Grasping the Government’s Resolution 128/NQ-CP, dated October 11th, 2021 on issuing temporary regulations for “flexible, safe adaptation and effective control over COVID-19 pandemic,” the provincial armed forces of Hung Yen have been proactively overcoming difficulties and synchronously adopting measures to both effectively curb the pandemic and raise the quality of training and combat readiness as the basis for successfully fulfilling their military-defence task in “new normality.”

In spite of profound impacts made by COVID-19 on the province’s socio-economic development and military-defence work, the Provincial Military Party Committee (PMPC) and the Provincial Military Command (PMC) have directed their offices and units to heighten a sense of unity, surmount difficulties, and synchronously take effective measures to achieve the “dual goal” of raising the quality of training and combat readiness and actively participating in COVID-19 prevention and control.

As a result, the provincial armed forces have rather comprehensively fulfilled training programmes for troops, well organised maps-based one-side, one-level command - office exercises, district-level defensive zone exercises, and commune-level defensive combat exercises, proactively held military contests at grass-roots level, and sufficiently taken part in Military Region 3’s contests. In 2020 and 2021, over 80% of troops of the standing force achieved merit or distinction in training courses, while 75% of members of the militia and self-defence force obtained merit or distinction in the training process. Moreover, offices and units have strictly maintained regulations on command, headquarters, and combat readiness duty as well as patrols and guard. They have adjusted and supplemented combat documents and plans for natural disaster prevention and control and search and rescue opportunely, while practising combat projects and effectively responding to non-traditional security challenges to avoid passivity. It should be noted that the provincial armed forces have proactively, synchronously adopted measures of COVID-19 prevention and control within their offices and units. At the same time, thousands of cadres and soldiers and hundreds of vehicles have been mobilised to cooperate with localities in running quarantine zones and checkpoints, thereby making contributions to keeping the pandemic under control, particularly within the districts of Yen My, An Thi, and Phu Cu.

A search and rescue training course on the river

In the upcoming years, together with the development of the task of defending the Homeland, more requirements will be imposed on the province’s defence-security work. Meanwhile, natural disasters and epidemics, especially the COVID-19 pandemic across the country and within the province will be still complex. Thus, to further raise the quality of training and combat readiness as the basis for their brilliant task performance in “new normality,” the provincial armed forces will focus on well implementing several measures as follows.

First, strengthen all-level party committees and organisations’ leadership over training and combat readiness. This measure acts as a determinant to the provincial armed forces’ performance of the training and combat readiness task. Therefore, in “new normality,” offices and units of the PMC shall continue grasping and seriously executing resolutions and directives on training and combat readiness, particularly Directive 106/CT-BQP, dated November 5th, 2021 by the Ministry of National Defence on safe, flexible adaptation and effective control over COVID-19 during combat readiness, training, education, military standard order building, and discipline management and Resolution 280-NQ/ĐU, dated April 10th, 2013 by Military Region 3’s Party Committee on “raising the quality of training in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond.” In the short term, they shall opportunely adjust and supplement measures and targets of training and combat readiness in accordance with the province’s particularities and the developments of COVID-19. Moreover, great value will be attached to exercising flexible, creative leadership and direction over training and combat readiness. Emphasis will be placed on reviewing and supplementing leadership statutes, improving the quality of specialised resolutions on training and combat readiness, and closely combining training and combat readiness with COVID-19 prevention and control under directions by all-level party committees and authorities. To opportunely respond to the pandemic, all-level party committees and commands shall directly approve the adjusted training plans and direct their offices and units to realise those plans. They shall assign party committee members to take charge of inspecting specific contents of training and combat readiness, while resolutely handling carelessness or inattention or the “merit-driven disease” in the training and combat readiness process. Besides, the PMPC will renew and improve party and political work during training and combat readiness, promote the synergy of organisations, and encourage the roles of leadership and direction of individuals and commanders of offices and units over the performance of this important task in “new normality.”

