The 1^st National Shooting Range, also known as TB1 Shooting Range, is under direct management of the 1st Military Region. It is tasked with managing and protecting land used for national defence, preserving forests, providing drill grounds for military units to train and practise military drills, carry out competitions, test-fire weapons and equipment, train soldiers in combat readiness, and so on.

During its mission execution, apart from many favourable conditions, the Shooting Range also faces immense challenges such as the complex management and protection of land used for national defence. Meanwhile, there is insufficient and uneven awareness in some officers and soldiers. The unit is garrisoned in a vast area, which is classified as rural hinterland and less developed region. Social evils and criminal offences witness complex developments. This situation greatly affects the awareness and thought of its officers and soldiers. Grasping this situation, the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders have realised many proper leadership solutions concurrently to make the unit strong in terms of politics, ideology and organisation and capable of successfully accomplishing every assigned task. Among these solutions, the increased implementation of the campaign of "promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho's Soldiers" is identified as the most crucial, constant one by the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders. Thanks to successful execution of campaign, the Party Committee has achieved a pure, strong grade for several consecutive years. At the same time, the Shooting Range has been assessed as a comprehensively robust unit. It was offered the Emulation Flag in 2014 and 2015 and the title of "Determination to Win Unit" in 2018 by the 1st Military Region as well as the Emulation Flag in 2016 and 2017 and the Certificate of Satisfactory Performance during the preliminary summing-up of five years' implementation of the campaign by the Ministry of National Defence.

Commendation of outstanding collectives and individuals of the campaign

The aforementioned results are attributed to the fact that the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders have focused on raising leadership quality and bringing into play the role of party committees, leading cadres and political organisations in realising the campaign. Thoroughly perceiving the higher echelons' directives, plans and instructions, both the Shooting Range Party Committee and party cells have issued specialised resolutions, developed plans, assigned responsibilities for each organisation and individual, and put contents of the campaign into working plans of leading cadres at all levels. Also, they have instructed departments, units, and mass organisations to launch the campaign by means of concrete, appropriate measures and criteria suitable for their functions and missions, especially in emerging issues. During the implementation process, the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders have requested departments and units to closely align the campaign with Directive 05-CT/TW of the Politburo (tenure XII) on stepping up studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style, the Resolution of the 4th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (tenure XII) on Party building, the Determination to Win movement, and other campaigns, ensuring consonance with their characteristics, assigned functions and missions. Besides, they have attached importance to cultivating and multiplying prominent examples, maintaining inspection, preliminary summing-up, and summation to draw experience, and regarding outcomes of the campaign as a criterion to assess quality of cadres, party members and the masses, praise and reward them annually. Consequently, the campaign has been operationalised in both width and depth, creating a favourable environment for officers and soldiers to leverage their competence in mission execution, keep their minds on their jobs, identify themselves with units, surmount difficulties, and complete every assigned task. To make the campaign a revolutionary act which is performed in a wide and deep manner and capable of garnering the support of all organisations and forces, the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders have constantly led and instructed the propaganda and education with a view to improving all party members and the masses' awareness of objectives, requirements, and content of the campaign, the higher echelons' directives, resolutions, and instructions, and the significance and roles of the campaign in bringing into play traditions, heightening responsibilities, and leveraging competence and strength of each organisation and individuals to undertake their assigned political missions. Forms and methods of propaganda and education were copious and lively, which were closely integrated into collective activities, launching ceremonies of emulation movements, meetings, forums, propaganda competitions on the campaign, and so forth. Therefore, most of cadres, party members and the masses possess political steadfastness and sense of self-cultivation of their fine dignity and healthy lifestyle, are active and self-aware of the needs to study to improve their abilities and knowledge, and are ready to undertake and successfully accomplished every assigned task.

In order to ceaselessly enhancing the effectiveness of the campaign and creating momentum to encourage officers and soldiers to cultivate their dignity and talent, the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders seek to actively renew content and methods of organisation, correctly select and concentrate on breakthroughs. On the basis of concretising criteria for deserving "Uncle Ho's Soldiers," every year, the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders request all party organisations, party members and the masses to register their fulfilment of emulation content in alignment with the study and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle. They also review and supplement content and criteria in accordance with functions and missions of each organisation individual. During its implementation of campaign, the unit aims to make major breakthroughs in the management and protection of land used for national defence, preservation of forests, provision of drill grounds for units in the whole military, and strengthening of patrol and sentry to closely control land used for national defence and timely address emerging issues without resulting in illegal occupation and farming on land used for national defence, ensuring absolute safety for military practice, live firing exercise, competitions, and testing activities. In promoting good order and discipline, the Shooting Range seeks to make breakthroughs in building cultural military healthy environment in alignment with cultivating dignity of revolutionary military personnel. It also pays constant attention to strengthening internal unity and consensus while strictly maintaining daily and weekly regulations and regimes. The unit takes initiative in grasping and closely controlling thought of officers and soldiers, especially their social relationships, to timely discover and rectify incorrect thinking and perception. Consequently, its officers and soldiers always comply with State law, military discipline, the unit's regulations and rules. There are not any serious violations of discipline while the number of ordinary violations are below 0.2 per cent. The unit is absolutely safe in every aspect. Tapping into civil-military solidarity tradition, the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders instruct their subordinate units and organisations to effectively coordinate with party committees, authorities, and people's unions in stationing areas so as to proactively secure the unit's belt and propagandise people to strictly abide by regulations without giving rise to illegal occupation and use of land dedicated to national defence. Realising the movement of "Military region armed forces join hands in building new-style countryside," through its own resources, the Shooting Range has donated hundreds of million of Vietnamese Dong to the building of many public works in the area, participated in upgrading 21.5 km of roads, widened nearly 10 km of canals, visited and given presents to 60 families under preferential treatment and poor households, enhanced civil-military interaction, cultural and sport activities, and so on. Its effort has been appreciated by local party committees, authorities, and people, thereby beautifying the image of "Uncle Ho's Soldiers" and contributing to increasingly consolidating "people's hearts and minds posture" and all-people national defence posture in the area.

Additionally, the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders are to strengthen inspection, supervision, preliminary summing-up and summation to draw lessons, praise, honour, and multiply prominent examples in the implementation of the campaign. Departments and units step up inspection and supervision with a focus on the responsibility for setting shining examples of morality, lifestyle, and working style of cadres and party members, especially the leading cadres at all levels. It is important to timely rectify and deal with limitations, shortcomings, boilerplate ways of doing things, and low effectiveness while successfully conducting preliminary summing-up and summation to draw experience, thoroughly address limitations and shortcomings, and work out concrete, effective, feasible solutions to the implementation of the campaign. There is a need to regularly praise and reward collectives and individuals who have  good, creative, effective approach to the execution of the campaign so as to create incentive for other people in the whole unit.

The abovementioned outcomes and experience serve as the foundations and premises for the Shooting Range Party Committee and commanders to continue to lead and instruct the increased implementation of the campaign according to Directive 855-CT/QUTW, dated 12 August 2019, of the Central Military Commission's Standing Committee, contributing to making the Party Committee pure and robust and the unit comprehensively strong, and bringing into play the traditions, noble nature, and fine image of "Uncle Ho's Soldiers" in the new era.

Senior Colonel Dinh Cong Ly, Political Commissar, 1^st National Shooting Range