As one of the country’s front localities, Ly Son district occupies a strategic position in national defence and security. In line with maximising the advantages and potential for rapid and sustainable economic development, the district has always placed great emphasis on building and consolidating the all-people national defence associated with the posture of people’s security and all-people border defence to safeguard the country’s sacred sovereignty over seas and islands. With the assigned functions and tasks, the District’s armed forces have always brought into play their core role in performing military-defence tasks with multiple synchronous and effective measures.

Thoroughly grasping and implementing higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on military-defence work, the District Military Command of Ly Son has directed and coordinated with all leadership levels, sectors, and forces to well implement its functions of advising the District about this crucial issue and establish stabilisation for rapid and sustainable development. Recent years witnessed not only the advantages but also numerous issues that require the District to take into account throughout the course of development to ensure the harmony of economic, social, and defence-security benefits in accordance with the motto that each stride in economic development is a step to strengthen national defence and security capability. This surmounts simple economic awareness and thoughts and underestimation of national defence and security. On the foundation of grasping the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, especially the new thought of safeguarding the Fatherland, the District Military Command has proactively advised the District Party Committee and People’s Committee to issue documents on effective leading, directing, and implementing military-defence tasks. Focus has been placed on the building and effective operation of party committees’ leadership and local authority’s administration in military-defence work; stepping up the building of firm all-people national defence and all-people national defence posture associated with people’s security posture and solid all-people border defence. The District Party Committee and People’s Committee have strengthened their leadership and direction in planning and implementing the projects on socio-economic development to ensure the close combination of strengthening capability, building forces, and consolidating defence-security posture in the locality. Accordingly, the District’s master plans and projects on socio-economic development must satisfy the requirements of sustainable development associated with the strengthening of national defence and security capability without breaking defence posture while preserving the natural scenery and cultural heritage to make maximal use of the potential and advantages in magnetising investment for development. In particular, importance has been attached to developing tourism, improving the value of agricultural and marine economics in a sustainable, ecological, and intelligent manner to adapt to climate change and sea level rise; issuing policies for clinging to the sea, offshore exploitation, and aquaculture to create food sources and logistic services at sea in combination with the protection of the sea and island sovereignty. The District has linked economic development with the construction planning of defence works to ensure duality and estimated plans to mobilise and change functions for national defence purposes when necessary. Projects on socio-economic development, infrastructure upgradation, etc. have been carefully appraised. In the process of construction, along with the effective use of the budget, the District has also promoted the spirit of self-reliance, mobilised local resources to the maximum for military-defence tasks; and reviewed and adjusted the posture in the defensive area at all levels as stipulated in Decree No. 21/2019/ND-CP issued on February 22^nd, 2019 by the Government on the suitability of defence areas for combat plans to create solid defence posture and bring into play the synergy of all forces.

Practise firing static target at sea

Implementing higher echelons’ direction, the District Military Command has cooperated with relevant branches to conduct the planning of lands for national defence and the building of key constructions, manoeuvre routes, ports, warehouses, military bases, etc. in defensive areas. The District, so far, has completed the planning of military posture; step-by-step implemented projects and constructions; adjusted and supplemented plans to ensure the demands for national defence in the first year of wars; mapped out combat plans on the island, etc. to build a system of civil defence and establish a solid defence posture in the area. Simultaneously, coordination in information and propagation work to heighten the awareness and responsibility of all levels, branches, socio-political organisations, and the mass of military-defence work and the task of constructing defensive areas. Annually, the District accomplishes the goal of selecting and calling for enlistment; regularly reviews, implements and keeps track of the education of national defence and security knowledge for presiding cadres at all levels, students, captains, and chief engineer to strengthen political potential, build a defence-security posture and an increasingly solid "posture of the people’s heart and mind".

