Raising the responsibility to observe the Military’s discipline represents a sound policy and important measure which will greatly contribute to improving the Military’s synergy and combat power and making it capable of undertaking and successfully fulfilling all assigned missions. Hence, discipline management is an important task of the Army Corps 4 as a main mobile unit stationed in a large area with the rapid industrial development and urbanisation. It is frequently impacted by the socio-economic development. Meanwhile, the Corps’ cadres are from various regions, their families are living far from their units, and soldiers joining the Corps are mainly from Southeastern and Southwestern provinces with distinct cultural traits. Being fully aware of those particularities, over the years, the Party Committee and Command of the Corps’s Political Department have advised the Corps on directing offices and units to carry out the party and political work so as to raise cadres and soldiers’ responsibility to abide by discipline as the basis for improving the Corps’ combat strength.

Grounded on higher echelons’ directives and resolutions on discipline and ideological management¹, the Corps’s Party Committee Standing Board has released the Resolution 696-NQ/ĐU, dated February 21^st, 2020 on “leadership over discipline education and management and safety assurance.” At the same time, the Political Department has given instructions to offices and units on organising politico-ideological meetings to enhance discipline management within the entire Corps. Party committees of offices and units have developed their own specialised resolutions to lead this work together with specific measures. All-level commissars and commanders have concretised those resolutions into action plans/programmes and they have introduced those documents to all cadres, party members, and soldiers. In their monthly, quarterly resolutions, party committees at all levels have evaluated the results of discipline and ideological management, while opportunely, properly supplementing measures in accordance with the situation, task, and troops’ educational background. All-level political offices have given advice to party committees and commands on well implementing the programmes for law education and ideological management and they have proactively designed action plans and divided troops into groups for education. Each unit has conducted surveys to assess troops’ ideological situation and their observance of the State’s law and the Military’s discipline, while opportunely dealing with ideological issues and preventing violations of law and discipline amongst cadres and soldiers.

Commander of the Army Corps 4 encouraging new soldiers of the Division 309

In the process, significance has been attached to renewing the contents, forms, and methods of political, ideological and legal education. In addition to the political education programmes for different groups of troops, units have organised political meetings, news briefings, dialogues, soldiers’ clubs, collective birthday parties, and cultural and sports programmes in order to broaden cadres and soldiers’ knowledge and achieve a positive change in their awareness, ideology and action. A part from legal and ideological education, political cadres have been in charge of designing columns on law dissemination and education on internal radio and introducing legal books, newspapers and documents at Ho Chi Minh halls, libraries, and law bookcases within offices and units. Due regard has been paid to implementing the “Legal Study Day,” the “Year of Discipline,” and the “Year of Traffic Safety,” and promoting the role of “soldiers’ psychological and legal consultancy teams.” Emphasis has been placed on introducing legal documents and higher echelons’ directives on discipline management to troops, discussing legal issues, and testing cadres and soldiers’ knowledge of law, discipline, and regulations. Offices and units have held meetings with localities and troops’ families to introduce regulations of the Military and the Corps as well as inform them of each soldier’s results of study, training, and self-improvement. Doing so has enabled commanders of offices and units to opportunely manage and settle troops’ ideological issues. The Political Department has directed party committees, commissars and political offices at all levels to well carry out the work of internal political protection and grasp profiles, family background, and social relationships of troops, particularly those working in the key sections. While cooperating with localities in selecting new soldiers, all-level party committees and commands have grasped soldiers’ capabilities, moral qualities, health, and social relationships via evaluations of their families and localities and their own reports as well.

