Over the past 75 years of construction, combat, and development¹, under the leadership and direction from the Party, the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, Military Region 3’s Party Committee and Command, and particularly the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, and the Provincial People’s Committee, thanks to coordination between local offices, committees, and unions as well as support by people from all walks of life, the provincial armed forces of Nam Dinh have overcome all difficulties and remained courageous in combat to gain glorious achievements and build their tradition of “unity, proactiveness, creativity, and determination to win.”

In the resistance war against French colonialists, the provincial armed forces closely collaborated with main military units in conducting more than 16,000 battles, annihilating and arresting 28,872 enemy troops, destroying 284 military vehicles, shooting down 2 aircraft, and seizing hundreds of tons of the enemy’s military equipment. In the resistance war against US imperialists, for national salvation, when the enemy escalated the war in the North, troops and citizens of Nam Dinh maintained both production and combat and provided human and material resources for the South battlefield. The provincial armed forces engaged in over 2,000 battles, shot down 110 aircraft, and destroyed 3 warships. The province of Nam Dinh recruited more than 164,400 young citizens to the Military and mobilised over 1 million tons of foods, goods, weapons, and equipment for the front line. 23,482 citizens of Nam Dinh bravely sacrificed their life, while 10,460 war veterans left part of their bodies on battlefields to make contributions to completely liberating the South and unifying the country.

In the period of national construction and protection, the provincial armed forces have continued obtaining remarkable achievements, playing a core role in performing military-defence work and building the all-people national defence and the posture of all-people national defence associated with the posture of people’s security, and cooperating with other forces in maintaining political security and ensuring social order and safety to facilitate the province’s development.

In recent years, grasping resolutions and directives by the Party, the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, and Military Region 3’s Party Committee and Command, the Provincial Military Party Committee and the Provincial Military Command (PMC) have assisted the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, and the Provincial People’s Committee in issuing resolutions, directives, plans, and projects on military-defence work in each period. They have frequently consolidated all-level steering boards and defence and security councils and built strong defensive zones. At the same time, they have given instructions on performing military-defence work in accordance with localities’ particularities. Significance has been attached to enhancing leadership, direction, and state management of local party committees, authorities, and heads of offices, departments, and sectors towards this important work. As the Standing Agency of the Provincial Defence and Security Education Council, the PMC has given advice on enhancing the work of propagation and education relating to military-defence tasks and the Homeland protection for the province’s Party Organisation, authorities, people, and armed forces, while providing defence and security education for all citizens, particularly leaders of authorities and sectors, religious dignitaries, business owners, and vessel owners. Due attention has been paid to disseminating knowledge of defence and security, especially legal documents on defence and security amongst the people, providing official information, orientating citizens’ ideology, and actively preventing, combating, and unmasking hostile forces’ plots and artifices. As a result, cadres, party members, and citizens’ awareness and responsibility for the Homeland construction and protection have been considerably raised.

Moreover, the PMC has proactively synchronously, comprehensively implemented plans and projects on military-defence work, developed potential of various types within defensive zones, and realised the policy on combining socio-economic development with defence-security consolidation. The provincial armed forces have cooperated with local departments, committees, and sectors in closely appraising socio-economic development projects to guarantee defence-security consolidation in the new period. The PMC has well organised provincial and district-level exercises, defensive combat service drills for departments and sectors, civil defence exercises on typhoon response and search and rescue as well as COVID-19 prevention and control drills and commune-level defensive combat exercises. Via such exercises, leadership, direction, and settlement of defence-security situations by the province’s party committees, authorities, departments, sectors, and armed forces have been improved. The work of selecting and enlisting citizens into the Military has been carried out in a synchronous, democratic manner. The provincial armed forces have actively taken part in new-style countryside construction, natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control, search and rescue, which has been highly appreciated by local party committees, authorities, and citizens. At the same time, due attention has been paid to well implementing mass mobilisation work, policy work for people with meritorious services to the revolution, and policies for the Army Rear, thus making contributions to building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds.” Besides, the provincial armed forces have always focused on the Party building and rectification in tandem with the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle and the Campaign titled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” so as to build up cadres and soldiers’ political zeal and encourage troops to readily undertake and successfully fulfil all assigned missions.

A leader of the Ministry of National Defence inspecting the provincial armed forces’ combat readiness for protecting the 13th National Party Congress

Over the past 75 years of construction, combat, and development, the provincial armed forces have made significant contributions to national liberation, construction, and protection. With those outstanding achievements, the provincial armed forces have been given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces and 2 Third-Class Homeland Protection Orders by the State; they have been given the Emulation Flag (in 2020 and 2021) and many other noble rewards by the Ministry of National Defence.

Currently, our country is more deeply and widely integrating into the world. Impacts made by the 4^th industrial revolution, particularly in cyberspace are imposing higher requirements on the Homeland protection. Hostile forces continue stepping up sabotage against our Party, State, and armed forces. Climate change, epidemics, and other non-traditional security challenges profoundly impact on military-defence work and the Homeland protection. Therefore, the Provincial Military Party Committee and the PMC decide to continue promoting the glorious tradition and building “revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern” armed forces capable of successfully fulfilling military-defence tasks as the basis for the province’s rapid, sustainable development, with a focus on several measures as follows.

First, keep grasping and realising the Resolutions of the 13^th National Party Congress, the 11^th Military Party Congress, and especially the 20^th Provincial Party Congress for the 2020-2025 tenure. The provincial armed forces should proactively give advice to the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, and the Provincial People’s Committee on concretising those Resolutions into action programmes/plans, closely directing military-defence work, and promoting the synergy created by the entire political system and people to make the all-people national defence, the posture of all-people national defence, the posture of people’s security, and the posture of “people’s hearts and minds” increasingly strong.

Second, grasp and seriously, effectively execute the Central Military Commission Standing Board’s Resolution 847-NQ/QUTW, dated December 28^th, 2021 on bringing into play the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” and resolutely combating individualism in the new situation. Doing so will help achieve a huge positive change in building politically strong provincial armed forces and a typically pure, strong Provincial Military Party Organisation and making all-level party committees and commands capable of leading the provincial armed forces to successfully fulfil all missions.

Third, attach importance to making the provincial armed forces “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong, effectively implementing the Project on the organisation of the Vietnam People’s Army in the period of 2021-2030, and building a “compact, strong” standing force, a powerful reserve force, and a “strong, extensive” militia and self-defence force. Besides, it is important to actively improve training courses, military contests, manoeuvrability, combat readiness, and exercises and align training with discipline management, military standard order building, and safety assurance within offices, units, and areas.

Fourth, continue raising the quality of the building and operation of all-level defensive zones to meet both long-term and short-term task requirements. It is essential to review and appraise socio-economic development projects to ensure a combination of socio-economic development and defence-security consolidation.

Fifth, proactively foster coordination to maintain political security and social order and safety. It is necessary to promote the provincial armed forces’ core role in natural disaster prevention and control and search and rescue as a combat mission in peacetime, well carry out mass mobilisation work, and implement policies for the Army Rear to contribute to building strong political bases.

Bringing into play their glorious tradition, cadres and soldiers of the provincial armed forces of Nam Dinh will continue heightening solidarity, surmount all difficulties, and successfully fulfil all assigned missions to deserve to be an army ready for combat, for work, and for production in the Homeland construction and protection.

Sr. Col. LUONG VAN KIEM, Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Board, Commander of the PMC
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1- The PMC of Nam Dinh was founded on April 20^th, 1947