President Ho Chi Minh ever said that “commandos are assigned to perform special missions of great honour which require special endeavour. They are trusted specially. They have to excellently fulfil any task and any special mission. And they have to surmount any special difficulty.” Being imbued with President Ho Chi Minh’s teachings, the Commando Corps’ Party Committee and Command have always heightened a sense of unity to make the Corps “revolutionary, regular, seasoned, modern,” and capable of successfully fulfilling all missions assigned by the Party, the State, the Military, and the people.

Following President Ho Chi Minh’s teachings and the Party’s military guidelines and thoughts, in the national liberation wars, the Commando Corps creatively, courageously overcame all difficulties, hardships, and challenges, ingeniously and daringly achieved a lot of brilliant feats of arms, became the enemy’s horror, made significant contributions to the country’s great victories, and built up its tradition of “being specially seasoned, truly heroic, ingenious, daring, attacking key positions to gain glorious victories.” In the Homeland construction and protection, Uncle Ho’s teachings act as the guidelines for the Corps to build its force, promote unity, and devote efforts to renewing leadership and direction over the work of studying and developing the commando combat art and the training of its troops to meet the task requirements in all situations.

At present, the Corps continues to be faced with more demanding task developments. Notably, it is assigned to maintain political security and social order and safety, fight terrorism, and defend the national sovereignty over seas and islands. Meanwhile, the dark side of the market economy has a negative impact on the ideology and life of cadres and soldiers within the Corps, particularly at small-scale, independent units in charge of special missions or those stationed in the complex areas. To bring into play the glorious tradition of the Commando Corps which was given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces twice, realise the goals of making commando units and the Commando Corps “compact, strong,” “revolutionary, regular, seasoned, and gradually modern,” and successfully fulfil all tasks assigned by the Party, the State, and the Military, the Corps’ Party Committee and Command take several main measures as follows.

First of all, emphasis should be placed on making the Commando Corps strong politically. As the commando force conducts highly particularly missions, all cadres and soldiers of this force must be absolutely loyal to the Party, the Homeland, and the people; moreover, they have to strictly adhere to higher echelons’ resolutions, directives, and commands, while maintaining vigilance in any circumstance and avoiding falling into passivity. Following Uncle Ho’s teachings, the Corps’ Party Committee and Command renew and improve political and ideological education for its cadres and soldiers, with a focus placed on effectively implementing the Project on “a reform in political education at military units in the new period.” The work of political and ideological education must be carried out regularly, constantly, extensively and widely in accordance with each group of troops and each type of units. To that end, in addition to educating Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, and heroic tradition of the nation, the Military, and units, the Corps’ Command directs its offices, units, and schools to thoroughly grasp and seriously execute the Party’s military-defence viewpoints and guidelines, particularly the Strategy for the Homeland Defence in the new situation. The Corps’ affiliates are required to encourage troops in each section and force, especially within the units in charge of combating terrorism and riot and those assigned to defend the national sovereignty over seas and islands. Doing so will enable all troops to grasp the situation and their task requirements, to distinguish between partners and opponents, to clearly understand the hostile forces’ plots and acts of sabotage against our revolution, to comprehend difficulties which should be dealt with, and to maintain readiness for undertaking and successfully fulfilling all tasks in any situation. The Corps’ Party Committee requires all cadres and party members, especially the key ones to be active in study and self-improvement and set good living, moral, and working styles for others to follow.

The Excellent Party Cell Secretary Competition held by the Corps in 2019

To build a particularly elite Corps, it is imperative to make the Corps’ Party Organisation pure and strong on a par with its task, which should be seen as one of the most fundamental requirements for carrying out Uncle Ho’s teachings in the new condition. The Corps’ Party Committee determines to frequently enhance the party organisations’ leadership capacity and combativeness under the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 on the Party building and rectification in line with the Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW and the Central Military Commission Standing Board’s Directive 87-CT/QUTW on studying and emulating Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle. In this regard, consideration should be given to making the Corps’ Party Organisation really exemplary, typical, united and uniform, frequently consolidating and improving party committees and organisations’ leadership capacity and combativeness, and building strong party committees, teams, and members within combat groups, squads, and teams. As for the units operating independently far from their direct higher echelons’ direction, party teams will be established within combat teams. Besides, due attention should be managing, training, and improving cadres and party members’ political will, morality, lifestyle, work method, professional competence, self-discipline, unity, role model-setting responsibility, and courage to exercise criticism and self-criticism, thereby allowing party organisations to keep improving their leadership and combativeness in all situations.