Second, well carry out preparatory work and successfully organise training courses. Combat training plays a core role and acts as an incentive to the improvements in the synergy and combat strength of the entire Military in general, the provincial armed forces in particular. However, the quality of combat training depends on various factors, including the preparatory work and the organisation of training courses. Currently, in “new normality,” this work becomes more important. Hence, in the foreseeable future, the PMPC and the PMC will further direct military agencies at all levels to sufficiently prepare training projects, schedules, records, equipment, facilities, and grounds, actively promote technical initiatives, apply information technology to designing lesson plans, lectures, models, and simulators for training, and give advice to party committees and authorities at all levels on providing land for constructing and expanding training grounds to meet the requirements of training amidst COVID-19 prevention and control. In addition, all-level military agencies shall stringently maintain the training of cadres, with a focus on new or difficult contents or weaknesses pointed out via inspections of training in accordance with the 5K message about COVID-19 prevention delivered by the Ministry of Health. Due attention will be paid to improving all-level cadres’ capabilities in commanding, directing, and implementing the training task to satisfy the requirements of “new normality.”

In tandem with the preparatory work, the organisation of training courses is also of utmost importance, particularly in “new normality.” To that end, military offices and units across the province shall adhere to the training motto of “basics, practicality, and thorough grasp” for the standing force, provide “basic, practical, and qualitative” training for the militia and self-defence force, and organise “basic, practical, and effective” training courses for the reserve force. Significance will be attached to providing synchronous and intensive training, intensifying practical, tasks-based, situations-based, night-time, and manoeuvre training, and enhancing field training marches so as to improve troops’ professional knowledge, skills, and tactics. All-level military agencies shall closely cooperate with local party committees and authorities in grasping the developments of COVID-19 to adopt measures for troop management, adjust training programmes and plans, increase duration of training on weekdays, and maintain readiness for pandemic prevention and control. In the training process, in addition to the 5K message of the Ministry of Health, importance will be attached to enhancing physical training to better troops’ fitness, resilience, and manoeuvrability and holding military medical training courses concerning pandemic prevention and control. Once satisfying the requirements of COVID-19 prevention and control, all-level military agencies shall proactively develop plans to organise command - office, district-level defensive zone, and commune-level defensive combat exercises, with a view to improving all-level cadres’ capabilities in command, direction, operation, and settlement of situations as well as fostering local armed forces’ cooperation with offices, committees, and sectors in handling defence-security issues. All military offices and units across the province shall organise exercises at their levels with good quality in “new normality.”

Third, both increase combat readiness capacity and effectively perform the work of COVID-19 prevention and control. Grasping its higher echelons’ directives on combat readiness in “new normality,” the PMC will direct its offices and units to maintain duty regulations and supplement and perfect combat readiness documents and plans. In this regard, great weight will be added to practising projects on riot, fire, explosion, flood, and storm prevention and combat and search and rescue to readily perform missions in the event. At the same time, due regard will be paid to designing plans and establishing working groups for COVID-19 prevention and control to avoid falling into passivity.

Under the motto of “fighting the pandemic like fighting enemies,” grounded on each area’s practical conditions, the provincial armed forces will synchronously, effectively implement measures of COVID-19 prevention and control in a more proactive manner. While closely managing quarantine zones, military agencies at all levels shall actively give advice to local party committees and authorities and cooperate with competent forces, especially the Public Security Force and the Medical Force in controlling and screening citizens from other localities for COVID-19, tracking infections, and curbing the pandemic. To ensure proactiveness, projects of COVID-19 prevention and control must be formulated in advance, with specific personnel, equipment, and vehicles for possible situations and timely, proper adjustments.

With those above-mentioned measures and a sense of unity, the provincial armed forces of Hung Yen will continue striving to achieve the “dual goal” of raising the quality of training and combat readiness and actively taking part in COVID-19 prevention and control as the basis for successfully fulfilling the military-defence task and making contributions to keeping the pandemic under control and soon restoring the province’s rapid, sustainable socio-economic development.

Sr. Col. NGUYEN CHI CONG, Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Board, Commander of the PMC