The 550th Engineering Brigade under 4th Corps, is tasked with combat training and readiness, building and conserving defence facilities, detecting and clearing bombs, mines, and explosives, disaster prevention and response, search and rescue, supporting exercises conducted by the Corps and Ministry of National Defence (MND), and some other missions. The missions are varied, complex, highly risky, and carried out in multiple areas, thus posing many challenges and difficulties to the Brigade. Meanwhile, the complex political security and social order and safety situations in the area the Brigade is stationing have a direct influence on education and compliance with discipline. Facing this reality, over the past few years, the Brigade Party Committee and commanders have led and instructed scientific, close, comprehensive implementation of all operational aspects; brought into play the overall power to build an “exemplary, representative,” comprehensively strong unit, capable of successfully complete all assigned tasks. Nevertheless, in 2022, the unit failed to meet requirements on discipline compliance. Based on lessons learnt, the Brigade has opted to undertake pilot drill training and promote good order and discipline since early 2023. In essence, these are main contents of building an “exemplary, representative,” comprehensively strong unit but are higher and closer to characteristics and missions of the Brigade.

To accomplish this task, on the basis of experience drawn from building an “exemplary, representative,” comprehensively strong unit in the past few years, the Brigade Party Committee and commanders adopt synchronous solutions. First of all, the party committees and party organisations at all levels must strengthen comprehensive leadership of all working aspects, most notably the pilot contents. Accordingly, right after receiving directives and instructions from the Corps, the Brigade Party Committee has timely issued a specialised resolution, and the Brigade commanders developed plans to assign tasks to departments and units. In the resolution and plans, the Brigade specifies contents, measures, and targets for each mission and unit, namely excellence in training, maintenance of high combat readiness, increased order and sense of abiding by law and military discipline among cadres and soldiers. To achieve good results, right from promulgating the resolution and plan development, the Brigade Party Committee requests party committees and commanders of departments and units to correctly assess present situations and mission requirements, which provides a solid foundation for working out leadership measures to attain high feasibility. It also attaches importance to leadership of good education aimed at improving cadres’ and soldiers’ awareness, first and foremost the party committees and commanders at all levels, inspiring determination, and turning awareness into action, responsibility, and self-consciousness in terms of leading, directing and coordinating implementation. Based on the higher echelon’s resolution and plan, party committees and commanders of departments and units are to popularise these documents and devise their own plans, ensuring that the plans are concrete, detailed, scientific, and close to reality. Great attention is paid to inspection, instruction, experience summation, and timely settlement of shortcomings and weaknesses. Fulfilment of duties and missions must be associated with leveraging the exemplary role of cadres and party members, especially those are members of the standing boards and leading cadres at all levels.

Commander of the Brigade awards its outstanding individuals in the first emulation movement of 2023

In drill training, the Brigade seeks to deliver correct, sufficient contents and the time spans specified in the Basic Training Program and achieve targets for good training according to Directive No. 79/CT-BQP of the MND. The contents focus on improving training quality of the drill for management of soldiers; the drills for uniform, wearing uniform, and soldiers’ behaviour and style; the drills for garrison duty, watch duty, military control, and 12 rules for dealing with people; the individual and collective drills. As for training organisation and methodologies, together with attaching importance to training of cadres, development of lesson plans, and preparation of materials and training grounds, the Brigade requests its cadres to strictly comply with the regulation on class attendance. Accordingly, cadres are to work out their plans for attendance at classes and training grounds, and report their commanders, which lays the foundation for implementation and inspection. During the implementation process, cadres are not only tasked with monitoring and controlling their units but also assessing training outcomes and drawing experience after each training item. In fact, this both serves to train and enhance responsibility of leading cadres but also improves cadres’ and soldiers’ compliance with training mission. Moreover, the Brigade concentrates on training junior officers, ensuring that 100 per cent of cadres are trained at their levels, of which 90 per cent of battalion-level cadres and equivalent and 75 per cent of company- and platoon-level cadres are graded good and excellent. More attention is paid to the newly graduates and cadres with limitations on training methodologies and organisation. Given these targets, the Brigade carries out two contents synchronously, namely increased quality of training organisation and enhancement of unit management. During the training processes, it is vital to combine multiple ways of training, notably the training allocated to each level. Cadres at higher echelons are responsible for training and unit management quality of cadres one level lower. The Brigade directs the strengthening of drill instructor teams in departments, battalions, and companies. The team members include the Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief and Deputy Chief of the Political Department, Assistant in the Staff Department, Battalion Commanders, Battalion Commissars, Battalion Execute Officers, Company Commanders, and Company Commissars. The Brigade requests its departments and units to conduct training closely in line with plans. All cadres and soldiers receive training in the Regulation on soldier management, individual and collective drills, legal education, and discipline regarding traffic safety. Those who must do unplanned tasks will be taught at an appropriate time. In addition, units are to conduct part-time training for individuals and collectives with poor training results. Departments and units must promote examinations (both planned and unplanned ones) in order to assess substantive training outcomes, draw lessons learnt, rectify shortcomings and weaknesses, and refrain from cursory attitude and obsession with achievements in drill training.

