As a main unit of the Military Region 4 stationed in the provinces of Quang Tri and Thue Thien - Hue, the Division 968 is assigned to organise training, maintain combat readiness, and perform other contingency tasks. Over the years, the Division’s Party Committee and Command have synchronously, drastically adopted various measures for making itself comprehensively strong and improving its synergy and combat power to readily undertake and successfully fulfil all assigned missions. As a result, the awareness and responsibility of the Division’s cadres and soldiers towards the building of a comprehensively strong Division have been gradually raised. Great value has been attached to training and combat readiness. The work of military standard building and discipline management has been put in order. The logistics and technical work has been renewed to opportunely, sufficiently provide support for the tasks. The Division has ensured absolute safety and maintained unity within itself. In recent years, the Division’s Party Organisation has been continuously rated strong and pure while the Division has been recognised as a comprehensively strong unit. Many of its collectives and individuals have been awarded by the Military Region 4 and the Ministry of National Defence.

The launch of an emulation movement among the Division’s offices and units

To gain those achievements, first of all, the Division has focused on making itself politically strong as the basis for enhancing its synergy and combat strength. The Division’s Party Committee and Command have frequently improved the all-level party committees and organisations’ leadership and combativeness, attached importance to executing the Directive 184-CT/ĐU by the Military Region 4’s Party Committee Standing Board on building party cells, and combined the training and management of party members with the work of inspection and supervision and the building of pure, strong party cells in line with that of comprehensively strong units. At the same time, it has taken measures for “building a contingent of cadres, particularly at platoon and company levels” with moral qualities, capability, and prestige on a par with their task requirements. Besides, significance has been attached to promoting the role of the command system, Soldiers’ Councils, and mass organisations, building political offices and cadres, and improving their capacity to conduct the party and political work in the performance of tasks. Due regard has been paid to carrying out the work of policy, mass mobilisation, and internal political protection and stepping up the Determination to Win Emulation Movement, the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 on the Party building and rectification as well as the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW and the Central Military Commission Standing Board’s Directive 87-CT/QUTW on studying and emulating Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle.

To raise its troops’ awareness, the Division has regularly educated its cadres and soldiers on the Party’s military-defence guidelines, the Military and Division’s tasks, and the hostile forces’ plots and artifices of sabotage. Notably, it has rendered its troops fully aware of the goals, requirements, criteria, and necessity of building a comprehensively strong unit in the current period. The Division has required its offices and units to effectively implement the Project on “renewing political education at military units in the new period,” combine political education with the execution of Grass-Roots Level Democratic Regulations, and align basic education with education of their tradition in order to create a huge positive change in their cadres and soldiers’ awareness and responsibility. As a result, on a yearly basis, all cadres and soldiers of the Division have achieved good results in political examination while over 85% of its party members have successfully and excellently fulfilled their task. It should be noted that the Division has promoted the role of mass organisations in cooperating with local party committees, authorities, and unions in signing and executing movements and campaigns, such as “the Division’s cadres and soldiers join hands in building new-style countryside,” “joining hands for the poor - no one left behind,” and “women support border women, March of border defence.” At the same time, it has cooperated with other units and localities in searching, collecting, and repatriating martyrs’ remains, grasping the political security situation in the stationed areas, and enhancing military diplomacy via the programs to help Laotian military units to organise training and build training grounds, thereby strengthening the special unity and friendship between Vietnam and Laos.

