Fully understanding the position and role of law propagation, dissemination and education, over the past years, the Division 315 (under the Military Region 5) has taken various measures to carry out this work and gained significant achievements in raising cadres and troops’ legal awareness and culture. However, to meet the new requirements, the Division’s Party Committee and Command have continued to improve the quality and effectiveness of this work in order to create a profound change in both awareness and observance of the State’s law, military discipline and its regulations as well as to reduce the number of violations of discipline and build pure, strong party organizations and comprehensively strong Division.

Untying the “knot” in the awareness and responsibility of party committees and commanders at all levels

One of the reasons for the Division’s weaknesses in law dissemination and education, regularity building, and discipline management is the deficient awareness and responsibility of several party committees and commands towards this work. Some even regard this work as the responsibility of only commissars, political offices and cadres, thus taking improper measures to carry out this work. Against this backdrop, the Division has focused on raising all-level party committees and commands’ awareness of the role and importance of law propagation, dissemination and education, considering this as an important factor and starting point to untie the “knot”. To do so, the Division has rendered its affiliates fully aware of higher echelons’ resolutions, directives and guidance on law dissemination and education and the state of observance of law and discipline within units while making commissars and commanders full understand the organic relationship between the improved law knowledge and awareness and the observance of the State’s law and military discipline among cadres and troops. The Division’s Party Committee has determined that legal propagation, dissemination and education is a routine task and central point in the annual, quarterly, monthly leading resolutions of all-level party committees and organizations. This work must be combined with political education, ideological management, regularity building and troops’ improved material and mental life. At the same time, it has demanded that the leading resolutions at all levels must correctly assess the situation, work out measures for close, sound leadership, and focus on dealing with weaknesses and “blockage” in legal dissemination and education, regularity building and discipline maintenance of each office and unit. Moreover, the results of conducting this work must be taken as a criterion for the evaluation of cadres and party members and emulation and reward of individuals and collectives. Consequently, party committees and commanders’ awareness and responsibility towards this work have been raised while there have been many renewals in the implementation process in accordance with each office and unit’s function and task.

Renewing and adopting effective approaches

A conference on disseminating law knowledge to officers and professional servicemen in 2017

The issue which concerns the Division’s Party Committee and Command is the approach to carrying out this work. To deal with this issue, the Division has asked offices and units to renew and flexibly employ various forms and methods; to attach great value to combining legal dissemination and education with annual political education; to combine in-service education with regular education; to include this work in training and combat readiness task, field training, and mass mobilization. To make this work more attractive, cadres and law instructors have increased visual forms and methods and made this work relevant to realities and easy to understand and remember, while organizing knowledge contests and dialogues. In addition to promoting the role of cultural institutions and system of internal radio broadcasting and maintaining the orders for “Learning an article of law everyday” and “Day of law”, the Division has effectively adopted a great deal of new forms and methods. Typically, it has organized and regularly operated the “electronic law library” where cadres and troops could study law with diverse, up-to-date knowledge and easy, rapid access.

Special attention has been paid to correctly selecting the contents of education in accordance with objects, task and time limits by the Division. Since 2017, the Division has organized courses for troops to study the Criminal Code (2015), the Military Service Law (2015), the Law on Management and Use of weapons, explosives, and supporting tools (2017), the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets (2017), etc. A part from special topics of law, the Division has proactively held courses for troops to study and grasp legal normative documents, Military Regulations, and directives, guidance and regulations by the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region on management and maintenance of discipline, law and safety within the Military. The Division has demanded that legal education would not only equip troops with knowledge of law but more importantly clarify the necessity and significance of maintenance and observance of law and discipline towards the unit’s fulfilment of political task and troops’ life, thus creating motivations for troops’ study. Yearly, in addition to training reserve forces, the Division has devoted due regard to enhancing legal propagation, dissemination, and education among the reservists, their relatives and family members and the people in the area.

Efforts to transform awareness into action

With the efforts made by organizations and sectors, the Division’s law dissemination and education has been put in order and brought about positive changes in cadres and troops’ awareness of observance of discipline and law. However, transforming the awareness into acts of observing law and discipline requires the great persistence and determination. Thus, the Division has promoted the synergy of organizations and forces while combining encouragement and education with administrative measures in a resolute, flexible, proper manner, particularly in combination with regularity building and discipline management. Focuses have been placed on strictly maintaining the order for study, meeting, daily and weekly work, day off and rest time in accordance with the Division’s particularities as well as on renewing working method and style. Moreover, responsibility of cadres at all levels for offices and units’ discipline management and maintenance has been raised to prevent violations of law and discipline from taking place due to subjectivity and irresponsibility.

Moreover, the Division has concentrated on grasping and stringently maintaining the prohibitions and regulations by the Military Region and the Unit, such as the regulations on uniform during working hours, the prohibitions against drunkenness in any place and at any time, against drinking at lunchtimes or during working hours, against driving military cars out of the mission, and the regulations on management and use of military cars. It has strictly maintained the order for duty, guard and uniform, closely managed troops’ entry and exit, grasped and opportunely, correctly reported cases, and resolutely handled collectives and individuals having discipline violations.

Intensifying the management of ideology, political quality and relationships of troops has been a measure of routine. To do so, the Division has issued and strictly implemented the Regulations on ideological management, compiled documents on ideological and disciplinary situations and remedial measures for young officers. Besides, it has brought into play the role of “group of mental and legal consultation”, Youth Union, Women’s Union, Soldiers’ Council, and guards to grasp and well manage the ideological developments of cadres and troops. It has been proactive in making forecasts about troops’ ideological trend to opportunely prevent, detect and effectively deal with new arising issues, such as borrowing money with high interests, betting, gambling, improper use of social networks in a bid to avoid contingencies related to ideology and discipline violation.

With creative approaches and efforts, the observance of the State’s law and Military discipline within the Division 315 has witnessed progresses. In the first half of 2018, the number of cases of discipline violation has decreased in comparison with that of 2017 while there has been no desertion or absence without permission, which has contributed to making the Division comprehensively strong and enabling it to successfully fulfil the assigned task.

In the foreseeable future, the Division’s task will have new developments with the increasingly higher requirements. Promoting the obtained results, the Division will continue to accelerate the work of law propagation, dissemination and education in parallel with regularity building and discipline management, contributing to improving the synergy and combat strength, accomplishing the assigned task, upholding the tradition of a heroic Division.

Sr. Col. Huynh Van Trong, Commissar of the Division