Forest Enterprise 103 (Economic-Defence Corps 327, Military Region 3), whose forerunner was Regiment 103, is tasked with defending the border, training and managing reservists, training new recruits, carrying out animal and crop husbandry associated with mass mobilisation within various localities of Military Region 1 and Military Region 3. Over the past 35 years of construction, combat, and development, cadres and soldiers of the Forest Enterprise have always heightened a sense of unity and determination to surmount difficulties and successfully fulfil all assigned tasks. The Forest Enterprise has been commended for many consecutive years by Military Region 3’s Command and the Ministry of National Defence. It has earned faith from local party committees, authorities, and people within its stationed areas, thus building up its tradition of “unity, self-reliance, advance, solidity”. At present, it is performing economic-defence tasks and accompanying ethnic people of Hai Ha district, Quang Ninh province where weather conditions are harsh, and economic, cultural, and living conditions of local people are poor. Besides, most of its cadres and employees are operating far from their families with scarcity of facilities. Against that backdrop, the Forest Enterprise’s Party Committee and Command have adopted a lot of measures to encourage cadres and employees to overcome difficulties, promote the tradition of unity and self-reliance in the new condition, and successfully fulfil tasks.

First of all, the Forest Enterprise has coordinated with localities to step up new-style rural areas building in line with economic-defence zone construction. Being fully aware that the successful implementation of the Movement titled “the Military joins hands in building new-style rural areas” represents an important political task aimed at fostering socio-economic development and consolidating defence and security within the project’s area, the Forest Enterprise’s Party Committee and Command have strictly grasped regulations on functions and tasks of an economic-defence unit, Decree 22/2021/NĐ-CP, dated March 19^th, 2021 by the Government on economic-defence zones and defence land planning in the period of 2021-2031 with a vision towards 2050. Grounded on those documents, the Forest Enterprise has developed a specialised resolution on taking part in new-style rural areas building, while proactively cooperating with Quang Duc and Quang Son communes and District Youth Union of Hai Ha in formulating criteria for new-style rural areas building in line with projects on crop and animal husbandry, military and civilian construction, afforestation, and forest protection. Emphasis has been placed on developing plans on using land and forests as well as constructing inter-village, inter-commune roads, schools, cultural works, and irrigation canals, with the effective use of capital of the Forest Enterprise and localities. Moreover, the Forest Enterprise has frequently grasped local situation and directed its offices and production teams to cooperate with localities in utilising resources to step up the progress of construction and quickly put works into use. It has opportunely recommended localities and relevant authorities to allocate funds for constructing houses, electricity grid, and roads, with a view to guaranteeing population relocation, establishing new villages, expanding a number of new residential areas near the border, and improving the people’s life in tandem with defence and security consolidation. Since 2015, it has coordinated with forces to safeguard 19 hectares of national defence land and nearly 6,000 hectares of protected forests. In cooperation with localities, it has spent over 2,000 working days and 200 million VND on building and repairing dozens of kilometres of roads, constructing 17 cultural and  houses of gratitude, more than 400 cubic metres of embankments, and military works, dredging over 15 kilometres of canals for the people’s life, production, and defence.

Troops of the forestry enterprise participate in building rural roads

In addition, the Forest Enterprise has actively taken part in fostering socio-economic, cultural development, eradicating hunger, reducing poverty, and improving the people’s life and health. Due to complex terrain and weather conditions, it has carefully carried out surveys on terrain, infrastructure, and population to properly deliver production aid packages. Before widely implementing animal and crop husbandry programmes, it has directed each production section and team to properly select seedlings and breeding stock and build models of animal and crop husbandry in line with afforestation and forest protection within communes for local population to visit and study, thereby building up the people’s faith in new production models and the effectiveness of economic restructuring. Emphasis has been placed on giving instructions on animal and crop husbandry procedures and methods of farm produce harvest and preservation to locals. The Forest Enterprise has assigned its offices and units to develop a number of households into role models of agricultural restructuring, while providing financial resources for households within hamlets and villages to boost their production, improve their income, and escape from poverty in a sustainable way. It has set up and deployed working groups and teams to give technical instructions to the people and encourage locals to take part in implementing its projects. It has promoted the pioneering role of young intellectual volunteers expert at industry, agriculture, forestry, health, economics, social affairs, law, and education in giving instructions on production to locals and improving the people’s cultural life and intellectual standard. Under the military-civilian medical programme, it has properly used funds allocated by higher echelons and mobilised its financial resources to acquire medical equipment and medicine, while effectively maintaining 7 medicine cabinets within border villages. On a yearly basis, it cooperates with Military Hospital No.7 in providing medical examination and treatment for over 600 people as well as giving free medicine and healthcare to ethnic minority people and beneficiaries, worth tens of millions of VND. Since 2015, it has organised hundreds of training sessions on techniques of crop and animal husbandry for about 10,000 people, held training courses on forest fire prevention and control and healthcare for 240 locals and village nurses, and mobilised thousands of working days to implement 14 agriculture projects and 10 models of animal and crop husbandry of high economic value. Notably, it has provided financial assistance to construct 15 barns and toilets for the people and given gifts to families under preferential treatment policy and persons with great prestige.