In addition to making itself politically strong, the Division has focused on improving its training quality and combat readiness capacity. Grasping the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW and the Military Region 4’s Party Committee’s Resolution 269-NQ/ĐU on “raising the training quality in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond,” and the Military Region Commander’s Command, the Division’s Party Committee has issued a specialised Resolution and directed affiliated offices and units to execute its Resolution and develop their action programs with specific targets and goals relevant to their assigned task and groups of troops. Grounded on the Division’s Resolution, prior to each training season, offices and units have built their training plans, organised training courses for their cadres, sufficiently and qualitatively prepared the system of lesson plans and training materials and grounds. In the training process, the Division has required its units to adhere to the motto of “basics, practicality, and thorough grasp,” attach great value to organising synchronous and intensive training, political, military, technical, and logistics training as well as night-time, tactical, and joint combat training in the condition of hi-tech warfare. A part from a reform in training content and method, the Division has concentrated on sharing combat experiences, applying information technology to training, joint training, and exercises, and combining training with long-distance loaded training marches. After each training section, units have organised examinations as the basis for drawing lessons and raising the quality of other ones. In 2019, all troops of the Division well fulfilled the training requirements, 82% of them accomplished the training program with credit and distinction. The Division took part in the Military Region’s maps-based one-side, 2-level command-office exercise and the live-firing defensive zone exercises in the provinces of Quang Binh and Quang Tri with good results and absolute safety.

Together with the training work, the Division has strictly maintained the order for command and combat readiness duty, frequently completed the system of combat readiness documents, and practised the projects for natural disaster, fire, and explosion prevention and control and search and rescue in the areas. In 2019 alone, the Division successfully fulfilled the task of natural disaster mitigation in the district of Minh Hoa, Quang Binh province, which was highly appreciated by the local party committees, authorities, and people. Besides, the Division has closely cooperated with the Provincial Military Commands of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thue Thien - Hue in maintaining readiness for manoeuvre and handling the A2 situation as well as promoting the role of the reserve force in grasping, providing, and dealing with information relating to political security in the areas.

Educating the Division’s troops on its tradition

For the work of military standard order building and discipline management, the Division has stringently executed higher echelons’ documents and directives, particularly the Guidance 800/QH-ĐL by the Department of Politico-Military Training under the General Staff on building comprehensively strong, “typical, exemplary” units in order to make a positive change in its cadres and soldiers’ ideology and action. At the same time, it has asked its affiliates to strictly maintain the daily, weekly regulations and report and closely manage their troops at each level. Units of the Division have been required to enhance the quality of maintaining soldiers’ manners both inside and outside the units, resolutely prevent and stringently deal with violations of discipline, and ensure training and traffic safety. With its troops’ physical effort and revenue from its agricultural production, the Division has upgraded its facilities and built bonsai gardens and a system of panels and boards in a synchronous, uniform manner within its offices and units, thereby contributing to making its affiliates’ barracks standard, green, clean, and scenic.

Due regard has been paid to the logistics and technical work. While proactively dealing with difficulties and promoting internal resources and higher echelons’ logistics support, the Division has directed its affiliates to effectively implement the emulation movements, namely “the Military Logistics Branch follows Uncle Ho’s teachings,” “building and making units good at military catering and close management of military supplies,” and “building and managing standard, bright, green, clean, and scenic barracks.” It has frequently maintained sufficient amount of reserve logistics materials for combat readiness under the regulations, provided adequate military supplies for its troops, effectively promoted its concentrated processing stations, and stepped up animal and crop husbandry, thereby improving its troops’ life. The all-level logistics offices within the Division have enhanced the work of inspecting food hygiene and fresh water, well looked after and ensured troops’ health (98%), and encouraged the model of “combined military-civilian medical services.” Moreover, the Division has grasped and well implemented the regulations by the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region 4 on the financial work, effectively used budget and oil, and avoided wastefulness. Regarding the technical work, the Division has regularly provided sufficient weapons and technical equipment for training, combat readiness, and contingency missions. It has developed a plan to synchronously build depots and technical stations, improved the quality of technical work at the three levels, stringently maintained the order for Technical Day and Technical Hour, and closely inspected the system of depots, stations, vehicles, machinery, weapons, and technical equipment to prevent them from degrading. Besides, it has stepped up the Campaign entitled “managing and exploiting weapons and technical equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically, and ensuring traffic safety” and the movement to “promote technical initiatives and innovations.”

With the achievements mentioned above, over the years, the Division 968 under the Military Region 4 has been continuously recognised as a comprehensively strong unit and successfully fulfilled all assigned tasks.

Sr. Col. Pham Van Dung

Commander of the Division 968