Vinh Tuong district is located in the Southwest of Vinh Phuc province, bordering the capital city of Hanoi and the city of Viet Tri (Phu Tho province). Hence, it holds a position of importance to the province’s defensive posture. Fully aware of its position, over the years, the District Party Committee, People’s Council and People’s Committee have exercised their leadership and direction over the military-defence work and achieved significant results. Notably, the awareness and responsibility of cadres, party members and citizens towards the Homeland defence have been gradually raised. Importance has been attached to defence and security education. The district has always well performed the work of selecting and initiating citizens into the Military. The armed forces have been made strong comprehensively. The defensive zone’ posture has been increasingly consolidated. Thus, a favourable environment has been created to facilitate the district’s socio-economic development and improve the people’s material and spiritual life.

To obtain those achievements, the District’s Military Office has proactively advised party committees and authorities on enhancing their leadership and direction over the military-defence work. Grasping the Party’s military-defence guidelines, particularly resolutions and directives by the Military Region 2’s Party Committee and Command as well as the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee, the District Military Command (DMC) has closely cooperated with committees and sectors in giving advice to the District Party Committee, People’s Council and People’s Committee on issuing resolutions and directives on the military-defence work. At the same time, it has concretised those documents into plans/programmes; thereby, the military-defence work has been conducted effectively, practically. The DMC has worked with relevant offices to advise party committees and authorities on adopting measures for rendering cadres, party members and the people fully aware of the military-defence work and the building of solid all-people national defence, people’s security, and defensive zone.

A defensive combat exercise

Moreover, the DMC has counselled the District Party Committee and People’s Committee to improve the capabilities of party committees, commands, and heads of offices, committees, sectors and communes in leading, directing, managing and operating the military-defence work and associate the responsibility of commanders and leaders to the performance of the military-defence work. At the same time, it has directed communes and townships to carry out reviews and draw lessons on the military-defence work, with a focus on assessing the construction and protection of military facilities, the work of military call-up, defence and security education, the training of the militia and self-defence force and the reserve force, defensive combat exercises as well as natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control, pointing out weaknesses and proposing remedial measures. It has cooperated with the District Public Security and military units stationed in the area in opportunely, effectively handling defence and security-related situations. Thanks to its sound advice, the quality of leading, directing and performing the military-defence work has been raised step by step, which has greatly contributed to making the all-people national defence and the postures of all-people national defence and people’s security increasingly solid.

Comprehending the importance of defence and security education, the DMC has given advice to the District Party Committee and People’s Committee on consolidating and improving the Councils for Defence and Security Education at all levels, organising training courses for cadres and party members under the regulations and providing knowledge of national defence and security for all people. On a yearly basis, the DMC closely cooperates with offices and units in reviewing and classifying groups of learners, developing plans/programmes, sending senior cadres to attend training courses held by higher echelons, and holding on-the-spot training courses at each level, with a focus placed on cadres, party members, officials, high school teachers, religious dignitaries and business owners so that they would propagate and disseminate the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, the State’s law and policy as well as resolutions and directives on the military-defence work to all citizens. Additionally, the DMC has cooperated with the District Office of Education and Training in directing affiliated schools to closely combine fundamental education programmes with the contents of defence and security education so as to build up students’ strong will to study and their love for the hometown and country. Defence and security education for students have been centred on the patriotic tradition and fighting spirit of Vinh Tuong’s people.

In order to improve the effectiveness of defence and security education, the DMC has placed emphasis on training instructors and propagandists of defence and security education, renewing the form and method of propagating and disseminating knowledge of defence and security, cooperating with the District’s Propaganda, Education and Mass Mobilisation Commission, Public Security, and Radio Station in broadcasting defence and security education programmes, organising cultural, artistic, sports programmes, knowledge contests, and talk shows, and conducting propagation via the system of panels and banners. Doing so has helped achieve a positive change in the awareness and responsibility of cadres, party members and the people towards the defence-security task.

To make contributions to building the armed forces and preparing human resources for commune-level authorities, the DMC has proactively advised the District Party Committee and People’s Committee on selecting and drafting citizens into the Military, reviewing and consolidating the Military Service Councils at all levels. Annually, grounded on the district’s legal normative documents, the DMC develops plans/programmes for training the military call-up work under the motto of “being equal, democratic, open, and lawful.” Besides, it has held conferences to draw lessons on the military call-up work and assign targets of call-up to military units, communes and townships, while directing commune-level military offices to give advice to and cooperate with commune-level party committees and authorities in well implementing the military call-up procedure. It has maintained close coordination with offices, committees and sectors in conducting propagation relating to the military call-up work, with a focus on disseminating and introducing the National Defence Law, the Military Service Law, civic rights and responsibilities towards the Homeland protection, policies and entitlements for active and discharged soldiers and their families.

The district’s armed forces taking part in new-style countryside construction

A part from the work of propagation, the DMC has closely managed citizens who would be ready for military service. Significance has been attached to carefully examining citizens’ political profiles and fitness for military service to ensure seriousness, openness, equality, democracy, and lawfulness. The work of medical examination for military service has also been carried out in a close, accurate, objective and qualitative fashion. In addition, the DMC has created a favourable condition for military units to study citizens’ profiles and complete their targets of military call-up, while directing communes and townships to closely manage the selected citizens after they had received the military call-up. Since 2018, the district has always reached all assigned targets of military call-up.

Grasping the 10^th Politburo’s Resolution 28-NQ/TW, dated September 22^nd, 2008 and the Government’s Decree 21/2019/NĐ-CP, dated February 22^nd, 2019 on building defensive zones, the DMC has proactively given advice to the District Party Committee and People’s Committee on building the military posture within the defensive zone. Great value has been attached to sufficiently supplementing and strictly executing legal normative documents on the building and operation of defensive zone, especially the Plans for “Defensive Zone” and “Civil Defence.” At the same time, due attention has been paid to including national defence disposition in socio-economic development projects and combining economic development with the building of the defensive zone’s potential and posture. In this regard, the DMC has cooperated with the Office of Natural Resources and Environment, the Office of Planning and Investment and other relevant agencies within the district in formulating plans/projects for using national defence land and constructing “dual-use” works for economic development and defence-security consolidation. Coordination has been closely maintained to review and appraise projects for socio-economic development and assess the impacts by those projects on the defence-security task within the district defensive zone in order to make adjustments properly.

Based on the plan to build the provincial defensive zone and the district’s particularities, the DMC has recommended the District Party Committee and People’s Committee to construct “basic, inter-connected, solid, and in-depth” military works within the district’s defensive zone under the established plan. In this regard, priority has been given to constructing essential works that would directly serve the defensive zone’s operations, such as the evacuation areas, fire battlefields, headquarters, combat bases, roads for manoeuvre, gradually establishing an inter-connected, solid posture, opportunely, effectively dealing with defence-security situations in the area, thereby making contributions to making Vinh Tuong district politically stable and prosperous and building the district into a solid defensive zone.

Col. NGUYEN DUC LUC

Member of the District Party Committee Standing Board

Commander of the DMC