The central political task of Signal Brigade 601 is to ensure communications for Military Region 1 (MR1) Command to lead and direct the main force and the local forces in the provinces within its area of operation. Deeply aware of the task and the importance of maintaining the "blood vessel" of communication, over the years, the Brigade Party Committee and Command have strictly followed the reality and characteristics of its assigned tasks, and set out solutions for comprehensive leadership and direction of all work aspects.
Notably, it has led and directed to build the Brigade into a unified block of will and action; pay attention to building pure and strong party organisations in politics, ideology, morality, structure and personnel, and comprehensively strong, "exemplary and typical" unit; render its cadres, especially those in command of units stationed in remote, isolated and extremely difficult areas "both red and expert" to meet requirements and tasks; conduct spiritual education, nurture the will to overcome difficulties, self-reliance, self-resilience, high determination when performing tasks in the condition of independent operation and insufficiency in all aspects, etc. In order to turn that determination into reality, the Brigade conducts thorough brief of the Party's defence and military lines, directives and resolutions at all levels, in addition to the “four Goods, three Nos", "three Upholds, five Againsts” contents to all troops; direct each unit and individual to develop plans and make commitment to realise the target in a specific and relevant manner.
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Commander of the Military Region presenting the Brigade with the Second-Class Homeland Protection Order |
Its affiliated departments and units have enhanced political and legal education for their troops through various forms suitable to the nature of their tasks, cognitive levels and working environment; promoted the study and follow-up of Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and style by taking realistic measures, creating a spillover effect and having a positive impact on each cadre, party member and the masses. This is also an effective measure to build cadres and soldiers with solid political zeal, promote exemplification, solidarity, determination, and to improve revolutionary morality, maintaining and promoting the quality of "Uncle Ho's Soldier" in the new period; repel the degradation of political ideology, morality, lifestyle, internal "self-evolution" and "self-transformation", etc. As a result, 100% of the brigade's officers and soldiers strictly abide by State law, Military discipline, regimes and disciplines in communication. In 2020, the Brigade Party Committee and 100% of Party members successfully completed their tasks, in which 97.31% were rated good and excellent, and 100% of agencies and units are rated comprehensively strong.
Moreover, the Brigade maintains strict watch mode to ensure smooth and stable line of communication. Adhering to the motto of "Proficient at traditional signal - Elite in mobile signal - Mastering modern signal", the Brigade Party Committee and Command set forth guidelines and solutions to lead and implement in a practical manner. Affiliated departments and units thoroughly grasp and strictly abide by orders, directives and instructions of the Ministry of National Defence, MR1 and functional agencies on combat readiness and communication support; adjust and supplement the system of documents on combat readiness and communication in accordance with the requirements, instructions of higher echelons and the reality of the unit; hold practice and drill to master the plans; strictly maintain watch mode at all levels and stations, concentrating on peak days, such as anniversaries, holidays, Tet, important events of the country; at the same time, handle all communication situations well, firmly grasp the situation round the clock, not to be made passive or surprised.
In order to maintain the effective and stable communication system, the Brigade focuses on the breakthrough in improving its training quality. As it is holding training for different subjects of different majors with a large number of watch forces, meanwhile, the task of communication support is always developing with increasing requirements, new and modern hardware while the training experience of a number of officers is still limited; every year, the Brigade thoroughly briefs and issues specific plan to implement Resolution No. 765-NQ/QUTW of the Central Military Commission and Resolution No. 703-NQ/ĐU of the MR1 Party Committee on improving the quality of training; combat training orders of MR1 Commander and the instructions of the superior authorities to each unit, focusing on small and independent units, operating far away from the Brigade Command. On the other hand, sticking to the motto of "basics, practicality, solidity, safety, thrift", the Brigade requires its units to hold synchronous and comprehensive training of contents and programs for all troops, focusing on specialised and in-depth training on communication, specific task, and equipment to master new and modern hardware. To make it highly effective, the Brigade directs its agencies and units to develop concrete training plans and schedules; hold refresher courses for trainers with contents and methods relevant to task requirements; approve 100% of the lesson plans through trial teaching; invest in training facilities, etc. At the same time, it focuses on regular and irregular inspection of training; has objective assessment, timely rectification and remedial measures of shortcomings and deficiencies. Therefore, its soldiers have firmly grasped the technical and tactical specifications, mastered and fully exploited signal equipment. For many years in a row, the Brigade has been awarded the "Good Training Unit" flag by the Ministry of National Defence. In particular, in June 2021, the Brigade was honourably awarded the Second-class Homeland Defence Order by the State President for its outstanding achievements in training, combat service, Military building, and national defence consolidation in the 2016-2020 period.
Besides the new generation and state-of-the-art hardware equipped recently, the Brigade is still managing and exploiting a large number of old, degraded and vulnerable ones. Meanwhile, the levels of its technical cadres and staff have yet to keep up with the development of technology. In order to maintain the "blood vessel" of communication, the Brigade pays special attention to managing, using and exploiting signal hardware. Along with promoting the qualifications and capacity in the maintenance and repair, increasing the service life and efficiency of the equipment, upholding the initiative, positivity and creativity in exploiting and using modern technical equipment and technologies, the Brigade has proposed to superiors and closely coordinated with military and civilian telecommunications enterprises to train and foster its officers and employees to gradually master advanced equipment and technology; effectively exploit Vinasat satellite communication network; actively coordinate with units of the Signal Corps to effectively exploit the military digital network, connect with the Army-wide computer network to create basis and foundation for the automation of command at all levels.
In order to improve the sustainability of the communication system, the Brigade directs its departments and units to strictly maintain the regimes and orders of technical work, maintenance, storage, and repair to increase the lifespan of the equipment; promotes the Campaign of "Managing and exploiting weapons, technical equipment sustainably, safely, economically and traffic safety"; mobilises and encourages officers and soldiers to promote their initiatives, apply technical improvements into training and communication support ; promotes the role of mobile technical teams and technical support centres in remote technical troubleshooting; regularly checks the technical condition of vehicles when transferring and receiving documents, official documents and when travelling on roads. Thereby, the Brigade has fostered and improved the level of management, maintenance and repair of the technical staff of the stations, contributing to the effective management and exploitation of the military communication system, meeting the requirements and missions in all situations.
The above practical results and the experience will serve as an important ground for Brigade 601 to further research, apply flexibly and creatively in the coming time; maintain the “timely, accurate, confidential and safe” communication for MR1 Command, meeting military and defence requirements and tasks in the new situation.
Senior Colonel NGUYEN QUANG THAI, Brigade Commander