The Signal Brigade 601is tasked with ensuring regular communications, maintaining combat readiness, and performing other missions assigned by the Military Region 1. When performing its tasks, in addition to advantages, the Brigade has faced numerous difficulties impacting on its task performance. It should be noted that the Brigade has many stations and posts in the remote, isolated areas across 6 provinces of the Military Region far from its management and command. Its forces are frequently deployed in traffic while social evils and the hostile forces’ sabotage in the areas witness complex developments. Fully aware of the situation, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on synchronously adopting measures for improving the task performance, building strong organisations and personnel, and especially conducting the work of legal propagation, dissemination and education in order to create a positive change in cadres and soldiers’ awareness and observance of the Military’s discipline, the State’s law, and the Brigade’s regulations as well as to transform legal culture into troops’ lifestyle.

First of all, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have directed its units to frequently renew the method of legal propagation, dissemination, and education. Grounded on each group of troops and characteristics of operation, each unit has developed the plans and employed the methods properly, with emphasis placed on providing concentrated education for troops under the basic programme. Following the Brigade’s direction, units have frequently introduced legal normative documents and new, supplemented, amended regulations to their cadres and soldiers, particularly the regulations on national defence and security, such as the Military Service Law of 2015, the 2015 Law on Professional Servicepersons and National Defence Workers and Employees, the National Defence Law of 2018, the Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosive Materials, and Supporting Tools 2017, the Cyber Security Law of 2018, the Law on Narcotic Prevention and Control 2013, the Law on Road Traffic, the Law on Corruption Prevention and Combat 2018, the Decision 04/QĐHN-BQP, dated June 5^th 2013, by the Minister of National Defence  on “stipulating the handling of discipline violations that are not severe enough to attribute criminal responsibility,” and several new regulations in the Penal Code of 2015 amended and supplemented in 2017 on human rights  in accordance with the Convention against Torture. At the same time, due attention has been paid to supplementing a number of regulations of the Brigade on training, combat readiness, troop management, standard order and cultural life building, and discipline management. Independent units, teams, and stations have flexibly adopted forms and methods of legal education and propagation, while using information technology and visual aids, conducting oral propagation, and organising extra courses so that all cadres and soldiers could follow the programme sufficiently for legal education under the regulations.

Cadres and soldiers read books and newspapers in rest hours

To raise the effectiveness of propagation, the Brigade has included legal propagation and dissemination in political lectures, news briefings, quarterly contests entitled “needed knowledge and skills for signal soldiers,” good lecturer and communicator contests, forums, conferences, and cultural and artistic programmes. On a monthly basis, the “Legal Study Day” has been held and maintained strictly. On a quarterly basis, in addition to artistic performances, battalions have organized onstage “Legal Study Day,” designing clips of legal questions and dramas for troops to watch and answer, with a focus placed on unresolved issues on troops’ observance of discipline and bad habits and manners within the units. Moreover, the Brigade has introduced documents, directives, and guidance by higher echelons and examined its cadres and soldiers on their knowledge of law, discipline and its regulations. It is worth noting that the Brigade has attached importance to conducting visual legal propagation and dissemination via a system of posters included with the regulations on troops’ daily observance of law and discipline so that they could easily remember and follow. Within the barracks of each battalion, there are one or two “huts” where troops could read a large number of books and newspapers and listen to radio in days off and rest hours. Besides, units of the Brigade have closely managed and effectively exploited legal books and newspapers from the legal bookcases at the company, battalion, and brigade levels, proactively mobilised resources to supplement legal books and newspapers as well as new legal documents, and exchanged legal books among the units in order to attract cadres and soldiers’ attention and improve their knowledge and law-abiding awareness.

Fully aware of the importance of a contingent of communicators to the quality and effectiveness of legal dissemination and education, the Brigade has always paid due regard to consolidating this contingent. The Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have carefully selected cadres as communicators with good knowledge of law, teaching method, and political qualities, pure ethics, healthy and exemplary lifestyle, and scientific working method. At the same time, it has stringently maintained the order for refresher courses for those cadres at each level, organised good communicator competitions, and approved lesson plans prior to lectures under the regulations. As a result, the quality of a contingent of legal communicators within the Brigade has unceasingly been raised, and they have been capable of fulfilling the annual programme and plan for legal education.

To achieve a solid positive change in its cadres and soldiers’ observance of the State’s law and the Military’s discipline, the Brigade has attached great value to adopting measures for discipline and standard order building. Grasping and strictly executing higher echelons’ directives and resolutions on this work, the Brigade’s Party Committee has issued a special resolution on “leadership over the raised quality of discipline management and standard order building,” while commissars and commanders at all levels have developed their action plans/programmes. Party committees and commands at all levels have synchronously, effectively executed those resolutions and action programmes. At the same time, the Brigade has promoted the role of political offices, political cadres, and mass organisations in translating the resolutions into practice in order to make a positive change in cadres and soldiers’ law-abiding awareness. Offices and units within the Brigade have concentrated on making themselves strong comprehensively and building a fine, healthy, diverse cultural environment and regular, green, clean, scenic barracks as the basis for troops’ training, study, and self-improvement. They have stringently maintained the regulations for standard order building, discipline management, and combat readiness, settled violations of discipline, closely managed troops, particularly on special occasions and national holidays, and grasped defiant soldiers to take proper education measures. Notably, units within the Brigade have met soldiers who had not strictly observed military discipline and regulations to make them understand their responsibility for the work of discipline management, thereby achieving a consensus between cadres and soldiers as well as between superiors and inferiors. The Brigade has closely combined the task of training and combat readiness with the work of discipline management, thus making a huge positive change in troops’ awareness and action. Additionally, it has cemented the relations with local party committees and authorities and locals, while well performing the work of mass mobilisation and strictly observing the regulations on mass mobilisation. Also, it has closely cooperated with competent offices and locals in grasping the political security and social order situation in the stationed areas. At the same time, it has effectively executed the Determination to Win Emulation Movement, the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers,” the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and emulating Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 on the Party building and rectification, and the Campaign entitled “managing and exploiting weapons and technical equipment sustainably, safely, economically, and ensuring traffic safety.” Doing so has helped encouraged its cadres, party members, and soldiers to overcome all difficulties, strictly observe the State’s law and the Military’s discipline, and successfully fulfil their mission.

With proper guidelines and measures, over the years, the Brigade has effectively carried out the work of legal education associated with discipline management. That has provided a solid foundation for the Brigade 601’s Party Committee and Command to continue enhancing this work to contribute to making the Brigade’s Party Organisation pure, strong and the Brigade comprehensively strong and capable of fulfilling all assigned tasks.

Col. Vu Van Nghia, Commissar of the Signal Brigade 601