Being located in the area of 5 provinces and cities in Mekong River Delta and some islands in the Southern sea of the country, Engineer Brigade 25 (9th Military Region) is tasked with training, combat readiness, search and rescue, constructing combat buildings and detecting, collecting and clearing post-war bombs and mines; closely cooperates with other forces to protect the political security, social order and safety in the region. Of all these missions, the detection, collection and clearance of post-war bombs and mines which has been much concerned and implemented with many synchronous solutions by the Brigade has gained many important results to contribute to the socio-economic development in the region and been highly appreciated by the Ministry of National Defence, Military Region 9 and the local party committees and governments.
However, this is a typical task with high risk of danger and unsafety because the post-war bombs and mines which have been changing their chemical and physical natures can suddenly explode. More seriously, there are some types containing chemical toxins which can severely affect the socio-economic development, the safety of buildings and people’s life and property. Additionally, the terrain features in areas polluted by post-war bombs and mines are complicated and diverse such as coastal areas, islands, mountains, residential areas, rivers, lakes, trenches, making it difficult for deploying forces and vehicles. In their working process, cadres and soldiers have dived in contaminated water, searched in mud, carried bombs, mines and explosive ordnances across the bumpy areas, which has influenced their thought and morale. In order to overcome these difficulties and challenges, the Brigade has focused on their leadership and direction and brought into play the roles of units and offices; promoted initiatives, innovated the detection and transportation vehicles, at the same time, cooperated with local areas and functional forces in order to successfully accomplish the “peacetime combat mission”. Together, the Brigade has successfully accomplished its tasks of explosive ordinance detection, providing safety for large political and economic events in the region; closely cooperated with localities and units to detect, move and destroy bombs and mines, clear the land for projects of socio-economic development. In its process, the Brigade has taken several experience and solutions which have been applied to well accomplish such important mission.
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| Handling of post-war unexploded device |
Firstly, strengthen the leadership and direction by all-level party committees and commands, educate to improve the awareness for cadres and soldiers of the bombs and mines clearance mission. This is an important solution, a leading principle throughout the implementation of the mission. On fully grasping the resolutions, directions from the seniors on the clearance of bombs and mines, especially Program 504 – The program of national actions on settling the post-war bomb and mine consequences; Direction No. 427/CT-BTL, dated 14/3/2018 by the Commander of Military Region 9 on collecting and clearing bombs, mines, ammunitions and explosive ordnances of all types in the Region, the Brigade has concretised these documents into important contents in the Party Committee’s resolutions and the commanders’ plans. With the motto of all-round leadership, unified commanding, close combination, serious implementation and complete safety, the Brigade’s party committee and command have directed offices and units to clearly define the task requirements, policies and solutions for building the implementation plans effectively to make cadres and soldiers fully understand the meaning, features, nature and task requirements for post-war bombs and mines clearance; and firmly hold the action regions; obtain their stable political and thoughtful spirit, bravery and high determination to overcome difficulties and well accomplish their missions. Offices and units have combined the general education and the private one due to each mission and suitably with each participant; organised visits to traditional houses, historical monuments so that they can have a deeper understanding of the traditions of bombs and mines clearance by the Engineer Forces and the Army, which can help cadres and soldiers be well aware of their missions, believe in their own ability and show high responsibility for their task implementation.
Secondly, build plans, closely organise forces and thoroughly prepare all aspects. In the situations of detection and clearance of bombs and mines, the Brigade has closely followed the directions from the seniors, the terrain features to make recce and survey, selected the suitable solutions, built plans and asked for approval from each level. For plans of destroying and exploding bombs and mines, the Brigade has built in details and implemented after being approved by the authorities. Due to the mission features, the Brigade does not establish specialised forces. Groups or pairs of bombs and mines detection and clearance have been temporarily established directly under the Brigade’s leadership and direction. Forces of cadres, drivers, mechanics, etc. have been trained, educated and examined with certificates of bombs and mines clearance for leaders and officers according to regulations by the Ministry of National Defence. They have been reaccredited every 3 years. Likewise, the Brigade has closely directed the further training before each period of mission implementation, the improvement of recognition skills over kinds of bombs and mines; knowledge and skills of professionally using weapons and vehicles, detecting and clearing bombs and mines; at the same time, exchanged and handed over experience when carrying out the missions. Together with proper preparation of forces, the Brigade has asked offices and units to fully prepare facilities, vehicles and materials to make sure the accomplishment of the missions in all conditions.
Thirdly, closely combine with relevant localities and forces to improve the effectiveness of bombs and mines clearance. This is one of the important stages in the process of detecting and transporting bombs and mines. After receiving missions, the Brigade has directed offices and units to relate and closely coordinate with localities to deploy forces to check the places of bombs, mines and explosive ordnances; fully counted all the types; on that basis, to unify the plans and solutions of moving, transporting and assuring safety. In the process, units need to move and transport bombs and mines in a long way over many kinds of terrains. Consequently, all groups and pairs of the Brigade have to closely cooperate and take advantage of the assistance from the party committees, governments, military offices and people in places having bombs and mines, also in transportation routes. In order to assure the transport safety over intersections, the Brigade has closely cooperated with the traffic police, specialised forces and guiding groups to stop the traffic for the continuous transportation. Especially, the Brigade has frequently cooperated with the head of the firing range of the Military Region, the bomb-destroying site in Depot K882 and the locality to announce the people to shelter safely. Accordingly, the Brigade has, so far, detected, moved and transported safely many kinds of bombs, mines and explosive ordnances, which has been highly appreciated by all levels and localities.
Fourthly, strictly follow the process and safety precautions, timely learn from experience after each time of implementing the mission. With the complicated nature of the missions and high rate of unsafety, the Brigade has asked all forces to grasp and strictly follow the safety precautions, the procedures of processing each kind of bombs, mines and explosive ordnance. According to the reality, beside the general processing procedures of detecting, gathering, transporting and clearing, there are specific issues in each period of mission implementation due to the terrains, weather, kinds of bombs, mines, etc. asking all groups and pairs to calculate and anticipate all details, not to be subjective and skip any steps. Especially, the safety assurance in transportation, gathering and clearance has been paid much attention by the Brigade in each stage, job, movement, especially the arrangement and package. In the process of destruction, the Brigade has asked cadres to follow rightly all the steps, informed the forces and localities in the region about the plans, time, kinds of bombs, mines and solutions of prevention, assuring the safety; implemented the collection, clearance, etc., avoided leaving the explosive ordnance.
In the process of clearance, any mistake can cause injuries and death, the Brigade, as a result, has frequently held the learn-from-mistake sessions after each task completion. After each stage and step (of detection, gathering, transportation and destruction), groups and pairs have learned from experience in order to timely repair shortcomings, heighten the effectiveness and assure the safety. The Brigade has focused on checking and evaluating seriously the implementation process in all steps and stages, from leadership and direction to the implementation, from groups’ and pairs’ to individuals’ actions; attentively discovered the causes of weaknesses and shortcomings, placed the responsibility for collectives and individuals to timely improve the effectiveness in the next missions, at the same time, well implemented the encouragement, awards and treatment for forces doing the bombs and mines clearance.
The results and real experience in the missions of detecting, gathering and clearing bombs, mines and explosive ordnances have recently made important contributions for Engineer Brigade 25 to prove its core roles in clearing bombs and mines in the Military Region and the Mekong River Delta, which can strengthen the fast and sustainable development of socio-economy.
Colonel VI DUC HAN, Commander of the Brigade