Regiment 48, aka Thang Long – Thach Han Regiment (Division 390, Army Corps 1), was founded on February 27^th, 1947 when its member units were fighting the enemy within the formation of Inter-Zone 3 of Huu Ngan Military Region. Over the past 75 years of construction, combat, and development, the Regiment’s generations of cadres and soldiers have always remained united and devoted effort to surmounting difficulties, successfully fulfilling their assigned tasks, and building up the tradition of “vigorously attacking enemies, organising resilient defence, winning magnificent victories, achieving brilliant military exploits.” For its significant achievements, the Regiment has been given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces and many other noble rewards by the State.

To meet the requirements set by the Homeland protection in the new situation, since 1991, under the force adjustment policy, the Regiment has been transformed into a unit mainly staffed by cadres and tasked with training the reserve force. In the new condition, cadres and soldiers of the Regiment have always preserved and brought into play the heroic tradition, focused on building a comprehensively strong Regiment, and kept raising the quality of training and opportunely ensuring military mobilisation readiness to meet the task requirements in all situations, which has been highly appreciated by higher echelons and localities. Since 2020, the Regiment has been assigned to take charge of the phase-1 training of the Air Defence – Air Force Academy’s tactical-level officer cadets. However, affiliates of the Regiment are staffed by cadres at company level and above. Most of the Regiment’s cadres in charge of training are young and inexperienced in management and training. The Regiment’s budget for missions is still limited. Meanwhile, COVID-19 pandemic continues to be complex. Those above-mentioned things have negatively impacted on the Regiment’s task performance. Against such a backdrop, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on closely, seriously, synchronously implementing measures to raise the quality of managing and training officer cadets. In the process, the Regiment has drawn a number of lessons as follows.

First of all, the Regiment has enhanced its all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and direction as a determinant to its quality of managing and training officer cadets. Grounded on higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on education and training, particularly the Central Military Commission 60-KL/QUTW, dated January 18^th, 2019 on continuing executing the Central Military Commission’s 765-NQ/QUTW on raising the quality of training in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond, the Regiment Party Committee has issued a specialised Resolution on training tactical-level officer cadets with specific, feasible, practical contents and measures. At the same time, it has directed its affiliated party committees to grasp and seriously implement its Resolution; they have been required to put the improved quality of managing and training officer cadets at the forefront of their regular resolutions and conclusions. Emphasis has been placed on building up cadets’ political zeal and absolute loyalty to the Homeland, the Party, the State, and the people, improving cadets’ knowledge and creative, assertive thinking, training cadets to master the existing weapons and technical equipment, building regular units and a healthy cultural environment, and encouraging cadets to readily undertake and successfully fulfil all assigned missions. In the process, the Regiment has required all-level key cadres to concretise party committees’ resolutions into action plans/programmes and heighten a sense of responsibility amongst cadres at all levels for making preparations and plans for training work. Due attention has been paid to resolutely fighting against subjectivity and oversimplification in leadership and direction. Besides, consideration has been given to taking the results of units’ training work as a basic criterion for evaluating the task performance of all-level party committees and key cadres, classifying and appointing cadres, analysing and assessing the quality of party organisations and party members, and commending and rewarding collectives and individuals. Doing so has provided the Regiment with a powerful incentive for its task performance.

Combat training for officer cadets

Moreover, the Regiment has attached special importance to making preparations and ensuring logistics-technical support for training work. After the issuance of education and training plans by the Department of Schools, the Regiment has proactively consolidated its organisational structure and recommended Division 390 to deploy capable, experienced cadres to the Regiment for training work, with priority given to sufficiently staffing its platoons and companies. The Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have concentrated their leadership and direction on consolidating affiliated commands and party organisations, youth unions, soldiers’ councils, and cultural institutions for troops under regulations. At the same time, the Regiment has sufficiently prepared training plans, schedules, records, and documents, while investing hundreds of billions of VND and hundreds of working days in preparing training equipment, facilities, and grounds. It has also directed its offices and units to stringently maintain regulations on the training of cadres and required all cadres to attend refresher courses held by the Regiment and higher echelons, with a focus on dealing with weaknesses and new, difficult issues in order to improve its cadres’ professional competence and capabilities in commanding, managing, and organising training work. Via inspections and military contests, all cadres of the Regiment have been recognised to be capable of fulfilling their training task. Besides, all-level party committees and commands have paid due regard to well carrying out the work of political education and ideological management to enable their cadres and cadets to be fully aware of training work, observe the State’s law, the Military’s discipline, and units’ regulations, and overcome all  difficulties in education and training.

In addition to preparatory work, the Regiment has focused its leadership and direction on organising training work closely, scientifically under plans and the motto of “basics, practicality, thorough grasp, synchronicity, and expertise” and combining military training with political education. It has grasped and stringently maintained statutes on education and training, ensured close coordination between its competent offices in directing and organising training work, and considered the results of training work as a yardstick for evaluating each competent office’s capacity to give advice, proposals, directions, and instructions. It has actively renewed contents, forms, and methods of training, increased practical training, opportunely handled weaknesses in training work, required superiors to train their subordinates, asked its offices to train its units, made training courses relevant to combat reality, and organised physical training and high-intensity training to improve cadets’ fitness and physical endurance. It has required all-level cadres to actively apply information technology to designing lesson plans, lectures, and examinations. Military contests and examinations have been closely, seriously organised to allow all-level commanders to grasp the outcome of training cadets. At the same time, significance has been attached to building training models for units to follow and completely handling merit-driven practices or dishonest reports during education and training. In response to the complex developments of COVID-19 pandemic, the Regiment has directed its affiliates to closely combine training work with pandemic prevention and control under higher echelons’ direction and at the request of local party committees and authorities.

Additionally, emphasis has been placed on achieving a breakthrough in military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance. To that end, the Regiment has directed its offices and units to frequently carry out the work of propagation and education to raise their cadres and soldiers’ awareness and responsibility for military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance during training work. The Regiment’s affiliates have reviewed and opportunely, sufficiently supplemented the system of equipment for training work and cadets’ daily life in a standard, uniformed fashion. They have stringently maintained daily and weekly regulations, troops’ military etiquette, intensified inspection work to opportunely rectify the signs of poor or lenient troop management, particularly on national holidays and days off and in rest hours. Moreover, the Regiment has maintained and promoted models, such as “learn one article of law on a weekly basis” and “one law-related question on a daily basis.” Due regard has been paid to ensuring troops’ material and mental life. With such an approach, all cadres and soldiers of the Regiment have always observed the State’s law and the Military’s discipline, with no serious violation and the absolute safety.

Thanks to those above-mentioned synchronous, effective measures, the Regiment has excellently fulfilled the task of managing and training officer cadets. 99.3% of cadets have achieved merit or distinction in the training process. Via inspections by higher echelons, the Regiment’s training work has been highly appreciated. That has laid an important foundation for the Regiment to keep improving the quality of managing and training tactical-level officer cadets (phase-1 training) in the years to come.

Col. NGUYEN QUANG HOA, Commander of the Regiment