Over the past 70 years of construction, combat, and development (June 15^th, 1951 - June 15^th, 2021), the Military Academy of Logistics (MAL) has achieved a lot of brilliant feats of arms  and built up its glorious tradition of “being absolutely loyal, proactive, creative, united, teaching well, learning well, sticking to battlefields, and directing towards units.” Bringing into play that tradition, the MAL has been synchronously adopting measures to build an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong  Academy capable of meeting its task requirements in the new situation.

In early 1950, to satisfy the requirements set by our people’s resistance war against French colonialists in a new period, under directives by the Ministry of National Defence, in May 1951, the General Department of Military Supply decided to launch the first Training Course for supply cadres, with a focus on improving their professional competence and identifying their responsibilities for ensuring logistics support for cadres and soldiers across the Military. From the first Training Course to the present-day MAL, with their knowledge and effort, cadres, instructors, cadets, employees and soldiers of the MAL have always surmounted all difficulties and successfully fulfilled all assigned tasks to make contributions to national liberation, construction and protection, the Military build-up, national defence consolidation, and the performance of international missions. With those remarkable achievements, the MAL has been given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces, 4 Military Exploit Orders (3 First-Class Orders and 1 Third-Class Order, 5 Feat-of-Arms Orders (3 First-Class Orders and 2 Third-Class Orders), 1 Second-Class Labour Order and other noble rewards by the State. It has also been presented with the Issara Order by the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

Giving rewards to collectives with outstanding achievements in the Determination to Win Emulation Movement

In the upcoming time, the situation on a global and regional scale will continue to be complex. The hostile forces will keep enhancing their “peaceful evolution” strategy, promoting “self-evolution” and “self-transformation,” and carrying out their plot to “depoliticise” our Military. The COVID-19 pandemic will continue profoundly impacting on all aspects of the social life. The military-defence task in general, logistics support and the building of the Military Logistics Branch in particular will witness new developments. To successfully fulfil its task, the MAL shall grasp and effectively execute the Resolutions of the 13^th National Party Congress, the 11^th Military Party Congress, and its 22^nd Party Congress, while building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong MAL via various measures, with a focus on the following.

First, continue to build a politically strong MAL as the basis for raising its synergy. This measure will provide a solid foundation for making the MAL “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong and capable of training cadets in logistics specialities. Thus, party committees and commands of offices, faculties, and units shall concentrate on raising the quality of political education to improve their staff members’ knowledge of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s guidelines, and the State’s law and policy, while rendering them fully aware of the tradition of the nation, the Military, and the MAL. At the same time, cadres, instructors, cadets, employees and soldiers shall be educated to grasp their task and the hostile forces’ plots and artifices, distinguish between “partners” and “opponents,” and improve their political zeal and determination to settle difficulties and excellently fulfil all assigned missions. It is necessary to closely combine legal education with moral education. Besides, due attention should be paid to stepping up the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle via specific, practical, effective deeds so as to make a huge positive change in the ideology, ethics and lifestyle of cadres, party members and the masses.

In addition, due regard should be paid to enhancing the Party building, frequently bettering the quality of party committees and organisations at all levels and aligning the building of party committee members with that of key cadres with sufficient quantity, proper structure, and great professional competence and political zeal to meet their task requirements. While educating and closely managing party members, the MAL’s Party Committee shall enhance the work of inspection and supervision and the building of pure, strong party organisations with comprehensive leadership capacity and high-level combativeness. Moreover, it is essential to well implement the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 and the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle in tandem with the Determination to Win Emulation Movement and the Campaign titled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period. Offices, faculties and units shall place emphasis on strengthening and improving mass organisations, and strictly maintaining the Regulation on Democracy at grass-roots level. Consideration should be given to well performing the work of policy, mass mobilisation, and internal political protection as well as building “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong offices, faculties, and units capable of fulfilling the task of education and training.

