on combining training with discipline management and military standard order building, providing technical and logistics support, improving cadres and soldiers’ mental and material life, well maintaining sanitation to fight seasonal epidemics and the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure troops’ fitness, thereby contributing to raising the quality of training and combat readiness.

Thanks to creative measures and approaches, the Brigade has well fulfilled the “dual goal” of training and combat readiness and COVID-19 prevention and control. Since early 2020, the Brigade has always completed its training programmes with good results and the absolute safety of personnel and materiel. In 2021, the Brigade participated in the Army-wide Tank-Armoured Contest and earned the second place (for PT-76 tank); it also obtained considerable achievements in the contests organised by the Military Region 3, such as “building and managing standard, green, clean, and scenic barracks” and “Sports Contest” as a significant prerequisite for it to celebrate its 42nd founding anniversary (November 2nd, 1979 - November 2nd, 2021).

Bringing into play those recorded results and experience, cadres and soldiers of the Tank-Armoured Brigade 405 will keep devoting effort to better performing the “dual mission” to bolster the tradition of “unity, self-reliance, and collective feat of arms,” raise the synergy and combat power, and make contributions to the Military Region 3’s brilliant task performance.

Sr. Col. NGUYEN HUU CANH, Commander of the Brigade