Thoroughly grasping the Party’s military-defence guidelines, under the leadership and direction of the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, and especially Military Region 2’s Party Committee and Command, over the years, Division 355 has drastically, synchronously implemented many measures to make itself “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong, with a focus on raising the quality of managing and training the reserve force.

To achieve that goal, first of all, the Division has closely cooperated with localities in preparing and managing sources of reservists. Adhering to the targets, requirements, and tasks set by its higher echelons, on a yearly basis, the Division has proactively prepared plans, quickly released and delivered documents to localities on examining and re-examining the readiness level of the reserve force. It has directed its affiliated offices and units to proactively cooperate with all-level local military agencies in formulating measures to prepare sources of reservists and appoint reservists to units both qualitatively and quantitatively. While reviewing the quantity, quality, and military specialities of reservists and recommending localities to opportunely replace overage reservists by soldiers fulfilling their military service, the Division has directed its offices and units to closely collaborate with localities in paying allowances for frame-B cadres and assign frame-A cadres to work with local military agencies to organise political meetings on grasping the political quality, family background, and task performance of reservists. At the same time, the Division has organised refresher courses to improve professional competence of cadres and employees in charge of management and re-examination, particularly at squad level and above. In recent years, reservists of the Division have been mainly ethnic minority people; therefore, the number of first-class reservists at the A age group has increasingly declined, they have been at fairly advanced ages, and there has been a lack of professional reservists. To deal with that problem, the Division has directed its offices and units to correctly deploy military professional reservists, narrow the areas of mobilisation, organise infantry reserve units within communes and professional reserve units within clusters of communes, and create a favourable condition for mobilisation. As of October, 2021, the rate of reservists deployed to the Division’s units was 94% (the rate of reservist officers was 87%, while the rate of reservist non-commissioned officers and reservist soldiers was above 94%). Nearly 10% of the Division’s reservists are party members. The rate of reservists to be mobilised in the event was rather high, at about 82%.

In order to keep raising the quality of managing and training this important force, the Division has required all-level party committees, commissars, commanders, and political offices to effectively carry out party and political work during the performance of their tasks. Grounded on their task requirements and the particularities of each group of reservists, the Division Party Committee and party cells have issued annual specialised resolutions on leadership over the training of the reserve force together with specific targets, tasks, contents, and measures to improve the training quality and build up a sense of responsibility and determination. At the Division’s request, all important contents in preparations, training, and exercises have been directly approved by all-level party committees. Due attention has been paid to bringing into play the roles of all-level party committees, commanders, commissars, and political offices in employing proper measures to educate and manage each group of cadres, soldiers, and reservists. Emphasis has been placed on clarifying the Military Region Commander’s Combat Training Order, the Law on the Military Reserve Force, tasks of the Military and the Division, and the requirements set by training work in the new situation so that frame-A and frame-B cadres and reservists would raise their responsibility and determination to obtain the highest achievements in the training process. Offices and units across the Division have stepped up the Determination to Win Emulation Movement in an objective, practical, effective manner, opportunely drawn lessons, commended, rewarded, and multiplied typical examples, closely combined ideological work with policy work, and cooperated with local party committees, authorities, and military agencies in helping reservists deal with their difficulties and encouraging them to successfully fulfil their training task.

A one-side, two-level command and office exercise on maps and in the field (photo: quankhu2.vn)

In addition, the Division has renewed contents and methods of training its frame-A and frame-B cadres and reservists. Due to differences in reservists’ age and health, it is hard to organise training courses under a common plan or programme. Thus, the Division has proactively flexibly employed viewpoints and principles of training, closely combined its higher echelons’ orientations and directions with its offices and units’ proposals to properly identify training programmes and contents, consolidated its organisational structure, ensured sufficient cadres for training work, developed training plans and schedules at all levels, and well prepared training materials and grounds.

