As part of Army Corps 12 – the first elite, compact, strong main corps of our Army, in comparison with other specialised units of the Corps, Tank Brigade 203 is rich in tradition and has obtained great achievements in training, combat readiness, regularity building, discipline management, and the performance of contingency tasks. It should be noted that in recent years, amid the new requirements of Army and unit building, the Brigade has focused its leadership and direction on adopting synchronous measures to comprehensively perform and successfully fulfil all assigned tasks. However, in the process, a part from advantages, the Brigade has been faced with a lot of difficulties as it has a small number of cadres; meanwhile, it has to train many groups of troops, it is assigned to manage a large quantity of technical equipment that has been in use for ages, and its affiliates are scattered in the areas with complicated security and order situation, thus greatly impacting on its task performance and discipline management. Against that backdrop, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have concentrated on leading, directing, and well performing the work of law propagation, dissemination, and education as a central task aimed at achieving a positive change in each cadre and soldier’ observance of State law and military discipline, contributing to making the Brigade “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong and worthy of a role model in training and combat readiness in 2024, successfully fulfilling all assigned tasks.

Inspection of the Brigade’s discipline management caried out by the Army Corps

First of all, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have strengthened their leadership and direction over law dissemination and education. The Brigade has directed all-level party committees, commissars, and commands to frequently grasp higher echelons’ resolutions, directives, and guiding documents on law dissemination and education, particularly Conclusion 80-KL/TW, dated 20^th June 2020 by the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on continuing to implement Directive 32-CT/TW, dated 9^th December 2003 by the 11^th Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on enhancing the Party’s leadership over law dissemination and education, raising cadres and citizens’ law-abiding awareness, Directive 103/CT-BQP, dated 28^th November 2019, by Minister of National Defence on continuing to strengthen discipline management and education and ensure safety within the Vietnam People’s Army. Grounded on those documents, law dissemination and education has been turned into an important part in regular resolutions issued by the Brigade’s Party Committee and all-level party committees and organisations. At the same time, due attention has been paid to developing action plans at all levels with specific tasks, content, forms, time, and groups of troops for law dissemination and education being identified in a scientific, practical manner. In the process, the Brigade has required its offices and units to adhere to Plan 15/KH-HĐ, dated 4^th January 2024, by the Army Corps’ Coordinating Council for Law Dissemination and Education. Besides, party committees and commands of the Brigade’s offices and units have always grasped their yearly, regular tasks to adjust and diversify content, forms, and methods of law dissemination and education. The Brigade has frequently well carried out inspections to opportunely deal with the sign of disregarding law dissemination and education or the perception that this work is responsibility of political offices and cadres only. The Brigade has directed its offices and units to regularly review the work of law dissemination and education to bring into play strong points, settle weaknesses, while considering the performance of this work as a criterion for emulation and commendation as well as for classification and evaluation of party organisations, cadres, and party members.  

Second, actively renewing and diversifying content and forms of law propagation, dissemination, and education. The Brigade has directed its offices and units to educate their cadres and soldiers to grasp the fundamentals of legal normative documents, decrees, circulars, and guiding documents of the State, Ministry of National Defence, and Army Corps, particularly the Road Traffic Safety Law of 2008, the Social Insurance Law of 2014, the Military Service Law of 2015, the Belief and Religion Law of 2016, the Cyber Security Law of 2018, the Explosive Material Management and Use Law of 2019, and other yearly legal topics. The Brigade has focused on disseminating the Vietnam People’s Army’s Troop Management Regulations, 10 Oaths of Honour of soldiers, and 12 disciplinary articles for the relationship with the people among new soldiers.