Second, achieve a breakthrough in the quality of education and training and advocate that “the MAL’s training quality means units’ combat readiness capacity,” “the MAL shall take one step ahead of units,” and the MAL shall strive for “substantial learning, teaching, and evaluation.” Under that direction, the MAL shall continue grasping resolutions and directives by the Party, the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the Ministry of National Defence (MND) on education and training, particularly the 11^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution 29-NQ/TW, dated November 4^th, 2013 on “fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education to serve industrialisation and modernisation in a socialist-oriented market economy during international integration” and the CMC’s Conclusion 60-KL/QUTW, dated January 18^th, 2019 on continuing to execute the Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW on raising the training quality in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond. Party committees and commands of offices, faculties, and units shall concretise such documents into practical, appropriate measures in accordance with their function and task.

The MAL’s Board inspecting the training work at a cadet management unit

To well implement resolutions and directions for education and training, the MAL shall renew and complete its training procedures and programmes for each group of learners, while establishing mechanisms for training management and operation in a “focalised, uniformed, synchronous, effective” manner. It shall actively reform teaching and learning method and applying information technology to all stages and forms of learning and teaching. Instructors shall teach all that learners and units need, while helping learners to standardise their professional knowledge and competence. Emphasis should be placed on improving instructors’ qualities, professional knowledge and morality, and working method. All lectures by the MAL’s instructors shall be rated as good, and 85% of them shall achieve merit or distinction. Great value should be attached to raising the quality of educational testing, renewing the contents and methods of inspecting and assessing learners’ study results, adhering to the requirements of logistics support set by modern warfare, and gradually building a “smart school” capable of approaching the 4^th industrial revolution. Furthermore, due attention should be paid to proactively preventing and resolutely fighting against negative practices and the “merit-driven disease” in order to develop education and training in a right direction.

Third, improve the quality of military standard order building and discipline management. To that end, the MAL shall focus on grasping and seriously implementing resolutions, directives, and regulations by the CMC, the MND, and the General Staff on military standard order building and discipline management, particularly the Directive 103/CT-BQP, dated November 28^th, 2019 and the Circular 16/2020/TT-BQP, dated February 21^st, 2020 by the MND. Offices, faculties, and units shall raise cadres, instructors, cadets, employees, and soldiers’ law-abiding awareness, strictly maintain daily, weekly regulations, ensure their military etiquette, train their working method and lifestyle according to military discipline and their task, and frequently provide legal dissemination and education for them. Affiliates of the MAL shall promote the role of organisations, party members, and union members in grasping troops’ ideological situation and opportunely dealing with ideological issues to maintain stability and make a positive change in military standard order building and discipline management. The MAL shall strive to avoid any serious violation of discipline, while the rate of normal violations of discipline shall be below 2.3% on a yearly basis.

Fourth, ensure sufficient, timely logistics and technical support for missions. The MAL shall continue renewing the method of logistics support in accordance with its task requirements. The Division of Logistics shall proactively cooperate with offices, faculties, and units in developing plans to sufficiently, opportunely provide logistics materials and equipment for both regular and irregular tasks, with priority given to teaching and learning. Due regard should be paid to taking care of troops’ health, taking more effective measures to prevent and combat epidemics, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring troops’ fitness for study and work (99.7%), building “bright, green, clean, scenic” barracks, actively fostering animal and crop husbandry in line with the Emulation Movement entitled “the Military Logistics Branch follows Uncle Ho’s teachings,” and turning the MAL’s logistics support task into a role model for other units to study and follow. At the same time, significance should be attached to sufficiently, opportunely providing weapons and technical equipment for missions, well carrying out the Campaign entitled “managing and exploiting weapons and technical equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically, and ensuring traffic safety,” and strictly maintaining the order for materiel preservation, maintenance and repair to meet the task requirements.

Promoting the tradition of a Hero of the People’s Armed Forces, the MAL will focus on building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong unit to become one of the training hubs of the MND and successfully fulfil the task of training logistics and financial cadres for the Military in the new period.

Lt. Gen., Prof. PHAM DUC DUNG, PhD

Commandant of the MAL