Political and ideological education is a basic part of party and political work in the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), playing a decisive role in building a politically strong VPA, laying a solid foundation for raising the entire Military’s synergy and combat power. Therefore, Division 10’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on synchronously taking measures to improve the quality and effectiveness of political and ideological education, thereby building up political steadfastness among cadres and soldiers, encouraging them to overcome difficulties and strive to achieve more brilliant performance of all tasks.

As a main mobile unit of Army Corps 3, Division 10 is stationed in the two provinces of Kon Tum and Dak Lak characterised by not only harsh weather conditions but also complex elements and hostile forces’ fierce sabotage operations. Meanwhile, some cadres and soldiers are not sufficiently aware of the requirements and task of VPA building; families of a number of cadres and soldiers are faced with difficult circumstances; the dark side of society is day by day directly negatively impacting on cadres and soldiers’ ideology and sentiment.

Squad commanders study how to grasp and manage troop ideology

Against that backdrop, the Division’s Party Committee and Command as well as all-level subordinate party committees and commands have all advocated that conducting political and ideological education constitutes a responsibility of all forces, organisations, cadres, and party members, with party committees, political commissars, and junior political commissars at all levels playing a “key role”. Grasping and strictly executing higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on political and ideological education, all-level party committees and organisations have issued specialised resolutions and included this work in other regular resolutions with various synchronous, creative, effective measures. At the same time, they have well carried out the work of propagation and education to raise awareness and responsibility of all forces and organisations towards this important task.

In the process, the Division has attached importance to encouraging comprehensive leadership capacity, proactiveness, and creativity of all-level party committees, organisations, and members. It has required all-level party organisations and commands to frequently review the content and methods of their leadership appropriate to the particularities of each unit, exercise focalised, uniform leadership, and ensure regular, comprehensive, flexible, and creative performance of political and ideological education work. It has always focused political and ideological education on new, difficult tasks, sensitive moments, and key steps; this work has also been aimed at opportunely settling specific, practical issues arising from troops’ task performance process. At the same time, the Division has promoted the role of political agencies and cadres at all levels in executing plans for political and ideological education. It has well carried out preliminary and final reviews to draw lessons, opportunely adjust and supplement methods of leadership and direction for the sake of the improved quality and efficiency of political and ideological education in each period and year.

In response to the unceasing development of revolutionary tasks and VPA building in the new situation, the Division has always attached great value to renewing content, forms, and methods of political education. In terms of content, grounded on basic education programs set by the General Department of Politics and Army Corps 3, the Division has required its affiliates to carefully select new topics relevant to each group of troops. Emphasis has been placed on introducing political tasks to cadres and soldiers, equipping troops with basic knowledge of traditional history of the nation, VPA, and Division, encouraging patriotism and national pride, clarifying partners, opponents, and hostile forces’ nature, plots, and artifices, intensifying legal education, building up a sense of discipline, and improving troops’ moral standards, lifestyle, basic socio-economic and cultural knowledge, life skills, and social behaviour. The process of education has been linked with orientating troop ideology and developing a scientific outlook on life and the world among cadres and soldiers.

Regarding the forms and methods, the Division has focused on renewing and improving political training sessions for soldiers as well as specialised political topics for officers and professional service men and women. Political cadres at all levels have proactively prepared lectures and visual models properly, while effectively employing various methods of teaching to bring into play learners’ creative thinking and enable learners to understand the lesson right in the classroom. A part from designing lectures in a traditional way, cadres in charge of political teaching have delivered lectures using PowerPoint to capture troops’ attention in the process of political study. Lectures have been carefully prepared and closely approved. Political commissars, junior political commissars, commands, and offices at all levels have strengthened inspection and approval of lectures to opportunely draw lessons and made necessary adjustments prior to teaching. Political training courses have been organised on schedule with the flexible rotation of teaching groups to allow each unit to use slide projectors. Adhering to the mottos of “three-substantive” and “five requirements” set for training work, the Division has attached significance to seriously conducting the work of testing and outcome assessment via flexible forms and methods, such as writing test, oral test, multiple-choice test, and assignment in order to correctly evaluate the quality of teaching and learning.

Furthermore, the Division has frequently well organised political and ideological campaigns, raising the quality of the Political and Cultural Day, strictly, effectively maintaining news briefings under regulations. As a result, it has made a positive change in the quality of political education, contributing to improving its cadres and soldiers’ awareness, political steadfastness, faith, responsibility, and determination to accomplish all assigned tasks.

In addition to raising the quality of political education, the Division has well conducted the work of ideological management and public opinion orientation and closely managed each soldier’s social relationships. It has stringently maintained regulations on grasping and reporting troop ideology from squad to regimental levels on a daily basis. Offices and units across the Division have closely taken 6 basic steps of ideological work (ideological grasp, forecast, classification, orientation, settlement, and struggle) and strictly maintained regulations on reporting ideological management and public opinion orientation to all-level party committees and commands to formulate measures of leadership relevant to their task requirements. Notable, the Division has adopted effective models of ideological management; the most typical example has been “three-strong teams”. Heads of those teams must have great prestige and act as role models in daily life and work; their working methods, style, and skills must be trained and improved by all-level commands. As brothers and sisters in a family, members of those teams have regularly shared sorrows, joys, and difficulties in their daily life and work with one another, helping and encouraging one another to fulfil all assigned tasks. Those teams have strictly maintained daily activities, grasping and reporting each member’s aspirations, circumstances, health conditions, and task performance. Grounded on those teams’ daily reports, all-level party committees and commands have opportunely employed measures to settle ideological issues among their troops.

All-level party committees and commands have frequently well carried out the work of education, encouragement, and ideological orientation for those who have showed ideological deviations and misconduct, while assigning good cadres, party members, and soldiers to provide assistance for those persons to improve themselves. As a result, troops with ideological instability or intention of leaving the VPA have kept their mind on their work, thanks to timely encouragement and assistance from their superiors and comrades.

In order that troops could see their unit and comrades as their home and relatives, the Division has well implemented Regulations on Grass-roots Democracy, increased interaction and dialogue, harmoniously managed relationships, and cemented unity and consensus within itself. Advocating that “building” must go hand in hand with “fighting”, taking positive things against negative ones, offices and units across the Division have regularly well organised political and ideological activities for cadres and soldiers to make their voice heard and share personal problems and their families’ difficult circumstances. Due regard has been paid to building and consolidating barracks and bringing into play cultural institutions within offices and units. Many youth forums and programs, such as “beloved comrades”, “life skills”, and “units are like homes, comrades are like relatives” have been organised with the coordination and participation of local youth unions; a healthy military cultural environment has been created for cadres and soldiers via many knowledge contests, talk shows, propagation programs on the study and following of Uncle Ho’s teachings, “stories about Uncle Ho” competitions, and visits to museums and historical sites.

Since 2019, the Ministry of National Defence has assigned Division 10 to develop into a full-strength infantry division in peacetime with great firepower as a role model for others to follow; changes in the Division’s organisational structure, manpower, weaponry, and workload amid the upcoming reorganisation of the Army Corps have significantly impacted on troops’ awareness and ideology. However, thanks to the outcome of political and ideological education, cadres and soldiers across the Division have always remained united to overcome all difficulties and heightened a sense of responsibility when performing their tasks; the quality of combat training has increasingly improved; technical and tactical features of new weapons and equipment have been quickly mastered by the Division’s troops. That will be an important prerequisite for the Division to keep maintaining its position as the flag bearer of Army Corps 3’ Determined to Win Emulation Movement in the foreseeable future.

Sr. Col. HO SY CHIEN

Political Commissar of the Division