Live-fire combined rotating exercises are the highest form of training and an important practical basis for evaluating the quality of training and combat readiness of units, and the qualifications and capabilities of officers and commanders at all levels. Through the exercises, agencies and units can draw experience for their leadership, direction, and command; for building training content, programmes and plans. Therefore, there is a need to have practical studies to find solutions to improve the effectiveness of this important activity.

Infantry Division 9 is a main, fully staffed, operational mobile unit of Corps 34 and the Ministry of National Defence. In recent years, along with organisational restructuring as plan, it has focused on ceaselessly improving its overall quality and combat strength, particularly the quality of combat training and live-fire combined rotating exercises. This task is highly inclusive and extremely heavy, containing many difficulties as the units have to change into combat readiness states, and conduct long marches with heavy loads across difficult terrains. During the exercise, its units have to maneuver both by vehicle, on foot, and even river-crossing; handle many complex situations; coordinate with multiple forces; use a large number of vehicles, weapons, and technical equipment; practice different forms of tactics and tasks in complex situations, etc. However, with solidarity and determination, the Division has actively researched, innovated content and methods, and successfully completed the exercise task, through which it was recognised as being capable of receiving and completing tasks well in all situations.

Troops Division 9 conduct exercise

In order to improve the quality of combat readiness training in general and live-fire combined rotation exercises, in particular, this article would like to discuss and share some lessons drawn from the exercises as follows.

First of all, it is necessary to study, supplement and perfect the system of plans and documents of the exercises to include multiple tactical forms, new areas and both combat forces and supplying forces. Usually, in tactical exercises conducted by units in general, and by Division 9 in particular, when building a scenario of the enemy, only one combat object is identified for training and drills. In the meantime, in a combined rotating exercise, it is required to have at least 2 tactical forms with 2 hostile forces within 9 to 12 nights and days or more. On the other hand, it is necessary to decide on the marching routes conducted through different types of terrain while handling possible combat situations.

Normally, the annual live-fire tactical exercises of Division 9 are often conducted on familiar marching routes and firing ranges. Therefore, the factors of enemy, us, terrain, weather, etc. are still subjectively determined, not familiarising the commanding officers with realistic environments, so they have yet to fully promote the positivity and initiative of the officers, as well as train the staff capacity of agencies and the decision-making of the commander. The use of involving forces has yet to be appropriate. Even, the logistics and technical forces mainly participate in the role of supplying forces, not a component closely associated with actions of other forces in the combat formation, etc. To overcome the above issues, in our opinion, it is necessary to promote research, supplementation, and perfection of the system of plans and documents of exercise to include different tactical forms and exercising areas. To do this, human factor should be put into consideration first in the preparation for the exercise, including: the Steering Committee; the Content Team; officers and soldiers of the unit participating in the exercise. In particular, special attention must be paid to the selection of personnel for the establishment of the Content Team who must be highly capable and fully understand the intentions of the Steering Committee, as well as the tactical forms, specifications, regulations on building the scenarios and documents for the exercise. This is the key step that determines the quality of research, compilation of the system of topics and documents that include multiple tactical forms, locations and contents for the forces participating in the exercise. To diversify the tactical forms, the Steering Committee should direct the Content Group to develop 4 to 5 tactical forms for each exercise, with 1 live-fire drill at the shooting range, the remaining forms using air bullets and explosives. The initial intention, plan, and guiding and directing documents of the exercise must cover all fields, namely: staff, politics, logistics, and techniques; fully mention the topics, purposes, requirements, content and time, measures of the commander, involving forces, operating area, supplies, combat missions and intentions of the senior levels, combat missions of the unit conducting the exercise, of friendly units and related localities, etc. This is not a new issue, yet to include all of the above contents, it is required that the steering committee and the content team of the exercise conduct thorough research, training, and instruction.

In reality, the hostile forces are expected to have advantages in high-tech weapons, outstanding reconnaissance capabilities, extensive electronic warfare, high mobility, fast and flexible response; therefore, combat operations will happen very fast and furiously with several complex situations. To achieve the goals and meet the requirements, the combined rotating exercises in general, and those of the division in particular, must familiarise troops and units with actual situations. In particular, the issues of camouflage, deception, maneuvers to maintain secrecy and force preservation need to be carefully studied. In fact, in the exercises conducted by Division 9 in the past years, these issues were mentioned from a general theoretical perspective only, and practiced in basic situations of very simple nature, so the "role-taking" of officers and soldiers was somehow limited. To overcome this problem, it is necessary to continue researching and innovating the content of the exercises, focusing on the mobility, prevention, counterattack, camouflage, deception, diversion, electronic warfare countering, etc. First of all, emphasis should be placed on researching and enhancing maneuver exercises in tactical drills at all scales with incremental difficulty in complex terrain and weather conditions. To achieve the set goals, agencies and units should focus on the above contents right in the training process; promote the combination of maneuver training and river crossing with search and rescue drills during the rainy and stormy season. In addition, there is a need to proactively research and apply scientific and technological advances, combined with manual and on-site measures to thoroughly deploy the camouflage, decoy, and deception in each stage and situation of the drill. Moreover, units must conduct additional practice of difficult and specialised contents to make scenarios more real-life combat situations, including long-distance marches with heavy loads, long-day outdoor stay combined with physical training, etc.

In order to win the Homeland protection war (should it happen), it is a must that we make all-round preparation thoroughly; first of all effectively deal with high-tech warfare. Therefore, it is necessary to apply scientific and technological achievements in the execution of the exercise to improve its effectiveness. This is not an easy task for grassroots units, including Division 9, because their facilities, information technology infrastructure, especially human resources and budget are still limited. However, we can still apply scientific and technological achievements at different extends effectively and economically by: encouraging cadres at all levels to promote research and initiative in applying technology through specific requirements and contents in training and exercises; investing in facilities and technology; making good use of the staff of the specialised agencies and departments who are technological savvy. For higher-level situations, such as: night maneuvers and operations, electronic warfare countering, etc., it is necessary to make thorough practice and preparation beforehand with attention to technical and tactical actions of individuals and small squads, thereby encouraging and promoting creative thinking in handling situations, especially the decisiveness of the commander. On the other hand, the superiors should research, produce and put into use modern simulation equipment to soon narrow the gap between drills and reality. Implementing all these contents will make a breakthrough in exercise, and foster necessary skills for commanders and agencies in staff and command in the digital era.

Improving the quality of live-fire combined rotating exercises is an urgent requirement of special importance in improving the combat capability and combat strength of infantry divisions. This issue should be further studied and discussed, in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of this important work.

Senior Colonel NGUYEN QUYET THANG, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Division