The Missile Regiment 213 under the Air Defence Division 363, the Air Defence - Air Force Service is assigned to perform the training and combat readiness task and defend the airspace in the Northeast. Troops of the Regiment are scattered in various areas, mainly in the mountainous ones; therefore, they face a lot of difficulties in their daily life. Meanwhile, the Regiment is frequently tasked with combat manoeuvre and training in the complex areas. The requirements for combat readiness and airspace defence are increasingly high while social evils have complex, unpredictable developments which make negative impacts on cadres and soldiers. Against that backdrop, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on taking measures comprehensively, with greater importance attached to legal propagation, dissemination and education to contribute to making the Regiment capable of successfully fulfilling all assigned missions.

A legal propagation and education session held by the Regiment

First of all, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have directed offices and units to thoroughly grasp higher echelons’ directives and resolutions, particularly the Directive 63/2008/CT-BQP by the Ministry of National Defence (MND) on “legal propagation, dissemination and education within the People’s Army, the reserve force, and the militia and self-defence force,” its Directive 04/CT-BQP “enhancing discipline management and education, preventing violations of law and serious violations of discipline within the Vietnam People’s Army” as well as other directives, guiding documents, and plans by the Service’s Party Committee and Command and the Division 363’s Party Committee and Command on legal propagation, dissemination and education. The Regiment’s Party Committee has issued a specialised resolution while the all-level party committees and commands have concretised those resolutions and plans into their action programs in accordance with their conditions and task requirements. In the process, due attention has been paid to heightening the role of cadres and party members, particularly the key ones at all levels, and enhancing the work of inspection to opportunely draw lessons and set out measures for raising the quality of legal propagation, dissemination and education as well as troops’ legal awareness and culture. When assessing the leadership and direction over legal propagation, dissemination and education in their monthly and quarterly resolutions, party organisations have opportunely supplemented action programs. The Regiment’s Party Committee has asked the all-level political agencies to advise party committees and commands on directing offices and units to well implement the programs for legal propagation, dissemination and education under the regulations.

To make legal propagation, dissemination and education highly effective, the Regiment’s Party Committee has directed its affiliates to strictly conform to the programs for legal propagation, dissemination and education. Comprehending the goals, requirements, and content of legal propagation, dissemination and education, the Regiment’s Command has required its affiliates to carry out this work under the plans and guiding documents and make it relevant to their characteristics and tasks. Legal normative documents, decrees, circulars, directives, guiding documents by the Government, the MND, and the Service on national defence and security have been introduced to cadres and soldiers. Moreover, units have also introduced their troops to legal documents, such as the (amended) Law on Officers of the Vietnam People’s Army, the Penal Code, the (Amended) Military Service Law, the Criminal Procedure Code, the National Defence Law, the Cybersecurity Law, the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments, the Road Traffic Law, the Law on Complaints, the Law on Denunciations, the Law on Corruption Prevention and Combat, the Ordinance on Protecting National Defence Works, the Ordinance on Protection of State Secrets, the Ordinance on Narcotic and Prostitution Prevention and Combat, and the Directive 25/CT-TM by Chief of the General Staff on “managing and using motorcycles in the Vietnam People’s Army.” Troops within the Regiment have thoroughly grasped and strictly adhered to the regulations by the Service, the Division, and their units on combat readiness duty, training safety, use of cars, motorcycles, oil, electricity, and water, and prohibition of drinking alcohol. Besides, commands at all levels have focused on rendering cadres and soldiers fully aware of ethnicity and religion situation, social order, and plots and artifices of sabotage by the hostile forces as the basis for making them capable of fulfilling their task, observing the regulations on mass mobilisation, maintaining vigilance, and fighting against all distortions and incitements by the hostile forces and social evils. As units have been fully aware that legal propagation, dissemination and education is an important part of the party and political work and their training plans, they have always accomplished their plans for legal propagation, dissemination and education. On a yearly basis, the Regiment fulfils its plan of legal propagation, dissemination and education for all troops.

