Founded on February 9th, 1962, Infantry Regiment 1 (Infantry Division 9, Army Corps 4) was one of the first main units on the Southeastern battlefield. Over the past 60 years of construction, combat, and development, the Regiment’s generations of cadres and soldiers have always maintained a sense of unity and great determination to achieve a lot of feats of arms in the resistance war against the U.S., for national salvation, the international mission in Cambodia, and the Homeland protection, thereby building up the Regiment’s tradition of “remaining loyal and courageous, overcoming difficulties, and continuously winning victories.” With its special achievements, the Regiment has been presented with the title of “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces” and many other noble rewards by the State and the Military.

Currently, the Regiment is a fully-staffed main unit tasked with training, combat readiness, and contingencies. In addition to advantages, the Regiment is confronted with numerous difficulties as its cadres and soldiers come from different regions. More seriously, in 2020 and 2021, the prolonged, complex developments of COVID-19 greatly negatively impacted on the Regiment’s training and combat readiness as well as cadres and soldiers’ material and mental life. Meanwhile, more demanding task requirements have been imposed on the Regiment. Against such a backdrop, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have synchronously, drastically adopted many measures to keep raising the Regiment’s synergy and combat strength for the Homeland protection.

First of all, the Regiment has focused on building its cadres and soldiers’ political zeal as the basis for improving its synergy and combat power and fulfilling all assigned missions. The Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have directed affiliated offices and units to step up the work of propagation and education to raise troops’ political awareness and determination to overcome all difficulties and challenges. Emphasis has been placed on rendering troops fully aware of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s military-defence guidelines, all-level resolutions and directives, Vietnam’s partners and opponents, and hostile forces’ plots and artifices. To raise the quality of education, the Regiment has effectively implemented the Project on “renewing political education at military units in the new period,” actively reformed contents, forms, and methods of political and ideological education, and closely combined basic education with regular education in accordance with the task requirements and each group of troops.

Moreover, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have enhanced the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle in tandem with the Campaign titled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period, while encouraging its cadres and party members to set good examples for the masses to follow. In order to opportunely grasp and effectively settle ideological situations, the Regiment has concentrated on decentralising the management of cadres and soldiers’ ideological developments. Cadres at platoon and company levels have been required to maintain a close relationship and solidarity with their troops to grasp their troops’ ideology and opportunely settle ideological issues. Against the prolonged, complex developments of COVID-19, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have directed affiliated party committees and commands to attach importance to stabilising and taking care of troops’ family life. Besides, the Regiment has proactively provided official information for its cadres and soldiers, orientated their ideology, and resolutely fought against the hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy and plots of “depoliticising” our Military. As a result, the majority of the Regiment’s cadres and soldiers have shown their political zeal and great resolve, identified the hostile forces’ plots and artifices, proactively surmounted difficulties, readily undertaken and successfully fulfilled all assigned missions.

An exercise conducted by the Regiment in 2021

Second, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have placed emphasis on raising the Regiment’s combat readiness capacity to meet the task requirements in all situations. Thoroughly grasping higher echelons’ directives, plans, and telegrams on combat readiness, the Regiment has directed its offices and units to frequently review and adjust their combat plans and projects in accordance with their organisational structure, task requirements, objects of combat, and operational areas. In the process, the Regiment has required its affiliates to proactively grasp and correctly anticipate possible situations in order to opportunely, effectively develop remedial measures. In addition, the Regiment has stringently maintained regulations on combat readiness and ensured its strength, weapons, and technical equipment for its missions, particularly on national holidays and during the country’s significant political events. Great value has been attached to strictly maintaining regulations on command, headquarters, and combat readiness duty at all levels. To satisfy the requirements set by modern warfare, the Regiment has focused on training its troops to prevent and retaliate against enemies’ air strikes, holding training courses under harsh weather conditions and in both daytime and night-time, and improving troops’ capacity to deal with the rapid, complex developments of a modern war. The Regiment has closely combined the practice of combat readiness shift with the organisation of long-distance field training marches so as to better its troops’ fitness and skills. Consequently, cadres and soldiers’ combat readiness capacity has been considerably improved, while the Regiment’s combat power has been boosted. Via inspections carried out by the Division, the Corps, and the Ministry of National Defence, the Regiment’s combat readiness capacity has been highly appreciated.

Third, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on realising a breakthrough in raising the quality of training amidst the complex developments of COVID-19. This measure acts as a determinant to the Regiment’s combat readiness capacity and combat strength. Therefore, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have grasped Conclusion 60-KL/QUTW, dated January 18th, 2019 by the Central Military Commission (CMC) on continuing to execute the CMC’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW, dated December 20th, 2012 on improving the quality of training in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond as well as other resolutions and directives by the Division and the Corps on training work. Grounded on those documents, the Regiment has worked towards guidelines and breakthrough measures to raise the quality of training, while requiring its offices and units to develop and effectively implement their resolutions and plans for training task. Measures have been intensified to direct and manage training work in a focalised, uniformed, synchronous, effective manner. Prior to each training season, while carefully preparing training plans and schedules, lesson plans, and lectures, the Regiment has organised refresher courses for its cadres closely, with a focus on new, important contents. In the training process, the Regiment has directed its affiliates to adhere to the motto of “basics, practicality, and thorough grasp,” organise synchronous and intensive training courses, intensify night-time, manoeuvrability training courses in accordance with their combat projects, weapons, technical equipment, and objects of combat. At the same time, offices and units have been asked to strictly implement training programmes and run training courses relevant to their tasks and COVID-19 prevention and control. In order to improve its synergy, the Regiment has directed its affiliates to take tactical training as the centre, technical training as the basis, and tactical-level units’ training as the key. Due attention has been paid to building typical examples in terms of training for other units of the Regiment to follow. Besides, the Regiment has enhanced both regular and irregular inspections and supervisions of training work and resolutely fought against merit-driven practices during training, exercises, and military contests. As a result, the Regiment’s quality of training has been increasingly improved. There has been a positive change in cadres’ training ability and method. Meanwhile, commands and tactical-level units’ independent combat and coordination have been unceasingly perfected.

Fourth, the Regiment has achieved a breakthrough in military standard order building and discipline management to raise its synergy and combat power. The Regiment’s Party Committee and Command has directed offices and units to grasp and strictly follow the State’s law and the Military’s discipline as well as higher echelons’ directives and regulations on military standard order building and discipline management. Offices and units have been required to formulate guidelines and measures in accordance with their tasks, particularly during cadres and soldiers’ performance of COVID-19 prevention and control task within Ho Chi Minh City. To make a positive, solid change in this work, the Regiment has frequently stringently maintained weekly, daily regulations and troops’ military etiquette, stepped up an administrative reform, and built regular, green, clean, beautiful barracks within itself. Moreover, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have asked all-level cadres, especially the key ones to observe the State’s law and the Military’s discipline as typical examples for their subordinates to follow. Offices and units have regularly drawn lessons on military standard order building and discipline management, opportunely rectified weaknesses in this work, and resolutely, seriously handled violations of the State’s law and the Military’s discipline. Thanks to a positive change in troops’ observance of the State’s law and the Military’s discipline, the Regiment’s synergy and combat strength have been raised as the basis for successfully fulfilling all assigned missions.

Bringing into play its tradition and encouraging results, in the time to come, the Regiment will further improve its synergy and combat power and focus on building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong unit capable of satisfying its task requirements.

Col. HOANG NGHIA MINH, Commander of the Regiment