The brigade and regiment commissars (hereafter referred to as the commissars) are the people who preside over politics, directly maintain the political and ideological orientation, and are the solidarity and the spiritual fulcrum for officers and soldiers in regiments and brigades, contribute to improving the overall quality and combat power and ensuring the unit to complete all tasks. It is, therefore, very important to improve their political presiding capacity.

The commissars are mainly made up of political officers who are trained according to the objectives and models of political commissars at the Political College and the Political Academy. Another part is developed from military and non-political major-holding officers who are trained in battalion-level political transformation course. Accordingly, their qualifications, capacities in general and the political presiding capacity in particular are not equal. The commissars formed from politically-trained officers often master theories and know how to apply the knowledge trained in the schools to the Party and political work at their units. Meanwhile, the commissars formed from political-transformed military officials, despite of their military knowledge and practical experience in managing and commanding, have certain limitations in theoretical knowledge and some skills for the Party and political work. Besides, due to being born and raised in different regions with different living conditions, psychological characteristics, and habits, they differ in cognitive ability, thinking methods, and lifestyles. They often live far away from their families and have little time to care for their children. There is also a divergence in income and living standards, affecting their feelings and emotions and process of training, working, and learning to raise the level and capacity to carry out the Party and political work. As a result, attention should be paid to improving the quality and comprehensive capacity of the commissars, including the political presiding capacity with focus placed on a number of basic solutions as follows:

A commissar presiding a political conference

Firstly, the Party committees at all levels should concretize the Party's views on personnel work in building, fostering, and training the contingent of commissars. In each term of the Party congress and annual and quarterly resolutions, the Party Committees at all levels should have guidelines and measures to closely lead and direct the work of building the contingent of commissars and organize the implementation of plans on fostering the political presiding capacity for this contingent. On that basis, the political agencies should proactively guide and classify the quality of the commissars to timely advise the Party committees and commanders in terms of direction, content, and methods for improving political presiding capacity closely to the practical level and requirements and tasks of each unit. Additionally, the units should assign experienced officials with practical capacity to foster and help the young, inexperienced commissars.

Secondly, importance should be attached to renovating the content of fostering with foci close to the real situation of the contingent of commissars. Along with improving the level of political and military knowledge, especially the views of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, the Party's guidelines and policies, and the State’s policies and laws;  historical, cultural, and social knowledge; revolutionary missions and Army and unit tasks; knowledge of Party building, Party work, and political work, etc. units should focus on imparting experience and training skills, methods, and working style. At the same time, it is necessary to firmly grasp the commissars both in terms of advantages and limitations and shortcomings; both the political presiding capacity and the political qualities, ethics, lifestyles, working methods and styles, and results of task performance and relationship settlement, etc. to be concretized into content of improving the political presiding capacity for the contingent of commissars in association with fostering to enhance the political qualities, revolutionary ethics, working methods and styles, and comprehensive capacities to ensure that the commissars are able to successfully complete their assigned duties and tasks. Attention should be paid to improving the system of political and military knowledge and skills, administration, and knowledge and experience in Party building work and conducting the Party work and political work in the tasks.

Testing the military knowledge of the commissars

Thirdly, various forms and methods of improving the political presiding capacity should be actively innovated and flexibly and creatively applied to suit with the qualifications and meet the cognitive needs of the commissars. Political agencies should regularly organize training and retraining courses on Party building work and Party and political activities. In addition, it is necessary to actively send officials to training courses at schools, especially the Political Academy and the Political College, to improve their knowledge and qualifications and create favorable conditions for the commissars to properly and creatively apply theoretical and practical issues to perform the duties and tasks of the Party secretaries - presiding over the Party building work and to consider, analyze, and assess the situation of the units. In implementing the contents and measures of Party building work, the contingent of commissars need to develop action plans in a scientific manner, know how to gather and promote the synergy of organizations and forces involved, and proactively direct the building of clean and strong Party organization and all-strong agencies and units.

Fourthly, in-service training and fostering should be strengthened through leadership, commanding, and management activities and superiors’ training of subordinates. Accordingly, the presiding officials and those of the superior functional agencies should be the "second instructors" who directly foster and improve the political presiding capacity of the contingent of commissars. The qualities, capacities, methods, working styles, and sense of responsibility of the presiding officials will directly impact on the awareness, thought, affection, ethics, lifestyles, and political presiding capacity of this contingent. In order for the superiors to foster the subordinates effectively, it is required to carry out the fostering right at task briefing and assignment; through meeting, discussion, and reminding; and through the superiors’ monthly, and quarterly inspection, commenting, and assessment of the subordinates’ activities. Periodically, the superior political agencies should conduct surveys and assessment of the situation of political presiding capacity of the contingent of commissars to advise and recommend the leaders and commanders on the contents and forms of political presiding capacity building for the commissars. After undertaking guidelines and measures of the Party committees, the political agencies should well deploy and guide the implementation.

Finally, it is necessary to regularly take care of, facilitate, encourage, and motivate the contingent of commissars to be self-aware, actively self-study, and train themselves to improve their political presiding capacity. In order to promote the spirit of self-study and self-training of the commissars, the Party committees at all levels should encourage, promote, and stimulate the sense of self-discipline, positivity, activeness, and fondness for learning and improving their qualifications and political presiding capacity. At the same time, the contingent of commissars should be facilitated to self-study and self-train in order to improve their political presiding capacity. Along with appreciating and doing well the education work, the leaders and presiding officials of the units should orient the contents and measures of self-study and self-training to improve the political presiding capacity of the contingent of commissars and regularly monitor and inspect the self-study and self-training process of this contingent to detect advantages for timely praising, see limitations for reminding and rectifying, and support them to promptly remove difficulties. The Party committees at all levels should consider self-study and self-training as one of the important criteria for commenting, assessment, promotion, and use of officials. Appropriate incentive policies for the commissars to self-study and self-train should be adopted in order to improve their political presiding capacity at anytime and anywhere.

Facing the increasing requirements of the task of building the Army and defending the Fatherland, it is necessary to constantly improve the political presiding capacity of the regiment and brigade commissars. In order to achieve practical efficiency, it is necessary to synchronize and flexibly apply solutions and create conditions for the regiment and brigade commissars to take efforts, determine, and actively self-study and self-train to improve practical knowledge, experience, and skills to well perform the duties and tasks of the persons in charge of politics at the units.

Major General Nguyen Xuan Son, Commissar of Corps No.4