In addition to economic development, the Forest Enterprise has enhanced the work of propagation and education to raise the people’s law-abiding awareness, cultural life, knowledge, and economic condition. Emphasis has been placed on disseminating policies and laws on ethnicity and religion, the Law on Marriage and Family, the Law on Forest Protection, regulations on border management, citizens’ responsibility for forest protection, forest fire prevention and control, and national border security protection, hostile forces’ plots and artifices, tasks of the Forest Enterprise, and the significance of economic-defence projects to the people’s life. Doing so has enabled locals to fully understand our Party and State’s regard for the people in difficult areas and raise their responsibility for Fatherland construction and protection. The Forest Enterprise has employed oral propagation, radio broadcasting, social networks, knowledge contests concerning the Forest Enterprise and the Military, arts and sports exchange programmes, forums, and training conferences to opportunely update information about economic, political, defence activities of Quang Ninh and the country as well as creative, effective models and approaches. Due attention has been paid to regularly conducting the work of propagation in tandem with technical instructions on animal and crop husbandry, infrastructural construction, and sociological investigations by working teams. Doing so has helped encourage the people to get rid of depraved customs, superstitions, and “evil way” religions, not to possess explosives or homemade guns, not to traffic in drug or contraband, not to commit deforestation or free migration, to move livestock farms far from their accommodations, and to effectively use public works within the project’s area. Since 2015, the Forest Enterprise has organised 50 propagation campaigns and 50 investigations into animal and crop husbandry, while helping the people to construct barns and farms and harvest farm produce. Doing so has contributed to improving the people’s knowledge of hygiene, healthcare, disease prevention and control, eradicating hunger, reducing poverty, and building a green, clean environment and cultural villages. Besides, the Forest Enterprise has attached importance to helping localities within the project’s area to better the operational quality of the political system and taking part in disseminating knowledge of defence and security amongst patriarchs, village heads, persons with great prestige, and locals as well as improving professional knowledge of union cadres and military knowledge of members of the militia and self-defence force and self-management teams.

Apart from those above-mentioned measures, the Forest Enterprise has attached significance to raising the quality of combat readiness, training, and reserve force building and management. It has focused on strictly maintaining regulations on guard and duty, supplementing and perfecting combat readiness projects, organising training courses for cadres, repairing and sufficiently preparing training grounds and materials. It has coordinated with localities to organise re-examination of the reserve force, issue orders of mobilisation, and make the most of time for training this force. Under the training motto of “basics, practicality, solidity”, it has developed training scenarios properly and aligned training with discipline management and military standard order building, and accomplished all training programmes with good results. It has cooperated with local party committees and authorities, the Public Security, and other units in exchanging information, developing and practising projects on territory and border protection, natural disaster and forest fire prevention and control, search and rescue, conducting the border and border markers patrols, enhancing the movement of all people’s participation in protecting territorial sovereignty and border security. Doing so has enabled the Forest Enterprise to grasp political security situation and contributed to effectively combating crime of all types, maintaining social order and safety for the people’s peaceful life, and building increasingly firm postures of all-people national defence and people’s security in border areas.

Bringing into play those recorded results, in the upcoming time, Forest Enterprise 103 will continue grasping and effectively implementing guidelines and policies of our Party and State as well as resolutions and directives by the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on building economic-defence zones, successfully fulfilling all functions and assigned tasks to make contributions to building strong prosperous border areas for the Fatherland protection in the new situation.

Colonel VU VAN TUYEN, Director of the Forest Enterprise