Amidst the development of the task of defending national sovereignty over seas and islands in the new situation, the Naval Region 1’s improved combat training is of utmost importance. To that end, over the past time, the Region has adopted synchronous, drastic measures, with a focus on grasping and effectively implementing the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW and the Navy’s Party Committee’s Resolution 1050-NQ/ĐUQC on “improving the training quality in the 2013-2020 period and beyond”. Grounded on those documents, while building a special resolution on improving the training quality in accord with the assigned mission, the Region’s Party Committee and Command have clearly indentified and assigned focal tasks to each office and unit. A breakthrough in basic training and specialized training to master, exploit and use weapons and technical equipment as well as in safety regulations has been made while the improved quality of managing and protecting sea and island sovereignty and the building of revolutionary, regular, elite, modern Navy have been seen as the whole Region’s training targets.

As training forces and objects are diverse, stationed in a large area and different environments, several forces even have to regularly conduct patrols far away from their units or perform long-term duty in the sea, the Region has advocated the enhanced leadership and direction of all-level party committees and commands. It has ordered units to consolidate party organizations and command systems prior to training season; to improve all-level party committees and commands’ capabilities in leadership and direction; to encourage the collective leadership and individual responsibility towards each aspect of the combat training task. Besides, the Region has stepped up the work of political and ideological education to render cadres and troops fully aware of the position and significance of the training task as well as the Region’s training content, targets and requirements in the new situation, thereby building up the responsibility and resolve of cadres and troops, particularly all-level party committees and commands towards the training task.

The Region’s work of managing and operating the training task has been carried out in a focalized, uniformed, synchronized manner via the yearly training orders and plans. The Region has furthered the decentralization of training task and clearly assigned the duty to offices and commands at all levels towards the training task. To meet the requirements, the Region has directed commands, offices and units to strictly maintain the training procedures, ordered its training and staff office to advise and give instructions to units on implementing the ratified training plans/programs. As for important missions, the Region has established mobile working groups to direct and help units stationed in remote areas, small-scale sections, and forces in charge of special tasks to conduct the tasks of training, exercise and combat readiness. At the same time, it has renewed the method of inspection and increased unscheduled inspections to correctly assess the training results, opportunely draw lessons, and adopt measures to overcome weaknesses.

The Brigade 170’s training operation in the sea

Adhering to the motto of “basics, practicality, thorough grasp”, the Region has actively renewed training and exercise content and method, making those relevant to combat objects and its operating environment, organizational structure and materiel. As for commands and offices, the Region has focused on providing them with knowledge of military arts and sciences to improve their capabilities in commanding, managing and operating training as well as on renewing content, form, and method of exercises. At the same time, due regard has been paid to improving the quality of collecting information, and studying, assessing and forecasting the situation, particularly the situation in the sensitive seas. Besides, the Region has actively assigned cadres of land units (especially young officers) to the tasks of movement and patrol in combination with training in the offshore seas to enhance their capabilities in command, coordination and settlement of the situations in the sea.

In training detachments, the Region has advocated comprehensive, focalized training in accordance with each force’s task, taking tactical training as the centre, technical training as the basis, cadre training as the key. It has ordered units to increase nighttime training and focus on training troops to master and effectively use material, ensuring that troops are good at independent operation and skilled at conducting coordinated operation and believe in our combat method and materiel. As for the marine force, the Region has concentrated on training troops to master infantry tactics and combat skills as well as combat coordination with other forces in the sea according to each project. As for the ship force, emphasis has been placed on training troops to master the existing weapons and equipment, particularly modern ones, on the coordination between the ships and between the ship fleets, and on combat manoeuvre in the offshore seas in the condition of hi-tech warfare. At the same time, importance has been attached to renewing the work of exercise and increasing joint exercises. As for the coastal defence missile force, units have focused on training troops to master the existing materiel and military hardware, raising troops’ capabilities in shifting the states of combat readiness and conducting combat projects in complex terrain and weather conditions and in widespread electronic warfare. As for technical force, great value has been attached to mastering the existing and new materiel, tactics, skills, professional knowledge, achieving a sense of unity in training and exercise in the sea.

Furthermore, the Region has directed units to apply information technology and stimulation technology to both basic and intensive training, especially to weapons and equipment in the sea. The Region's affiliated units have strictly maintained the order for combat readiness duty and regularly conducted training according to the assigned combat projects and plans, while actively reviewing and adjusting combat plans and projects in accordance with reality. Maintaining the force in the assigned key areas, units have both performed the task and conducted training and patrols in order to grasp the situation and opportunely handle incidents under the regulations, thereby avoiding being fallen into passivity. Notably, following the combat training orders by the Navy Commander and higher echelons, over the past time, the Region has cooperated with the Coast Guard and the Border Guard in the area in taking part in defensive zone exercises, aggregate exercises, command-office exercises, and search and rescue drills in the sea.

It should be noted that naval soldiers’ operations are always associated with the use of a large number of weapons and equipment in the harsh conditions. Perceiving that, the Region has stepped up reform in the training support work on a synchronous, sustainable, focalized basis in accordance with regulations and each group of troops. On the one hand, the Region has directed offices and units to actively promote the internal strength to ensure materials and equipment and consolidate training grounds, to build new, highly applicable training models and aids, to apply information technology to training management, operation and process, and to re-compile training documents. On the other hand, it has directed units to well carry out the work of logistics and technical support for regular and unscheduled training tasks, decentralize logistics and technical support, and adjust material reserves for combat readiness in accord with each force’s task requirements so that ships could depart quickly, secretly and safely. To satisfy the goal of “moving forward to modernity”, the Region has always proactively trained and prepared the personnel, readily received, exploited and used new-generation weapons, equipment and military hardware.

Adopting the measures mentioned above synchronously, the Region has gained encouraging combat training results. In 2017, the Region successfully fulfilled the tasks in the exercises according to the stated projects. Especially, after 34 years, the Region’s coastal defence missile force carried out long-distance manoeuvre, deployed the combat formation under the projects, and successfully conducted the live-firing exercise which was highly appreciated by commanders of the Ministry of National Defence and the Navy.

In the upcoming time, it is predicted that the situation in the world and the region, especially in the East Sea will continue to be complex. The tasks of the Military in general, the Navy and the Region 1 in particularly will have new developments with the increasingly higher requirements. To meet the requirements set by the task of defending the national sovereignty over seas, islands and continental shelf, while building strong and stable organizations and forces, the Region will continue to make breakthroughs in combat training, taking command-office training as the centre and ship crew training as the focus, to attach significance to training coordination between ships, fleets and other forces, and to increase live-firing exercises at all levels. Besides, the Region will concentrate on providing intensive training for the forces tasked with BM, CV and BV missions, closely combining training with the maintenance of combat readiness for protecting sea and island sovereignty, ensuring that its forces are always proactive, adapt to the operating environment, opportunely settle the situations, and successfully fulfil all assigned tasks.

Captain Nguyen Viet Khanh, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Naval Region 1