Training and combat readiness represents a central political task in peacetime and provides a basis for improving the combat strength and task performance of each unit. To meet the task requirements of a campaign-level ground fire unit of the Military Region 4, over the past years, the Artillery Brigade 16’s Party Committee and Command have adopted various measures to achieve a breakthrough in raising the quality of combat training.

Sr. Col. Le Ngoc Thu inspecting the training work

To achieve this breakthrough, first of all, the Brigade has enhanced all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and direction over combat training. Reality reveals that whenever the party committee and command of a unit pay due regard to leading and directing the training work, that unit will obtain good achievements in this work. Thus, the Brigade has required offices and units, particularly their party committees and commands to grasp higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on the training work, with a focus on the Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW by the Central Military Commission and the Resolution 269-NQ/ĐU by the Military Region 4’s Party Committee on “enhancing the quality of training towards 2020 and beyond”. Grounded on those documents, all-level party committees have issued the special resolutions concretizing the training targets and requirements as the basis for all-level commands to develop the action plans/programs. In addition, the Brigade has stepped up the work of political and ideological education and raised the effectiveness of the political and party work during training so as to render its troops fully aware of the importance of the training work, achieve a sense of unity, and build up their responsibility in the process. To promote the all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and direction, the Brigade has clearly allocated responsibility of each office and command for counselling, directing, and organizing the training work. At the same time, it has directed the Staff Office to coordinate and strictly maintain the development and management of the training plan and progress; to conduct inspections of the training results in order to identify and rectify the weaknesses and signs of “achievement disease”.

The Brigade consists of many forces and possesses many specialized weapons and equipment together with the diverse training content. To raise the quality of training, the Brigade has attached great value to providing comprehensive but focalized training in accordance with the particularities and task of each force and the existing materiel, taking the training of specialized skills as the basis, regarding the tactical training as the centre, and considering the training of cadres as the key. Over the past years, the Brigade has maintained the order for the training of cadres at each level on a weekly and monthly basis. A focus has been placed on providing training for commands and offices to improve their capabilities in operational staff, training, and method of training and exercise. Significance has been attached to providing training for detachment-level cadres to improve their specialized skills, method of training, and teaching rehearsal; to overcoming all-level cadres’ weaknesses in training and introducing new, supplemented training content. Besides, the Brigade has provided training courses on specialized skills for new officers and those who had not undergone any artillery training course. While strictly maintaining the order for monthly in-service training, the Brigade has tested its cadres on artillery shooting, measurement reconnaissance, accounting, and logistics-technical support according to their position so as to handle weaknesses of each cadre. On a yearly basis, the Brigade organizes 2 maps-based and field command-office exercises to enhance its cadres’ comprehensive capacity, particularly their capacity to analyze and assess the situation as well as their capability in staff and operational command.

In addition to the training of cadres, the Brigade has attached importance to improving the quality of training detachment-level units and technical staff. The Brigade has required its offices and units to adhere to the training program and focus on making troops capable of artillery skills and tactics, independent combat, and joint combat in the formation of the ground force, training troops to master the existing materiel as well as to be expert in their position and able to take charge of 1 or 2 other positions within a battery. To do so, the Brigade has attached importance to organizing practical training, night-time training, field training, and training on artillery and equipment; closely combining tactical and technical training with specialized training; aligning combat training with discipline management and physical training. It should be noted that the Brigade has concentrated on improving its combat coordination, training its troops to fight the enemy in pause and the airborne enemy, and organizing camouflage, river-crossing, and tasks-based training with a view to meeting the Military Region 4’s combat projects and determination. Following the direction on basic training right in the beginning, after the training course for new recruits, the Brigade has proactively organized specialized training to facilitate new recruits’ approach to the batteries’ formation; combined basic training with intensive training; focused on training each soldier and battery’s movements as the basis for the company and battalion-level joint training. To that end, the Brigade has attached significance to classifying groups of troops, promoting the role of role model teams, and rotating the training shift scientifically in order to make best use of the training time, facilities, and ground. As a towed artillery unit, manoeuvre is of critical importance to the Brigade. Thus, it has surmounted difficulties in fuel and materials and organized training for its specialized staff practically, effectively, with a focus on technical-logistics support in combat. In the process, combat training has been combined with maintenance, repair, and exercises; it has maintained the order for the training of specialized staff so as to improve their professional competence and make them capable of supporting their units during exercises.

Shooting the target at sea during the exercise of 2018

Exercise is the highest form of training and helps correctly assess the combat readiness level and capability of a unit. Fully aware of that, the Brigade has renewed the form and content of exercises in a practical, effective way, with a focus on all-level tactical exercises, live firing, long-distance manoeuvre, and participation in joint combat exercises and defensive operation of the Military Region 4. During the exercises, the Brigade has kept a close watch on action of each detachment-level unit and continuously drawn lessons with the aim of improving its cadres’ commanding capability and creativity, ensuring troops’ correct, timely action and units’ flexible combat coordination, and enhancing units and batteries’ manoeuvre in different conditions. As a result, between 2013 and 2018, the Brigade was recognized to successfully fulfil the training task by higher echelons; it won top awards in the competitions held by the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region 4. The Brigade and 15 affiliated units have achieved the title of good training unit for 4 consecutive years; it has organized 6 exercises successfully and safely.

To meet the new requirements for combat, particularly defensive combat and anti-amphibious landing and anti-strategic division operations, since 2013, the Brigade has started training its troops to shoot the targets at sea and included this content in its exercises. To overcome difficulties in training this new content, the Brigade has proactively developed the plan, organized the training teams, and asked for the assistance of the Artillery Corps’ instructors and cadres in the training program and projects. In addition, the Brigade has cooperated with localities and offices of the Military Region 4 in making preparations in terms of material, materiel, and especially shooting ground as well as in ensuring safety at sea. To make it relevant to reality, the Brigade has deployed the majority of its troops to perform the mass mobilization work and durable field training task in the coastal communes’ area. As a result, units of the Brigade have succeeded in practising shooting at many targets at sea, particularly mobile ones, ensured safety, and drawn valuable lessons. In 2018, the Brigade took part in the defensive combat exercise held by the Military Region 4 and shot at the mobile targets at sea under the observation of other units across the Military, which was highly appreciated by higher echelons.

To achieve the breakthrough in training, the Brigade has attached great value to the work of training support. Amidst the difficulties in the training ground and budget, the Brigade has effectively used the budget allocated by higher echelons, while actively mobilizing the internal resources and cadres and soldiers’ labour with thousands of working days every year spent on consolidating the training ground and making training aids. The Brigade’s movement to promote initiatives and renovate training aids has been carried out widely and made contributions to raising the effectiveness of training, saving the budget, and reserving weapons and technical equipment. While closely cooperating with localities and other units in borrowing the training ground and requesting authorities to make plans on the training ground at sea, the Brigade has used natural lakes around it and launched vessel models as the targets for practising shooting. Due to the regular hot weather condition and intensive training courses for its troops, the Brigade has directed offices and units to provide logistics and technical support for the training task, promote crop and animal husbandry, and improve soldiers’ life and fitness. At the same time, offices and units have been required to maintain the order for materiel maintenance and repair at all levels, enhance the work of ensuring safety in the exploitation and use of weapons and equipment, and maintain their materiel’s technical coefficient under the regulations to opportunely serve the training and combat readiness work.

Thanks to the breakthrough in the training work, the Brigade has raised the quality of combat training; the targets of training and exercises have always been fulfilled; the number of good training cadres has been increased as the basis for enhancing the Brigade’s combat strength.

Sr. Col. Le Ngoc Thu, Commander of the Brigade