The defensive area exercise is the highest, most comprehensive content and serves as the measure to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of military and defence work at the local in general, and in the construction and activities of provincial and city defence zones in particular. Recognicing this and based on the local reality, mission requirements, in recent years, the Ho Chi Minh City High Command has chaired and closely coordinated with departments and agencies to actively advise the City Party Committee and People's Committee to lead and direct the organisation of various defensive area exercises on a large scale, achieving high results. Especially in 2023, the Ho Chi Minh City High Command directed 10 districts, 105 communes, wards, towns, and units under coordination to closely coordinate with the police, border guards to successfully complete the defensive area exercise, civil defence, meeting the objectives and requirements with absolute safety.

The success of these defensive area exercises, including civil defence, is attributed to many factors. It is the close and precise leadership and direction of the party committees and authorities at all levels; the synchronised involvement of the entire political system, leveraging the collective strength of committees, departments, organisations, and the people in the area, the pivotal role of the city’s armed forces in advising and organising the implementation. From the practical experience of the exercises, the City High Command has drawn several lessons and proposed solutions to enhance the quality of defensive area exercises.

Amoured and infantry troops participate in live-firing exercise

First and foremost, it is essential to recognise that defensive area exercises, including civil defence, are crucial tasks that occur alongside economic and social activities, demands that party committees, authorities at all levels, and armed forces invest effort, time, and budget while ensuring minimal disruption to other activities. Therefore, the ideology and perception of the participants in the exercise are crucial factors; serving as the foundation and premise, determining the quality of completing this important mission. Adhering to Announcement No. 16-TT/TU dated 31 December 2022, of the Ho Chi Minh City Committee regarding "Leading the implementation of military and defence missions in 2023", from the beginning of the year, the City High Command directed military agencies in districts, towns, and Thu Duc City to provide counsel to the city committees and authorities at corresponding levels to enhance propaganda, education, and deeply understand the exercise's missions. Regarding the content, it is important to concentrate on clarifying the purpose, significance, importance, and requirements of the exercise in accordance with the spirit of Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW, dated 22 September 2008, of the Political Bureau on "Continuing to build provinces and municipal cities into solid defensive areas in the new situation"; the law on National Defence; the Law on Self-Defence Force; the Law on the Reserve Force; and Decree No. 21/2019/NĐ-CP, dated 22 February 2019, of the Government on defensive areas. Regarding form and method, the City High Command coordinates with other forces to advisory City Committees at all levels to organise conferences to thoroughly discuss the exercise tasks; disseminates information and widely propaganda in agencies and units; directs the Propaganda and Education Department, the Information and Communication Department, the City Radio and Television Station, and radio station in districts to disseminate information about military activities, national defence, regional defence exercises and civil defence exercises with diverse news, articles, and reports. Therefore, the awareness of party committees at all levels, sectors, forces, cadres, soldiers and the people regarding the exercise task has been enhanced, contributing to mobilising the entire political system and the people to actively and effectively participate in the preparation and practical exercises.

The characteristics of the defensive area exercises and civil defence exercises are comprehensive activities involving multiple forces, resources, and participants, with various situations occurring rapidly, urgently, and in complex ways. Therefore, to ensure that the exercises proceed according to plan, the preparation must be comprehensive, thorough, and meticulous in all aspects.

Thorough understanding the training directive of Military Region 7 Commander, with the City High Command advising the City Committee to issue announcements and the People’s Committee to issue directives, plans, and decisions regarding the defensive area exercises. Based on the direction from the City Committee, the People's Committee, and the intentions of the City High Command for the exercise, military agencies in districts (Districts 10, 11, 12, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan; Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh, Can Gio districts) provided advice to the party committees, authorities at all levels to issue leadership documents, direct and organise the implementation of the exercise to ensure concentration and unity; direct agencies, boards, and sectors to develop exercise documents and undertake preparatory work as guided by military and police. Local military units have correctly fulfilled their central coordinating role, collaborating and guiding agencies and sectors in drafting documents to ensure compliance with military advisory procedures, suitable for their functions and tasks, thus overcoming the situation of substitution or assistance. Especially, the work of mobilising forces, resources, infrastructure and preparing exercise areas (combat bases, rear bases, logistical-technical bases, troop deployment areas, etc.) are thoroughly studied and carefully calculated to ensure suitability with terrain conditions, armed forces' combat tactics, and the local area's potential.