The District’s armed forces have synchronously implemented the measures to accomplish the tasks of combat readiness and enhancing training quality. Accordingly, annually, the District Military Command promptly adjusts, supplements, and practices plans for combat readiness; strictly maintains duty and patrol regimes as stipulated. Close coordination with forces has been conducted to grasp, review, forecast situations, advise accurately, and implement the inspection and control of the area to promptly detect and manage situations without being passive, especially situations at sea and locations at high risk of insecurity. Focus has been put on reviewing, adjusting, and supplementing documents on combat readiness and plans. At the same time, the Military Command has also assisted local party committees and authorities in managing and keeping track of vehicles, human resources, and ships to be ready for “BT-BM” tasks and participate in the fight to safeguard national sovereignty and sovereign rights over the seas and islands.

Additionally, the District Military Command has attached importance to renewing training administration and management in a focused, uniform, synchronous, effective, and separate” manner and clearly allocating responsibility according to levels right from the stage of planning, ratifying, and implementing. This is a salient foundation for agencies and units to manage and administer training to ensure the suitability with trainees and assigned requirements. In line with the renewal of training management and administration, the District has also concentrated on improving the quality of advising the training and building a contingent of competent cadres to accomplish all tasks. Agencies and units have strictly abided by Regulations on advice and combat, regularly supplemented and adjusted sufficient training documents, and strictly maintained statistical registration and training reports.

Adhering to the motto of being “fundamental, practical, and firm”, the District Military Command has always attached importance to synchronous and in-depth training that matches the combat reality; training to master weapons and equipment and enhance the capability to maneouvre and counter-attack when the weather is extreme and enemy uses high-tech weapons. Training has been attached to physical training; meanwhile, camping, night training, and maneouver training have also been intensified. In order to bring into play the responsibility of the contingent of cadres at all levels, the Command has taken training results as the basic criteria to evaluate annual task outcomes and intensified unscheduled inspection to make a critical assessment. As a result, the District has fulfilled all of the training contents as planned; professional qualifications, the use and mastery of weapons and equipment sharply increased; the results of live-fire exercises are good and ensure safety. The results of the District’s participation in drilling in defensive areas in 2017 and 2021 and practising changing the state of combat readiness in 2022 have become the salient contribution to enhancing the levels and combat strength of the District’s armed forces to satisfy all assigned task requirements.

As for the new task requirements, the District Military Command has proactively advised the District Party Committee and People's Committee to concentrate on the building of the District’s all-strong, “exemplary and typical” armed forces; and the building of regular forces, reserve forces, and militia forces as the core forces in performing military-defence tasks. Concerning regular forces, focus has been placed on the building of strong politics, ideology, ethics, organisation and the contingent of cadres; enhancing the sense of responsibility as well as working competence, especially the competence in advising and organising the implementation of defence work in the locality. To this end, the District Military Command has placed emphasis on measures that attach political education and military training to the building of regularity, discipline, and full compliance with the regulations on combat readiness; attach the building of a transparent and strong party organisation to the building of comprehensively strong units and party members at all levels. The District has concentrated on cementing and constructing self-defence forces in the direction of improving the operational quality associated with ensuring sufficient quantity and structure as stipulated especially the mobile militia, permanent militia, and coastal militia; well performing the selection of forces to participate in the permanent Coastal Militia forces of the province in accordance with the guidance of higher echelons. The building of reserve forces has been effectively and regularly conducted; close coordination with relevant agencies, units, and local authorities has been regularly implemented to review and manage sources of mobilisation; the forces organised in the locality fit the structure of units of reserve forces to facilitate the training and mobilisation when necessary. Currently, 95% of the reserve forces and 100% of technical equipment can be mobilised.

After thirty years of constructing, developing, inheriting, and promoting the patriotic traditions and the iron will of the mighty Paracel Squadron, the armed forces of Ly Son District have brought into play the core role in performing military-defence tasks to realise the aspiration of building Ly Son District into a green, clean, and beautiful tourist island with a strong economy, solid national defence and security to safeguard the sacred sovereignty over the seas and islands of the Fatherland.

Colonel TRAN ANH TUAN, Commissar of the Military Command of Ly Son District