Increased quality of promoting good order and discipline is regarded as the key measure to completely address weaknesses in building an “exemplary, representative” comprehensively strong unit. The primary goals are to make the entire Brigade strictly maintain and promote good order; strict management of military personnel, weapons, equipment, and public property. The rate of conventional violation is below 0.2 per cent. There are not any cadres and soldiers committing serious violations and causing traffic accidents. To do so, the Brigade requests its departments and units to fulfil all requirements of building a regular unit stipulated by the Standard 3 of Directive No. 79/CT-BQP and Resolution No. 2425/HD-TM, dated 3 October 2022, of the General Staff on instructing the building of an “exemplary, representative” comprehensively strong unit. The key contents include serious compliance with regulations and rules in working and studying, ensuring regular, uniform, highly qualified implementation. Departments and units regularly consolidate barracks and the system of signs and boards; seriously carry out daily, weekly regimes and regulations on soldiers’ behaviour and style; keep a close watch on soldiers during hours of rest and days off; do ideological work well; proactively prevent and handle violations, ensuring timely, correct, adequate recompense and punishment. The party committees and commanders at all levels enhance examination to timely address weaknesses and limitations in promoting good order and discipline; consider results of law and discipline compliance an important criterion to appraise work performance of individuals and units.

Regarding discipline management, apart from thoroughly grasping and seriously carrying out directives and circulars of the MND and the Corps on discipline management and guarantee of safety, the Brigade adopt solutions synchronously, especially the delegation of powers in terms of managing military personnel, weapons, equipment, and assets. The management of military personnel is carried out in all three aspects, namely ideology, responsibility for tasks, and relationships. Examination is to be enhanced in order to identify potential signs of discipline violation. In every activity of units, commanders at all levels must inspect and assess any risks in order to take all precautions to protect cadres and soldiers. During field training, cadres and soldiers must be exposed to close-to-combat scenarios, especially in exercises with live firing, river crossing, overcoming obstacles, and maneuver. When participating in road traffic, the Brigade requests commanders at all levels to regularly inspect cadres’ and soldiers’ compliance with regulations on traffic safety. Attention should be paid to military personnel’s leave, especially the non-commissioned officers and soldiers. There should be measures to ensure safety for cadres and soldiers going on leave. It is imperative to strictly implement the Regulation on grassroots democracy; models of popularising legal knowledge; and the spiritual, cultural, political Day, resolutely struggle against and strictly punish violations of discipline, traffic safety regulations, and training safety regulations.

Thanks to the above-mentioned solutions, the Brigade’s pilot implementation has gained initial important results, which creates momentum for the unit to successfully accomplish its assigned tasks. Some experience can be drawn from the Brigade’s pilot implementation, including strengthening party committees’, party organisations’, commanders’, and leading cadres’ leadership, regarding this as a guiding principle and the most important solution; stepping up ideological, political education and popularising documents and criteria of each content thoroughly to generate solidarity, unity, and high responsibility among cadres and soldiers; bringing into play the exemplary role of cadres at all levels; promoting inspection and experience summation; attaching importance to combination of ideological work and policy work; paying attention to every aspect of soldiers’ life.

Senior Colonel VU HOANG ANH, Brigade Commander