There is a fact that in order to raise the quality of frame-B cadres and the reserve force, frame-A cadres must have great professional competence and responsibility. Hence, in addition to organising refresher courses on improving frame-A cadres’ general military and specialised knowledge and skills in training new soldiers and the reserve force, the Division has bettered its offices and regimental-level commanders’ knowledge of combat principles at infantry regiment and division levels, regulations on staff and combat, military maps, coordination with localities in organising reserve units, and combat cooperation with friendly units within higher echelons’ formations. The Division has directed its regiments to train their tactical-level cadres to master infantry combat skills, tactics, and methods of designing and approving lesson plans. Regarding frame-B cadres, emphasis has been placed on training them to develop training plans and schedules and improving their skills in preparing lesson plans and their training methods and capacity at tactical level. To keep pace with the development of its tasks, the Division has paid due attention to broadening frame-B cadres’ knowledge of staff, mobilisation, and combat readiness work and enhancing frame-B cadres’ capacity to perform all assigned tasks. Great value has been attached to improving squad and battery cadres’ methods of organising field training courses, managing weapons and equipment, and running units’ practice. In order to raise the effectiveness of training work, prior to the training of the reserve force, the Division has asked frame-A cadres to directly assist frame-B cadres in mastering methods of managing reservists, receiving mobilisation orders, and organising training courses according to their responsibilities. In the training process, units of the Division have assigned frame-A cadres with great professional competence to help frame-B cadres overcome weaknesses. Up to now, all frame-A cadres of the Division have been able to be in charge of training work, and more than 80% of them have achieved merit or distinction in this work. Meanwhile, 40% - 45% of frame-B cadres of the Division have obtained merit in the training process. After each refresher course, frame-B cadres have made remarkable progress, and they have been capable of training their units. That has laid a solid foundation for the Division to successfully perform its training task and satisfy both long-term and short-term requirements.

Concerning its tactical-level units, the Division has ensured sufficient training programmes and steps, from inspection of mobilisation, manoeuvre towards reception zones, and reception of reservists and technical means to other training contents under regulations. In the training process, general knowledge for all troops has been introduced within a day. Units of the Division have closely combined common training with group-based training, with priority given to central training contents, practice, and weaknesses in training work. The Division’s affiliates have also combined military training with political education, discipline management, physical training, and military standard order building, while aligning tactical training with logistics-technical training and improvement in manoeuvrability. The Division has directed its units to assign skilled cadres and soldiers to provide support for incompetent ones, create a favourable condition for their troops to study and practise overtime, exercise democracy during training work, actively organise extra-curricular activities and contests, and step up emulation movements to encourage their cadres and soldiers to surmount difficulties and obtain achievements in training courses. The Division has organised many exercises for its reserve units from squad to regiment levels with the use of air gun pellets, explosives, and guns in order to assess the outcome of training. In 2021, all units of the Division accomplished all training contents and programmes; all troops fulfilled their training task, with 76.5% of them achieving merit or distinction; the Division’s exercise ĐV-21 was successfully held with the absolute safety. Reservists and tactical-level units of the Division have mastered combat skills and tactics. The Division’s synergy and mobilisation readiness capacity have been improved, while the combat readiness capacity of some of the Division’s reserve units has been equal to the main units’.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the Division has paid due regard to providing logistics and technical support for training. To overcome difficulties in funding, the Division has taken advantage of its existing training facilities and upgraded its training grounds and equipment. It has further promoted technical initiatives to innovate training equipment. It has directed its affiliates to carefully prepare accommodation, weapons, and technical equipment for reservists. Policies and entitlements for reservists have been ensured in a sufficient, timely, open manner. As a result, all reservists have been healthy and readily surmounted difficulties to successfully fulfil their training task.

Bringing into play those encouraging results and the national tradition of “sending troops to farms in peacetime,” in the upcoming time, cadres and soldiers of Division 355 will continue devoting effort to building a powerful reserve force as the basis for a “revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern” Vietnam People’s Army.

Sr. Col. LE TRONG THE, Commander of the Division