Over the past few years, The Chemical Corps Party Executive Committee and Command have paid attention to leading and adopting comprehensive, synchronous measures to enhance commendation work and the “Determination to Win” Emulation Movement, which recorded important achievements, creating a huge spiritual momentum for the whole Corps to strive to successfully fulfil their mission, contributing to building strong organisations and humans.

First of all, the Chemical Corps has promoted education with a view to raising its officers and soldiers' awareness, responsibilities, and motives for emulation. Accordingly, the Party Executive Committee has thoroughly grasped the higher echelons' resolutions, directives, and instructions, especially Directive 34-CT/TW of the Politburo (Tenure XI) and Directive 507-CT/QUTW, dated 28 July 2014, of the Central Military Commission's Standing Committee on the commendation work and the “Determination to Win” Emulation Movement, laying the foundation for party executive committees at all levels to formulate leadership resolutions, concretise into programmes and action plans for each quarter and month, and identify emulation goals suitable to features and missions of each unit. At the same time, it is necessary to step up propaganda and education to raise officers and soldiers' awareness of the importance of commendation work, bringing about vigorous changes in this work. There needs to regularly amend regulations, staff emulation committees, offer praise and reward to the right quantity so as to ensure high quality and proper composition, and bring into play the role of political organisations in advising party executive committees and commanders to lead and instruct the implementation. To successfully fulfil this task, the Chemical Corps heightens the exemplary role of cadres and party members, particularly heads of party executive committees and units, in completing emulation contents and criteria, and intensifies inspection to timely discover and correct errors and display of accomplishments, making the “Determination to Win” Emulation Movement increasingly in-depth and effective.

Maj. Gen. Hoang Xuan Dung (third from left) checking a military-wide chemical training conference in 2019

Second, channeling emulation movements into the building of strong departments and units in political, ideological, and organisational terms. Departments and units have strived to successfully carry out political education programmes for learners and the project "reforming political education in units in the new period." They have also attached importance to innovating forms and methods of education, combined political education with legal dissemination, implementation of ideological work in the management of soldiers, cultivation of survival skills, and organisation of competitive festivals for excellent political cadres at the grass-roots levels, contributing to enhancing quality of political education. In addition, the studying and following of Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality, and style according to Directive 05-CT/TW of the Politburo (Tenure XII) and the implementation of Resolution of the 4th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (Tenure XII) on Party building and the campaign "promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho's soldiers" are always promoted, creating deep and wide action movements to educate and cultivate cadres, party members, and soldiers, who possess political steadfastness and healthy lifestyles while preventing manifestations of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" in the Party, making contribution to defeating the hostile forces' plots of "peaceful evolution" and "depoliticisation" of Viet Nam People's Army (VPA).

Third, regularly renewing contents, forms, and methods of performing emulation work. During the implementation process, units have taken initiative in specifying emulation contents and criteria, ensuring both comprehensiveness, focus, high feasibility, and consistence with characteristics and missions of each unit. As for forms and methods, units have combined regular emulation with peak emulation, the "Determination to Win” Emulation Movement with campaigns and emulation movements of branches and sectors. Additionally, they have speeded up emulation activities on the occasion of important events of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), State, VPA, and the Chemical Corps. Units have also held consecutive emulation periods with high ardour, willpower, and resolve in the whole Corps, generating huge impetus for successfully accomplishing political tasks and emulation criteria. It is important to regularly renew examination and assessment of results, ensuring substance and avoidance of following achievements, closely attach emulation with praise and reward, and select, praise, and reward right people and right things, creating drastic impetus for promoting emulation movements and arousing patriotism, consciousness, creative power, and willpower of cadres and soldiers.

Fourth, paying regular attention to building and multiplying prominent examples, regarding this as a vital content and measure to promote emulation movements in both width and depth. On the basis of functional departments' advice, the Chemical Corps Party Executive Committee and Command have requested departments and units to focus on grass-roots levels and take initiative in discovering, building, and fostering prominent examples all round with a focus on developing their virtues, competence, and correct emulation drivers. The dissemination and multiplication of prominent examples must be closely conducted by means of propaganda, forums, talks, display of good examples and good deeds, accomplishment and experience report before units, and popularisation of good, creative, effective methods.