To ensure thorough preparation, time efficiency, and the exercise process unfolds smoothly, harmoniously and in close alignment with reality, the City High Command advises the Steering Committee to organise training sessions and workshops for officials at all levels and departments participating in directing and practicing. These sessions focus on strategic advisory work, the sequence of steps for transitioning armed forces to combat-ready states, transitioning localities to defence readiness; content and methodology of document construction; actions of leadership, command at all levels; sequence of operational and training of problem solving skills. In addition to focusing training, refresher training is also conducted through document development and trial exercises (the Steering Committee, the assisting agencies and the City Exercise Command Team participate together, provide feedback, refine content and unify methods before proceeding to the main exercise). The remaining forces are trained by local authorities according to specific issues, stages, and scenarios. This leads to a significant improvement in the overall quality of preparation and exercise implementation in general in the functioning of the Defensive Area Steering Committee, the Anti-Terrorism Command, and the Supply Council in particular.

Raising the level of combat capability for troops

To meet the requirements, the Steering Committee organises the operational training effectively in all three stages: (1) Transitioning armed forces into combat-ready states and transitioning localities into defence states; (2) Organising defensive combat preparations; (3) Practicing defensive combat and civil defence. During the training process, the directing framework closely monitors trainee actions, identifies weaknesses and deficiencies to rectify and supplement. For units and trainees, emphasising a sense of responsibility, fostering creativity, regularly exchanging ideas with the exercise commander and collaborating to refine content, aiming to align closely with the functions and responsibilities of their respective sectors and localities. As a result, the operational mechanism operates as intended, and meetings of Party Committees, authorities, and the Steering Committee adhere to guidelines and principles. Cadres participating in the mechanism operation accurately demonstrate their positions and roles; their reports are concise, focused, and propose suitable solutions. Military and police units play an important role in assessing situations, providing advice and assisting Party Committees and authorities in leading, directing, and handling situations flexibly, creatively, and realistically. To ensure that the exercises cover a wide range of scenarios, maintain continuity but still stay within the designated time frame, captivating participants and observers, certain scenarios are meticulously rehearsed and recorded for presentation to guide and substitute for practical exercises.

During military exercises practicing situation handling, the City's Training Command directs localities to flexibly apply the provisions of Circular No. 140/2020/TT-BQP, dated 16 November 2020, of the Ministry of National Defence guiding the implementation of certain provisions of Decree No. 02/2018/NĐ-CP, dated 31 December 2018, of the government detailing the implementation of some articles of the Law on National Defence regarding emergency situations in defence, military discipline, ensuring strict adherence to principles, and practicality; clearly demonstrating the coordination between the main units and the Party Committees, government authorities and local armed forces, such as: delivering, receiving and maintaining socio-economic activities; restoring security and order in the area; deploying the protection of critically important targets, recapturing targets in enforcing martial law and soldiers coordinate combat operations against enemy attacks into the defensive areas. The content of soldier’s training, with larger scale, diverse forms, and higher requirements compared to previous years, has addressed the issue of integrating training and situational exercises both in wartime and peacetime. For instance, scenarios involve countering enemy airstrikes (resolving scenarios of avoiding and countering enemy airstrikes during wartime and dealing with emergency situations like rescues, fires, explosions, or collapsing structures during peacetime); countering enemy amphibious assault linked with searching and rescuing operations at sea. Regularly emphasising and meticulously inspecting weapons, equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure, adhering to the principle of "No safety assurance, no exercises." This ensures that 100% of participating units in the exercises use weapons, equipment, vehicles, blanks, explosives, and pyrotechnics with absolute safety, earning high praise from the Military Region, city leadership, from various levels and sectors.

In 2024, the city was one of the localities assigned to organise the defensive area exercises as part of the strategic combat coordination exercise of the Military Region. Accordingly, the city will mobilise its departments, agencies, and organisations, as well as Thu Duc City, Districts 7, Tan Binh, Go Vap, Nha Be, Cu Chi, along with other units under the High Command, Police and Border Guard to participate. To carry out the preparation and organisation of the exercise effectively, the Party Committee, along with the City High Command, advised the Defence Area Steering Committee to hold a conference to evaluate the construction of the defence area from 2019 to 2023. Organising training on building defence areas and the content, methods of building defence combat documents for departments, committees, sectors, and localities. Actively advising the City Committee, the City People's Committee to issue leadership documents, directives for the exercise; continue to invest in building the Exercise Command Department with 72 construction items on the training ground; develop scenarios, exercise content; prepare forces, infrastructure, and vehicles. These are crucial conditions for successfully accomplishing the regional defence exercises mission of the city, contributing to building a robust defensive area in line with the strategic position of the city named after beloved Uncle Ho.

Lieutenant General NGUYEN VAN NAM, Member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, Commander of the City High Command