Being founded on January 6th, 1947, Regiment 102, aka Capital Regiment, under Division 308 of Army Corps 1 was one of the first main regiments of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA). Immediately after the establishment, in response to President Ho Chi Minh’s Appeal for National Resistance, under the spirit of “sacrificing for the Homeland,” cadres and soldiers of the Regiment courageously fought to pin French troops down during 60 days and nights, thereby enabling our Party Central Committee, Government, and key agencies to move north towards Viet Bac War Zone safely. On September 19th, 1954, within our VPA’s formation for takeover of Hanoi capital city, at Hung Kings’ Temple (Viet Tri city, Phu Tho province), cadres and soldiers of the Regiment were honoured with Uncle Ho’s teachings: “The Hung Kings founded this nation. We must defend it together.” Those words are not only a sacred command for cadres and soldiers of the Regiment, but also a proclamation for the entire Vietnamese people in the national liberation, construction, and protection cause. Since 1979, the Regiment was developed into the first motorised infantry unit of our VPA. Over the past 75 years of construction, combat, and developments, with its brilliant achievements, the Regiment has been given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces (1973), Third-Class Fatherland Protection Order (2017), and many other noble rewards by the State and the VPA. 4 collectives and 3 individuals from the Regiment have been presented with the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces.

Currently, in addition to training and combat readiness as its central political mission, the Regiment is assigned to manoeuvre for other contingency tasks, such as military diplomacy, natural disaster prevention and control, and search and rescue. A part from advantages, the Regiment is faced with a lot of difficulties. Educational backgrounds of its troops are different. Several cadres’ experience in managing and commanding troops and settling issues are still limited. Weapons and technical equipment have been in use for ages and thus deteriorated. Social evils and COVID-19 pandemic in the Regiment’s stationed area are complex and profoundly negatively impact on the Regiment’s task performance. Against that backdrop, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on synchronously, comprehensively adopting measures for enhancing political and ideological education, discipline management, and safety assurance as a breakthrough.

Educating new soldiers on the Regiment’s tradition

Under those guidelines, the Regiment has strengthened its leadership and direction and promoted all-level party committees and commands’ responsibility for this important work. This measure plays a decisive role in the building of an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Regiment as the basis for improving its task performance. To that end, the Regiment Party Committee has issued a specialised Resolution on military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance with specific contents and solutions. It has required all-level party committees and commands to put military standard order building and discipline management at the forefront of their regular resolutions and conclusions, with a focus on fulfilling the targets of “democracy, discipline, exemplification, safety, and effectiveness” mentioned in the Resolution of the Regiment Party Committee. In the process, the Regiment has promoted the roles of key cadres at all levels in concretising their party committees’ resolutions into action plans and regulations within their units, while requiring them to match their words with action and heighten their responsibility to set good examples for their inferiors and soldiers to follow. Moreover, offices and units of the Regiment have encouraged cadres, party members, and the masses to write commitments not to violate the VPA’s discipline or the State’s laws. Due attention has been paid to executing the 12th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 on the Party building and rectification, stepping up the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, and implementing Determination to Win Emulation Movement and campaigns, particularly the campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period.

To raise troops’ awareness and build up troops’ disciplinarian lifestyle, the Regiment has attached importance to combining political education with legal propagation, dissemination, and education. While fulfilling contents and programmes of political education and legal propagation and dissemination under regulations, it has directed its offices and units to render troops fully aware of higher echelons’ directives, regulations, and guiding documents on ideological education, discipline management, and safety assurance. In this regard, emphasis has been placed on Directive 103/CT-BQP, dated November 28th, 2019 by the Ministry of National Defence on continuing strengthening discipline education and management and safety assurance within the VPA, Directive 22/CT-TM, dated July 5th, 2019 by Chief of the VPA’s General Staff on several measures for discipline education and management and safety assurance within the VPA, Dispatch 1740/CT-TH, dated September 1st, 2020 by the VPA’s General Department of Politics on enhancing leadership and direction to prevent serious violations of discipline and suicides at military units, and Dispatch 683/CT-TH, dated September 12th, 2019 by Army Corps 1’s Political Department on enhancing leadership and direction over ideological education and management to prevent violations of law and discipline and contribute to maintaining and bringing into play the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers.” Offices and units of the Regiment have carefully selected contents of propagation and education relevant to each group of troops, with significance attached to small-scale, independent affiliates. Besides, they have proactively, flexibly employed methods and forms of propagation and education and combined propagation and education with ideological orientation and discipline management via forums, dialogues, and troops’ training and combat readiness activities. The Regiment has actively cooperated with Army Corps 1’s Criminal Investigation Office and Quoc Oai District’s Public Security in disseminating Criminal Code and Law on Road Traffic and opportunely providing information about violations of law and discipline across the VPA for troops on a monthly, quarterly basis. Affiliates of the Regiment have brought into play their internal radio systems, panels, slogans, photo boards, legal bookcases, and models, such as “learn one article of law on a weekly basis,” “one law-related question on a daily basis,” and “team of legal consultants.” As a result, cadres and soldiers of the Regiment have been equipped with comprehensive knowledge of law; their awareness and responsibility towards military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance have been considerably raised.  

Furthermore, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have directed offices and units to strengthen ideological management and orientation and stringently maintain discipline and regulations as a measure of utmost importance. The Regiment has required its affiliates to proactively grasp, analyse, manage, anticipate, and well settle troops’ ideological issues. Consideration has been given to grasping troops’ political and family backgrounds, moral qualities, lifestyle, task performance, aspirations, and social relationships. Doing so has provided a solid foundation for the Regiment to opportunely orientate troops’ ideology, particularly prior to difficult, complex, independent missions. The Regiment has frequently organised training courses to improve all-level cadres’ skills in grasping, managing, and dealing with troops’ ideological issues. It has effectively maintained the operation of its “teams for psychological, medical, and legal consultancy and assistance,” Political and Cultural Day, and Legal Study Day, well implemented Regulation on Democracy at Grass-Roots Level, and brought into play cultural institutions to create a democratic, open atmosphere for troops to share their feelings, opinions, and problems. Offices and units of the Regiment have closely cooperated with local authorities and unions and families in grasping and managing troops’ ideological issues, opportunely, completely settling troops’ negative thoughts, and helping troops to stabilise their psychology, surmount their difficulties, and keep their mind on their work. The Regiment has directed its offices and units to combine ideological work with military standard order building and discipline management. Affiliates of the Regiment have also been required to regularly review and promulgate plans, guiding documents, and statutes in a uniformed way, and strictly maintain daily and weekly regulations on work and study. Measures have been intensified to manage personnel, facilities, weapons, technical equipment, and troops’ vehicles. The Regiment has resolutely strictly handled violations of law and discipline committed by its troops, while identifying responsibilities of each organisation and person for those violations. At the same time, it has proactively well carried out ideological work to create a favourable condition for troops to correct their weaknesses. Consequently, the quality of military standard order building and discipline management across the Regiment has witnessed a positive change, while its troops’ law-abiding awareness has been gradually raised. In 2021, the Regiment guaranteed absolute safety and the rate of normal violations was below 0.2%.

Thanks to those synchronous, effective measures, the Regiment has achieved a huge positive change in ideological education, discipline management, and safety assurance as the basis for building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Regiment capable of successfully fulfilling all assigned missions. That outcome will provide an important prerequisite for the Regiment to continue bringing into play its heroic tradition and keep raising its synergy and combat strength for the Fatherland protection in the new situation.

Col. NGUYEN DUC TOAN

Commissar of the Regiment