Fifth, constantly focusing on successfully completing combat training and readiness, and scientific education, training, and research. Thoroughly grasping resolutions of party executive committees on training work, under the mottoes "basics, practicality, and solidity," synchronicity and intensiveness, and close alignment with combat realities, units have concentrated on renewing forms of organisation and training methods to counter terrorism, settle post-war toxic chemicals, respond to chemical, radiation incidents, etc., ensuring their practicality and high effectiveness. Through the emulation movements, many good, creative methods come into being, helping to promote training quality. The emulation movements have encouraged units to actively and proactively conduct many exercises with a view to improving cadres' command capability at all levels, coordinate and collaborate with other forces to carry out joint exercises, counterterrorism exercises, and joint and combined exercises with regional partners. Notably, the chemical troops participated in Army Games 2019 for the first time and got the bronze medal. This affirmed competence and ability of Vietnamese chemical troops

The movement "good teaching, good learning, scientific research, good service" of the Chemical Officer Training College has concentrated on renewing teaching and learning methodologies and developing criteria for assessing learning and training outcomes of cadets, especially the methods of drilling, practising, testing, and assessing outcomes. The scientific research has focused on systematising and standardising teaching materials and course books. A number of research projects and initiatives have been adopted in teaching such as "Party work and political work in chemical support in provincial defence zone operations in northern border areas," "solutions to improve teaching quality of environment-settlement of environmental incidents in the Chemical College," and "application of 3D technology to simulate DD A-66 germ-killing vehicle." Models, including "English club" and "leaning methodology team" have made direct contribution to an increase of good cadets from 0.3% to 1.2% as compared to the previous school year. Thus, training and education quality in the Chemical Corps has witnessed drastic changes, ensuring its abilities to successfully accomplish missions in the event of an incident.

Investigation, collection, and treatment of post-war toxic chemicals and response to environmental incidents are dangerous, hazardous tasks, which require deep professional skills and knowledge, steadfastness and willpower, and high sense of responsibility. Through emulation movements, the Chemical Corps' officers and soldiers have tried their best to master technologies and spared no sacrifice and effort to undertake their tasks with the highest responsibility in the most dangerous places, bringing about safety to the environment in many contaminated sites.

Sixth, emulation movements have been carried out intensively and extensively in logistic and technical work. Units have well conducted the campaign "Managing and using weapons and technical equipment in a good, durable, safe, and economical manner and traffic safety," regularly maintained technical work, proactively provided sufficient weapons and technical equipment for regular and unscheduled missions as requested, especially those related to combat readiness, exercises, and so forth. They have also carried out maintenance and storage of equipment and chemical materials, ensuring technical coefficients as provided in regulations. The usage, control, and leverage of projects to produce anti-chemical vehicles and equipment have met or even exceeded the annual requirements. All the manufactured and repaired products have good quality, making contribution to promoting domestic chemical capabilities and participating in activities of the defence industry.

As far as emulation in logistic and financial aspect is concerned, units have kept sufficient reserves to satisfy demands of combat training and readiness, regular and unscheduled tasks, speeded up production, and enhanced the quality and effectiveness of paid services. The manufactured products have met the majority of units' demands and been cheaper than the commercial ones, contributing to improving soldiers' lives. Constant attention has been paid to epidemic prevention, resulting in 99.5% of strong manpower annually. The movement of "building good financial management units" continues to be fostered. The spending of budgets and funds is conducted according to regulations, ensuring publicity, transparency, right purposes, and effectiveness without corruption.

The aforementioned outcomes and experience serve as the basis for the Chemical Corps Party Executive Committee and Command to continue to lead and instruct the intensification of emulation drive, commendation work and the "Determination to Win" Emulation Movement, making contribution to the building of an all-strong Corps, capable of successfully accomplishing every assigned mission.

Major General Hoang Xuan Dung, Commissar of the Chemical Corps