Additionally, the Corps attaches importance to raising the quality of training, its synergy, and its capability in combat readiness and combat as a determinant to improving its combat strength. As the Corps’ training and operations are diverse and take place in the complex areas and difficulties, its organisational structure and materiel must be compact and its cadres and soldiers must be expert in combat techniques and skills as instructed by President Ho Chi Minh that “ingenuity must be specially flexible while skills must be trained, practised, and mastered in an extremely special way.” Thus, the Corps’ Party Committee and Command focus on leading and directing the Corps’ affiliates to grasp and seriously execute the Central Military Commission’s Resolution and the Corps’ Party Committee’s Resolution on “raising the quality of training in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond” and keep a close eye on the practical situation to develop measures for improving the quality of training and the combat readiness capacity in each operational area. Moreover, units are required to actively renew the mechanism for managing, operating, and formulating the training programmes and methods, particularly at team and inter-team levels. The training work must follow the motto of “basics, practicality, and thorough grasp.” Significance should be attached to providing synchronous, intensive training, considering practical training as the main part, and closely combining basic training with training based on new and contingency missions. Night-time training and long-distance loaded marches in harsh conditions must be intensified to improve troops’ manoeuvrability, survival skills, and stamina (including their tactical and combat skills, martial arts, shooting, and parachuting). Besides, due regard should be paid to raising the quality of field exercises under each combat project in the key areas, at sea, and on islands. Units must train their troops to master the existing weapons and technical equipment, while promoting their cadres and soldiers’ knowledge to research and renovate training models and develop new weapons and equipment for their missions. They should continue stepping up scientific researches to unceasingly develop commando combat method and art in the new period.

As commando units, particularly small-scale ones frequently operate independently in various areas far from higher echelons’ direct direction, the requirements for discipline and unity within the commando force is extremely high. Being imbued with President Ho Chi Minh’s teachings that “discipline must be specially strict while a sense of unity must be particularly stringently maintained,” the Corps’ Party Committee and Command continue directing the all-level party committees, commands, and cadres, especially the key ones to achieve a breakthrough in discipline management and military standard order building at all offices, units, and schools within the Corps. Consequently, all offices and units must frequently well conduct the work of law and discipline education, strictly maintain the regulations by the Military and themselves, and stringently execute daily, weekly, and monthly regulations. In addition, they are required to enhance measures for managing and training troops, building and maintaining the military standard order and discipline in training, combat, and mass mobilisation, thereby rendering troops self-aware to observe the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, the State’s law and policy, and the regulations set by the Military and their units. At the same time, great value is attached to fostering a sense of internal unity, comradeship, and the close-knit bond between the Military and the people in all operations and areas.

A part from the above-mentioned measures, the Corps always attaches significance to carrying out the work of logistics and technical support for its special missions. In addition to the on-the-spot logistics and technical support, the Corps directs its competent offices to advise the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on acquiring and manufacturing a number of specialised weapons, technical equipment, and foods to meet the requirements set by its training and combat in the special environment and hi-tech warfare as well as on providing logistics and technical support for its long operations at sea and on islands. Also, the Corps actively makes its facilities and barracks “bright, green, clean, and scenic,” steps up the Campaign entitled “the Military Logistics Branch follows Uncle Ho’s teachings,” and improves its cadres and soldiers’ material and spiritual life as the basis for raising its synergy and combat strength and meeting the requirements for the Homeland defence.

Maj. Gen. Vu Hong Quang, Commissar of the Commando Corps