Son Dong is a mountainous district of Bac Giang province with rough terrain, unfavourable traffic, and slowly developed socio-economic infrastructure. Besides, people's lives, especially those in remote areas, still face many difficulties with a high poverty rate (accounting for 41.22%). The local political security is complicated and under the risk of instability. Worse, hostile forces exploit the difficulties and shortages of material resources, people’s frustration to distort the Party’s and State’s guidelines and policies, provoking mass suing. Illegal religious activities, crimes and social evils in the area are still complicated, etc.

Being highly aware of the characteristics of the area, the functions and tasks assigned, in recent years, the armed forces of Son Dong district have unified, proactively overcome difficulties and advised the District Party Committee and the People's Committee as well as directly implemented synchronous solutions to complete defense and military tasks. As a result, the all-people defense and the people’s security posture in the area are consolidated and strengthened; the district defense posture is increasingly stable; political security, social order and safety in the area are maintained, creating a favorable environment for the District to promote socio-economic development and improve its people's lives.

First of all, the District Military Command (DMC) focuses on advising the District Party Committee and People's Committee to improve the effectiveness of leadership and direction of defense and military tasks. On the basis of thoroughly grasping defense and military lines and views of the Party, resolutions and directives of superiors, and adhering to the characteristics, tasks and capabilities of the locality, the District Military Agency each year advises the Party Committee to develop a specialized resolution on the leadership of local defense and military activities with close, scientific, highly feasible contents, targets and requirements. At the same time, the DMC promotes its function as a standing body to assist the District Military Committee in guiding, implementing, inspecting and supervising the implementation. In order for the leadership and direction to be effective, the Military Agency advises on building, consolidating and improving the operational efficiency of the councils and steering committees in building defense areas and people’s air defense, the Military Service Council, the Defense and Security Education one; promulgate guidance instructions and regulations to improve the effectiveness of state management of national defense in the area. In 2018, the DMC built and advised the District to issue over 60 documents of leadership, direction and guidance on the implementation of the Law on National Defense and Security Education, Military Service Law and Decree of the Government on defense and military work. Thanks to effective leadership and direction, the district’s defense and military tasks are always implemented in a unified manner, encouraging participation of both the political system and the entire people as well as achieving many positive results.

Secondly, promote the pivotal role in carrying out national defense and security education. This plays an important role in raising awareness and responsibilities of cadres, party members and people of all classes for the national defense, military and security tasks. Therefore, the District Military Party Committee and the DMC fully focus on the implementation with appropriate scientific guidelines and measures. Strengthening its role as a standing organ of the District Defense and Security Education Council, the DMC has closely cooperated with the Office of Home Affairs, Education Department, Council of National Defense and Security Education at commune level to review and grasp the quantity and quality of cadres, party members, students, etc in terms of training and educating national defense and security, serving as a basis for developing decentralized education and training plans. Notably, the DMC has advised the District to expand the objects of national defense and security education; actively select and train the contingent of reporters; flexibly combine the organization of classes in the district with those in communes, creating favorable conditions for the participants. Its education has a comprehensive content but also aims at correcting the mistake of putting too much emphasis on socio-economic development rather than national defense and security tasks. Simultaneously, the DMC directs units and military commanders of communes and towns to encourage cadres and soldiers to help people eradicate hunger and reduce poverty. It also focuses on building new rural areas, carrying out civil works combined with propagating and disseminating national defense and security knowledge. In addition, the DMC collaborates with other departments of the District to build specialized pages, propaganda sections on military and defense work on the mass media, etc; thereby, arousing honor, pride, obligations and responsibilities of citizens, especially the younger generation for the task of national defense. In 2018, the District sent 1 cadre of object 2, 8 cadres of object 3 to the Military School of Military Region 1 and of the Province; trained 261 cadres of object 4, directed high schools, boarding ones and regular education centers to hold 76 classes for 2885 students. The result was that 100% passed the test, among which 80% good and excellent.

