Thursday, September 27, 2018, 09:52 (GMT+7)
Division 309 concentrates on building a comprehensively strong unit

Division 309 (hereafter the Division) - Bac Son Group (Army Corps 4) was established on September 27th, 1978 in the Central Highlands when the country was defending the southwestern border right after having undergone the most brutal war in its history. At that time, despite its long-standing honourable tradition in the resistance wars against French colonialists and American imperialists, its Infantry Regiment 31 was the only active combat unit whereas most of the Division focused on developing the economy. To fulfill the task, the Division, in coordination with the armed forces and local people, determined to both recover the economy and firmly defend the Southwestern border of the country.

In terms of performing the international tasks assigned by the Party and State, the Division spent more than ten years in Cambodia (1978-1989), participating in 9 campaigns, 1,267 battles, killing 12,084 enemies, seizing 6,744 guns, 113 motor vehicles, tons of ammunition, food and other military supplies and liberating over a hundred thousand civilians. In high spirit of international support, the Division overcame lots of difficulties to assist Cambodian people both materially and mentally. Particularly, it worked closely with the Cambodian revolutionary forces to effectively operate grassroots organizations. The Division’s soldiers were present on almost every road of Cambodia. Thousands of the Division’s cadres and soldiers did not regret sacrificing for protection of revolutionary achievements and Cambodian recovery, which deserved the reputation of a "Buddhist" army and Ho Chi Minh’s soldiers, contributing to the longstanding friendship and solidarity between Vietnam and Cambodia.

In September 1989, the Division returned to the homeland to carry out the missions of training, combat readiness and other contingency tasks. Promoting the tradition of "combating bravely, helping friends delicately, being self-reliant and creative", the Division accomplished all assigned missions. With outstanding achievements, the Division was honored with the title “Hero of the People's Armed Forces”, and received the Angkor Wat medal and other noble awards by the Cambodian Government.

At present, besides certain advantages, the Division encountered many difficulties, such as being stationed in the area with a lot of industrial parks and dense population as well as having limited training material and drill-ground. Moreover, the complicated developments of political security, social order and safety negatively impact soldiers, etc. Being fully aware of the situation, the Division Party Committee and Command concentrate on building a comprehensively strong unit to meet mission requirements in the new situation.

Sr. Col. Nguyen Minh Chien addresses a conference on the military work

First of all, politically, the Division Party Committee and Command direct the agencies and units to improve political education to raise soldiers’ awareness of motherland defense and hostile forces’ conspiracies of "peaceful evolution" and “military depoliticalization”. The Division requires agencies and units to effectively implement the project to "reform political education at grass-roots units in the new period", which focuses on renovating educational methods in accordance with soldiers’ tasks and awareness, closely combining basic education with traditional one, regular education based on tasks, laws, discipline and morality for cadres and soldiers. At the same time, the Determined to Win emulation movement is closely combined with the studying and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and lifestyle; the campaign “Uphold traditions, devote talents, deserve to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” and the building of a cultural environment. Favorable conditions are also created for the Council of Military Personnel to properly conduct its functions and effectively enhance the grass-roots democratic regulations and the role of the Youth Union and the Women's Union in performing the political tasks.

Simultaneously, all units well conduct the work of ideological orientation and actively fight against the distorted arguments and the manifestations of political, moral, lifestyle degradation, internal "self-evolution" and "self-transformation". The Division also cooperates with the Party Committee and local authority of Trang Bom district, Dong Nai province in successfully implementing the emulation movement "the Army join hands in building new countryside", effectively participating in the movement "Gratitude", hunger eradication and poverty alleviation and in building “Gratitude House”, “Comrade House”, contributing to a strong local political system. Besides, the Division always attaches importance to ensuring post-war policies and encouraging cadres and soldiers in difficult circumstances to fulfill their tasks. As a result, all cadres and soldiers in the Division are always strongly political, highly responsible and willing to complete all duties. The whole unit passes the annual political test, in which 80% are rated as good and excellent.

In order to improve the overall quality, the Division accelerates combat readiness, training, regularity building and discipline management. All resolutions, directives and regulations on training and combat readiness, especially the Resolution 765 of the Central Military Commission, 278/NQ-ĐDQD of the Army Corps 4 on the leadership of the training mission, 313/NQ-DDD of the Division on "leadership in training quality in 2013 - 2020 and beyond" are thoroughly disseminated. To perform combat readiness mission, the Division directs agencies and units to complete the operational documents, the plan of protecting the stationary area and the ones for fire and explosion, disasters prevention as well as search and rescue. At the same time, agencies and units are required to carefully rehearse as planned to fulfill tasks under any circumstance and actively cooperate with the local forces in promptly handling the situation. Thus, it helps firmly maintain the political security, social order and safety in the localities.

Troops cross the river

In order to continuously improve the training quality, the Division orders its units to regularly adjust their organizational structure in accordance with their task and training, consolidate drill-grounds, training tools. During the training process, units are required to follow the motto "basics, practicality, thorough grasp", "reserve as permanent", paying attention to training synchronously and deeply from individuals to battalion level, with an emphasis on platoon and company level. The units focus on training, tactical maneuvers and live-firing drill close to the assigned requirements. Besides, re-examination is held to build reserve units under the Ministry of National Defense's regulations on the organizational structure. Afterwards, they are trained as the prescribed plan with increasing number. The Division also combines military training with political education, regularity building, discipline management and physical training for soldiers. Therefore, the training results in the Division improve considerably. In 2017, 100% soldiers passed the training test, 75.6% of which was at good and excellent levels. The Infantry Regiment 31 has been recognized as "the Excellent Training Unit" by the Ministry of National Defense.

The Division directs agencies and units to ensure logistics, financial support for regular and contingency tasks and to satisfy soldiers’ living standards. The unit actively increases production, ensures sufficient meat, vegetables, fish ... to stabilize and gradually improve soldiers’ life; guarantees good hygiene, food safety so as to prevent the outbreak of diseases. It also strictly manages the budget, capital, assets, petrol, oil, electricity and water, and efficiently uses the sources without any loss. Agencies and units concentrate on building "regular, green, clean and scenic" barracks, ensuring unity, raising the material and spiritual life of the army. As a unit responsible for training soldiers of different services and utilizing a large quantity of weapons and equipment, the Division has successfully performed technical tasks. Accordingly, the agencies and units conduct effectively the Resolution 382-NQ/QUTW of the Central Military Commission on "leading the technical work in the new situation"; the campaign 50 on “managing, exploiting, and using technical weapons and equipment properly, durably, safely and economically, and traffic safety”; prioritize the guarantee of sufficient quantity, quality, and synchronously equip Regiment 31 with weapons.  At the same time, the Division also highlights the role of cadres and professional personnel in managing and maintaining weapons; ensures the safety of warehouses, workshops and military vehicles in traffic; supplements fire and explosion prevention tools so as to handle any situations. Therefore, the technical assurance of the Division is always highly appreciated by the Corps.

The achievements throughout 40 years of construction, combat and development will lay the foundation for the Division to keep building a comprehensively strong unit, which deserves the tradition of a “Hero of the People's Armed Forces” and contributes to the Motherland protection in every situation.

Senior Colonel Nguyen Minh Chien, Commissar of the Division

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