To raise the effectiveness of the implementation process and cement troops’ confidence, the Brigade has always attached importance to training its pool of law communicators, improving their working methods and responsibility, and ensuring that its communicators would have pure morality, standard lifestyle, and strict observance of discipline and law. To make the content of law dissemination and education easier to remember and follow, the Brigade has brought into play collective knowledge and developed many creative, effective approaches, such as editing and collecting law-related stories, conducting propagation via internal radio systems, promoting the effectiveness of cultural institutions, especially the system of panels, bulletin boards, and photo boards. At the same time, the Brigade has directed its offices and units to transform the Legal Study Day into law-related forums, discussions, and plays. Offices and units have effectively maintained legal study models, such as “studying one article of law every week”, “psychological and legal consultant team”, “Zalo group between units and families”, while stepping up emulation movements, such as “youth union branch with no violation of law and discipline”, “youth and law”, “military cadres and soldiers emulate to develop office culture, deserve to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, and the Campaign titled “military youth and traffic culture” among youth union members and young people.

Against the negative impacts from the outside, in order to encourage cadres and soldiers’ self-study and self-observance of military discipline and State law, the Brigade has regularly closely worked with the Army Corps’ Criminal Investigation Office and Luc Nam district’ Police (Bac Giang province) to deliver topics about the practice of discipline and law inside and outside the Army. At the same time, the Brigade has promoted the role of cultural institutions, such as libraries, reading rooms, Ho Chi Minh halls, internal radio, youth bookcases, and legal book shelves. Up to now, all battalions of the Brigade have built their own legal bookcase under regulations, with nearly 200 legal books to better meet cadres and soldiers’ demands for studying law. Via meetings and briefings, offices and units have regularly opportunely informed cadres and soldiers of violations of discipline and law within the Military, Army Corps, and stationed areas. Doing so has helped the Brigade draw lessons, make a huge positive change in its troops’ awareness and action, and raise its cadres and soldiers’ law-abiding awareness and responsibility.

Third, closely combining law dissemination and education with discipline management, regularity building, emulation movements, and campaigns to achieve the uniformity between cadres and soldiers’ awareness and action. As the Brigade is assigned to manage a large quantity of technical equipment and train a lot of groups of troops with their units being scattered across many areas it has attached paramount importance to grasping and managing troops’ ideology, relationships, and observance of traffic safety regulations especially during the performance of hard tasks, in days off and rest hours, or on leave. Emphasis has been placed on managing non-commissioned officers and soldiers prior to discharge, commissioned officers and professional army men, and vehicle drivers on the road. The Brigade has directed its offices and units to formulate their action plans and seriously closely manage cadres and soldiers in difficulty, those having complicated social relationships, and those having a lack of effort for work to adopt special methods of education. Offices and units have asked each individual to make written commitments to well performing their assigned tasks and not violating traffic safety regulations or social evils, while creating record books within party cells to monitor and report cadres and soldiers’ situation and relationships. Due attention has been paid to promoting the role of psychological and legal consultant teams, frequently maintaining democratic dialogues at all levels, and cooperating with localities and families to grasp troops’ ideological developments and deal with troops’ abnormal manifestations. Offices and units have well maintained movements on discipline management, regularity building, and healthy cultural environment within themselves. The Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have directed offices and units to well combine law propagation, dissemination, and education with political and ideological education, step up the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period, and the Determined to Win Emulation Movement to exert a direct positive effect on troops’ law-abiding awareness and culture.

Thanks to those above-mentioned measures and approaches, Brigade 203’s law dissemination and education work has succeeded in achieving a positive change in cadres and soldiers’ awareness of observing military discipline and State law. The Brigade has witnessed solid, comprehensive changes in discipline management and regularity building; its internal solidarity has been maintained; the relationship between cadres and soldiers has been well managed; it has achieved comprehensive safety; the rate of normal violations has been reduced to less than 0.2%. That is an important foundation for building a pure, typically strong Brigade Party Organisation and excellently strong mass organisations and creating the synergy to successfully fulfil all assigned tasks and bolster the tradition of “lightning speed – daring – winning victory in every battle” of a heroic Brigade.

Sr. Col. NGUYEN DANG NHO

Commissar of the Brigade