Thirdly, attach importance to improving the quality of military selection and recruitment. This serves as a central task of the local military work, which requires authorities’ fulfilment. In order to conduct the mission successfully, the DMC actively advises the District Party and People’s Committee to strengthen the leadership with the motto “democratic, public, fair and law-abiding”. Accordingly, before the military recruitment season, the DMC instructs the People’s Committee to consolidate the Council of Military Service at all levels, ensuring proper and sufficient components as prescribed. At the same time, the DMC develops the plan for military selection and recruitment as well as issues guiding documents as a basis for implementation in communes and towns. In order for the recruitment to be effective, the DMC advises organizing the conference of “drawing on experience and assigning targets to the locality”; presides over training courses, agrees on guidelines, views, contents and recruitment procedures to overcome shortcomings and limitations in previous recruitment. On the other hand, propaganda is enhanced to raise awareness and responsibilities of citizens for the implementation of Military Service Law. During the process, the District has always focused on ensuring the quantity, improving the quality, complying with regulation, safety and saving; prioritizing sources for permanent forces, reserves and grassroots-level cadres, especially in remote areas. Performing the role of a center of cooperation, coordination and implementation, the DMC assigns its personnel to actively cooperate with departments, agencies, unions; advises the committee, the Council of Military Service to thoroughly grasp and carry out the recruitment as planned, ensuring transparency from the registration, management of available sources for enlistment, prequalification, political review, issue of military call to the preparation and practice of troop handover. In particular, the emphasis is placed upon good registration and management of citizens ready for enlistment, the maintenance of registration regimes in all three forms: direct, indirect and military service adjustment in accordance with the law, so as to ensure both official sources and reserves. Meanwhile, it is necessary to manage the quantity and quality of citizens in the military service age, objects of temporary postponement and exemption from military service; policy beneficiary families and those who have difficult circumstances; citizens who work far away, those who have criminal records, drug addiction and HIV, etc. This serves as a basis for reviewing and making a pre-qualification list at grassroots level to ensure accuracy and quality. The Military Party Committee of the District focuses on employing a lot of measures, resolutely dealing with negative phenomena in recruitment, especially the case of paying bribes “to dodge enlistment” and “to be enlisted” when not meeting standard, etc. As a result, the District’s military recruitment has always completed 100% of the assigned targets with higher quality (80% and more reach health of type 1 and type 2) and has been evaluated as one of the localities which successfully complete the task.

Fourthly, focus on building strong armed forces as the core to carry out defense and military tasks. This is a deciding factor for the result of completing the district's defense and military tasks, which contributes to maintaining political security, social order and safety, and the localities. Accordingly, the District Party Committee and Military Command are highly aware of building the armed forces strong (including local troops, reserved forces and militia). For the local troops, the structure and quantity of the staff are adjusted according to the policy of payroll reduction of the Military Region and the Provincial Military Command, ensuring simplicity and operational effectiveness; applying strict training under the motto "basic, practical and solid" in line with task requirements, geographical characteristics, weapons, equipment and combat targets. The training content is comprehensive, in which the emphasis is on training and rehearsal to improve the practical level for commanders and the agencies in combat readiness, A2-based handling situations, forest fire prevention and fighting. For the reserved forces, the District thoroughly grasps and strictly implements the Ordinance on these forces in order to ensure military personnel and means of the local economy, encouraging them to willingly receive the tasks if necessary. Annually, reserved forces’ training is conducted as planned, guaranteeing strict and complete safety of people, weapons, equipment, completing 100% of the assigned targets. For militia and self-defense forces, the aim is to build these forces in orientation to "pure, simple, strong, widespread and practical", which suits local conditions. The District also regularly supplements and selects personnel for militia and self-defense forces at all three levels: district, commune and village with the 2.8% core militia and self-defense forces, 14.7% Party members among the total. The work of training grassroots-level military officers, rehearsing for improvement in qualification and ability to handle combat situations, forest fire prevention and fighting, etc. is paid full attention to. Thus, the District militia and self-defense forces in particular, the armed forces in general have always been built comprehensively strong, capable of promptly and effectively fulfilling the task of national defense, and security, firmly defending the locality in all situations.

Colonel Nguyen Manh Thang, Member of the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee, Commander of the District Military Command