Tay Ninh is a border province located in the Southern key economic region and holds a position of strategic importance to Military Region 7’s defence-security posture; it has been selected as a role model of the building of defensive zones for other localities to follow by our Party and Government. This is a heavy task but also a favourable condition for the province to enhance its military-defence task, construct increasingly solid defensive zones at all levels, and build a strong reserve force to contribute to consolidating national defence and protecting the Homeland in the new situation. Being fully aware of that, over the years, the Provincial Military Party Committee (PMPC) and the Provincial Military Command (PMC) have advised the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People’s Committee to issue directives and resolutions on military-defence work, with the building of a strong reserve force acting as a central task of party organisations, authorities, and the entire political system. Grounded on those documents, all-level military offices have enhanced the propagation of the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws and policies as well as relevant documents on building the reserve force so as to make contributions to raising public awareness of the role of the reserve force in the new situation.

In order to build a strong reserve force as the basis for staffing units, annually, the PMC has developed a plan to mobilise the reserve force for training and exercises, inspect mobilisation readiness, and examine and re-examine the reserve force, while organising a conference on coordination between localities and units in this work. All-level military offices have strictly maintained regulations on reservist registration and demobilisation of reservists. Soldiers who had fulfilled their military service have been closely managed at localities and directly received at districts and cities’ military offices, with a view to thoroughly grasping their quantity and the quality of their military professions. Moreover, military offices at all levels have also closely carried out the registration of the re-examination of sources of reservists and technical means of the national economy, while assisting localities in establishing steering boards or working groups in charge of re-examination and review at hamlet level and above in order to comprehensively manage reservists, demobilise overage or unhealthy reservists, and ensure uniform, synchronous management at provincial, district, and commune levels. The system of records of reservist registration and management has been completed both qualitatively and quantitatively on a yearly basis to facilitate the management, training, and appointment of reservists.

Grounded on reserve units’ organisational structure and sources of reservists, the PMC has directed military offices of districts and communes to appoint reservists to reserve units in accordance with reservists’ military professions and each area’s particularities. As a result, the quality and effectiveness of the building of the reserve force, especially this force’s political quality and the accuracy of reservists’ military professions have been gradually improved. Up to now, the whole province has fulfilled all targets of mobilisation of reservists for units assigned by higher echelons. 9.4% of reservists are party members, and 48.7% of reservists are youth union members.

In addition to registration, management, and deployment of reservists, offices and units of the PMC have concentrated on making preparations for training courses and exercises designed for the reserve force, thereby contributing to improving this force’s synergy and combat readiness capacity in the event. On a yearly basis, the number of reservists taking part in training courses, exercises, and mobilisation readiness examinations has always reached 99.98% of the target; all reservists have passed examinations, with 75% - 80% of them achieving merit or distinction. In 2021, the PMC directed Go Dau district to mobilise and train frame-B cadres from squad to battalion levels. It directed Tan Bien district to organise mobilisation readiness examinations and hold training courses for the reserve force to participate in defensive zone exercises. It also directed Infantry Regiment 74 to mobilise and train the reserve force on a large scale. Besides, it directly mobilised and trained 1 reserve battalion and 3 reserve companies with good results. Via training courses and exercises, all-level cadres’ political quality and capabilities in organisation, command, and management as well as the reserve force’s professional competence, tactics, and combat readiness have been bettered. During mobilisation readiness and combat readiness examinations, training courses, and exercises, the province’s reserve force has always successfully fulfilled its assigned tasks.

From the building, management, and training of the reserve, the PMPC and the PMC have drawn several main lessons as follows.

1. Frequently attach importance to the work of education to raise awareness and responsibility of the province’s sectors, armed forces, and people towards the building of the reserve force. Although it is located in a key economic region, Tay Ninh is confronted with a lot of economic difficulties, differences in the people’s educational background, and the hostile forces’ sabotage strategy. That situation greatly, negatively impacts on the performance of military-defence task in general, the building of the reserve force in particular. Hence, all-level military offices should regularly give advice to local party committees and authorities on carrying out the work of political and ideological education to raise cadres, party members, and citizens’ responsibility for the building of the reserve force. They should develop contents of propagation and education in accordance with the particularities of each locality and reserve unit. Emphasis should be placed on rendering all organisations and citizens and the entire political system fully aware of the Party’s military-defence guidelines, localities’ military-defence task, and the building and mobilisation of the reserve force in the event. Due attention should be paid to regularly, continuously carrying out the work of propagation and education prior to, during, and after training courses, exercises, and mobilisation readiness examinations designed for the reserve force as well as via military call-up and defensive zone exercises. In the process, it is necessary to enhance 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, the Determination to Win Emulation Movement, and localities’ Patriotic Emulation Movement. Doing so will help make a positive change in public awareness of the building of the reserve force and encourage the participation of the whole political system in this work.

2. Focus on preparing and managing sources of reservists. This is a step of decisive importance to the reserve force’s synergy. It should be noted that within the province, the process of industrialisation and modernisation is now taking place robustly, which leads to free migration and causes difficulties in demographic and social management. Meanwhile, most of members of the reserve force are main breadwinners of their families; leaving their hometowns for industrial and export processing zones are, therefore, unavoidable. Managing those people now becomes more difficult. In fact, we could well manage sources of reservists only when members of the reserve live and work within their localities. In order to enable reservists to settle down in their localities, all-level military offices should advise local party committees and authorities to synchronously implement various measures. More specifically, due regard should be paid to constructing vocational training centres for reservists and recruiting reservists to politico-social agencies, organisations, and unions as well as professional associations within localities. Via war veterans’ associations and politico-social unions, it is important to establish funds to provide financial assistance for demobilised soldiers or reservists in difficulty. Local party committees, authorities, and unions should cooperate with reserve units in opportunely giving encouragements to reservists’ families under preferential treatment policies and providing support for reservists’ families affected by natural disasters or epidemics. At the same time, it is vital to resolutely handle acts of evading military service and reservist registration by relevant offices, units, families, and reservists themselves.

3. Concentrate on improving all-level cadres’ professional competence and capability in training organisation. Due to diverse groups of reservists, differences in their age, health, and educational background, and short periods of training, all-level cadres, particularly at grass-roots level play a role of paramount importance to the results of the training of the reserve force. Therefore, offices and units should attach significance to building a contingent of cadres at offices in charge of operations and training and consolidating a pool of cadres in charge of training work within units. Prior to each training season for the reserve force, it is essential to organise refresher courses for both frame-A and frame-B cadres, with emphasis placed on requiring superiors to train their subordinates, settling weaknesses and shortcomings in previous years, and reaching agreement on difficult, new training contents. Great value should be attached to bettering frame-A cadres’ skills and capabilities in giving advice on combat training and organising, managing, and running training courses. As for frame-B cadres, due attention should be paid to improving their skills, tactical knowledge, and methods of training and managing their units. Doing so will enable the reserve force to readily take part in natural disaster and riot prevention and combat and make contributions to raising this force’s synergy and combat readiness capacity to meet its task requirements.

Those above-mentioned results and lessons lay an important foundation for the province of Tay Ninh to keep boosting the quality of managing and training the reserve force, improving this force’s combat readiness capacity, and making contributions to increasing military-defence potential of the locality and the country as a whole.

Sr. Col. NGO THANH DONG, Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Board, Deputy Secretary of the PMPC, Commander of the PMC