The Political Department’s Party Committee and Command have asked offices and units to realise the “five-proactive” motto², raise the quality of military standard order building and discipline management, and enhance emulation movements and campaigns. On national holidays and prior to difficult, complex, sensitive missions, such as manoeuvre for combat readiness, training, live-firing exercise, reception of new soldiers, and soldiers’ discharge from the Military, party committees and commands of offices and units have proactively grasped troops’ ideological situation, moral qualities, and lifestyle to opportunely develop preventive measures and avoid complicated ideological issues. To promote collective knowledge and each individual’s dynamics and creativity during missions, units have stringently executed the Regulation on Democracy at Grass-Roots Level and maintained the order for meetings and dialogues between commanders and subordinates, while respecting and receiving the masses’ opinions. Doing so has helped build up unity between superiors and inferiors, opportunely settle issues arising from reality, and achieve a strong consensus within offices and units. All-level party committees and commands have frequently met and educated soldiers with poor task performance, or soldiers whose families have been in difficulty, or soldiers with the signs of violation of discipline so as to design specific measures for management and education properly. Offices and units have strictly maintained their working regulations and the military standard order, renewed the working method and style, opportunely rectified violations of discipline, and built troops’ self-consciousness to comply with the State’s law, the Military’s discipline, and units’ regulations. At the same time, consideration has been given to building a healthy military cultural environment, executing the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4, and enhancing the studying and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle and the Campaigned entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period. Emulation movements have always been maintained as an incentive to units’ good task performance.

Offices and units have included the targets of military standard order building and discipline management in the execution of the Campaigned entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period, while requiring each collective and individual to set their own targets of studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle. After each emulation period, the Political Department has directed offices and units to commend, reward, and multiply typical examples, draw lessons, and analyse their weaknesses to seek for remedial measures.

Due regard has been paid to heightening cadres and party members’ role model-setting responsibility and encouraging the role of the Corps’ organisations in managing, educating and training troops. There is a fact that cadres always act as examples for soldiers to follow. Hence, the Political Department has required cadres at all levels to match their words with action and keep a friendly, harmonious relationship with their inferiors and soldiers. Besides, they have been asked to set good examples in the observance of the State’s law, the Military’s discipline, and units’ regulations. The synergy of organisations and forces and the role of key cadres at all levels have been encouraged. Political offices have counselled and inspected units’ politico-ideological meetings. Besides, the role of Youth Unions and military collectives in educating and managing troops has been promoted. In addition to emphasising the importance of educating and managing their members, organisations have attached great value to selecting breakthroughs in overcoming shortcomings and weaknesses in the observance of law and discipline. Furthermore, due regard has been paid to ensuring cadres and soldiers’ mental and material life.

Thanks to sound policies and creative measures, the political and ideological work aimed at raising cadres and soldiers’ law-abiding awareness and responsibility within the Army Corps 4 has achieved good results in recent years. Cadres and soldiers’ political knowledge has been improved, while the Corps’ quality of training and its combat readiness capacity have been increasingly enhanced. Against the complex developments of the situation, all party members, cadres, and soldiers of the Corps have always heightened a sense of revolutionary vigilance, correctly identified partners and opponents, grasped the tasks of the Military, the Corps, and their own units, strictly conformed to the State’s law, the Military’s discipline, and regulations. The number of violations of discipline and traffic incidents has been reduced. All cadres and soldiers have been ready to undertake their task. Such good results have greatly contributed to building pure, strong party organisations and comprehensively strong, “exemplary, typical” units, and making the Corps capable of successfully fulfilling its task in any situation.

Sr. Col. NGUYEN TRAN LONG, PhD, Head of the Corps’ Political Department
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1. The Directive 103/CT-BQP, dated November 28^th, 2019 by the Ministry of National Defence on enhancing discipline management and ensuring safety within the Military; the Directive 22/CT-TM, dated July 5^th, 2019 by the Chief of the General Staff on several measures for discipline management and safety assurance within the Military; the Guidance 2556/HD-CT, dated December 30^th, 2019 by the General Political Department on the party and political work in discipline management and safety assurance within the Military.

2. “5-proactive” motto: (1). Ideological education and orientation; (2). Ideological anticipation; (3) Grasp of troops’ ideology; (4). Settlement of ideological issues; (5). Ideological struggle.