Additionally, the Regiment has always actively renewed the form and method of legal propagation in accordance with its task and set out specific requirements for each group of troops. To deal with difficulties in the stationed areas and sufficiently provide knowledge of law for its troops, the Regiment has directed its units to organise concentrated training courses and conduct legal propagation for small, scattered groups of troops. As for the annual special legal topics, the Regiment has asked its units to organise full-time training courses, increase the quality of lesson plans and lectures, and encourage lecturers to actively gather data and illustrative images to make their lectures more attractive. The issues which must be quickly introduced to troops, such as new legal documents, discipline violations and traffic accidents within the Military, have been included in news briefings and regular meetings. Units across the Regiment have organised courses for special legal topics, legal knowledge contests, newspaper reading, radio listening and TV watching sessions, visits, forums, and exchange programs, while conducting legal propagation via the internal radio system, posters, and bulletin boards in order to raise cadres and soldiers’ awareness and observance of the State’s law and the Military’s discipline. It should be noted that the Regiment has attached great value to maintaining relationship and cooperation with offices and units, such as the Regional Military Procuracy, the Regional Military Court, the Service’s Criminal Investigation Office, and local Youth Unions in the stationed areas in effectively executing the exchange programs for legal propagation and education and delivering talks about discipline management for cadres and soldiers. Cadres of the Regiment’s offices have been required to give sound advice to party committees and commands on measures for legal dissemination and education and legal enforcement in an effective way. Cadres of the Regiment’s units have been asked to closely manage, well command, and take part in legal propagation, dissemination and education for their inferiors. Clearly understanding that young officers, drivers, professional servicepersons, and new recruits are not experienced in the military environment and the rate of discipline violations within this group is often higher than others, the Regiment has frequently directed its units to focus on conducting legal propagation, dissemination and education for this group in a basic, regular manner.

In addition to the above-mentioned measures, the Regiment’s Party Committee and Command have closely combined legal propagation, dissemination and education with discipline management, military standard order building, emulation movements and campaigns within the Regiment. Units across the Regiment have closely maintained the daily, weekly regulations and especially the regulations on prohibiting officers, professional servicepersons, and employees from being drunk anytime, anywhere and from drinking alcohol in lunchtime and working hours and days. Non-commissioned officers and soldiers have not been allowed to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, and ride motorcycles; they have been required to follow legal culture and observe the State’s law, the Military’s discipline, and their units’ regulations. Due regard has been paid to carrying out emulation movements as an important incentive for units’ successful fulfilment of their task and troops’ self-improvement. The work of commendation and rewarding has been performed in an objective, practical fashion by commands at all levels. The movements, such as “Youth’s observance of discipline,” Youth play a vanguard role in crime, narcotic, and prostitution prevention and control,” “Managing and exploiting weapons and equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically, and traffic safety,” “Good training, strict discipline, and high-level combat readiness,” and “the Regiment’s youth take the lead in science and technology, and build a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern Regiment,” have been effectively carried out by the Regiment’s units. Moreover, the Regiment has stringently maintained 11 daily regulations and 3 weekly regulations, while adopting various measures for administrative management and inspection to opportunely rectify weaknesses. The work of troop management has been closely carried out at each level, particularly in days off, rest hours, and independent units far from the Regiment’s headquarters.

By means of synchronous and practical measures, over the years, the work of legal propagation, dissemination and education within the Missile Regiment 213 has achieved the stated goals and targets. There has been a huge positive change in its cadres and soldiers’ observance of the State law and the Military discipline while the Regiment has witnessed a decrease in violations of discipline, without serious ones or training incidents. The effectiveness of legal propagation, dissemination and education has contributed to making the Regiment’s Party Organisation pure and strong and the Regiment comprehensively strong for many consecutive years. In 2018, the Regiment was given the title of “Determination to Win Unit” and it was presented with the Flag of “Good Training Unit” by the MND. Those achievements would be an incentive for the Regiment to continue enhancing the quality of legal propagation, dissemination and education and making itself comprehensively strong and capable of all assigned missions.

Col. Nguyen Thanh Son

Commander of the Regiment