Luc Ngan (Bac Giang Province), a mountainous district, consists of 30 communes and township, including 12 highland communes and 18 mountainous communes and township. 49% of the population are ethnic minorities who concentrate mainly in remote communes (Thanh Son; Unified; Toan Thang; Trù Huu A; Trù Hựu B...). In recent years, multiple industrial parks in Bac Giang (Dinh Tram, Quang Chau, Van Trung, Viet Han...) have attracted a large number of the district workers, especially those at the military service age that has caused many difficulties for the selection and calling of citizens to enlist, in general and the propagation on the Military Service Law, in particular.

Overcoming those difficulties, thanks to the awareness of the position and role of the selection and calling of citizens to enlist, close leadership and direction of the Party committees and authorities at all levels, timely consultation of the military agencies, participation of the whole political system, and consensus of the people, the propagation on the Military Service Law in the district has been innovated and achieved practical results. The Party Committees, People's Councils, People's Committees, Military Service Councils, and socio-political organisations at all levels have a high unity of views and awareness and promoted their roles and responsibilities in leading, directing, and organising the propagation work. Military agencies at all levels have done well in advising the local Party committees and authorities to lead and promulgate directives and plans for the Law propagation. The military service registration, source management, prequalification, and examination have been strictly organised as prescribed to ensure democracy, fairness, and publicity in implementing the Law on Military Service. Accordingly, the District has always completed the selection and enlistment of citizens. 100% of enlisting young people have had sufficient qualities, health, patriotism, and motivation to fulfil the task of defending the Fatherland.

To achieve such results, firstly, the District Party Committee and People's Committee have focused on raising awareness for the Party committees, authorities, military service councils, and socio-political unions at all levels about the position and significance of the propagation about the Law on Military Service and the capacity to conduct mass mobilisation and propagation of cadres at all levels.  This is a very important premise for the District's fulfilment of the task of selecting and calling citizens to enlist annually. By thoroughly observing the superiors’ conclusions and plans on the law dissemination and education of the in general and the Law on Military Service Law in particular, the District Party Committee and the District People's Committee have directed the District Military Command, the standing body of the Military Service Council, to coordinate with the Council on Legal Dissemination and Education in proposing to promulgate documents on mechanisms and solutions to improve the effectiveness of legal dissemination and education in general and the Law on Military Service in particular; organising the communication and studying of resolutions and legal topics, particularly the views, guidelines, and policies of the Party and State on building the people's national defence and people's war in protecting the Fatherland in the new situation and the Law on Military Service and its implementing documents... to constantly raise the awareness of leaders, commanders, and heads of agencies, departments, branches, and unions at all levels and uphold their responsibilities in developing and implementing plans for coordinating the propagation on the Law; and conducting the fostering and training in propagation and mobilisation skills and legal propagation, dissemination, and education competitions to improve the effectiveness of this important work. As a result, cadres at all levels, especially those directly conducting propagation and mass mobilisation, have always been well aware of the views, guidelines, and policies of the Party and the State on building the all people’s national defence in the new situation; had a deep and broad understanding of law in general, the Law on Military Service in particular; and had sufficient skills in propagation and mass mobilisation to meet the requirements and tasks of recruiting and calling citizens to enlist.

Discussion on awareness raising about Law on Military Service

Regarding legal propagation in general, the propagation about the Law on Military Service in particular, its effectiveness depends greatly on the synergy of the whole political system. Therefore, the District has always attached importance to improving the effectiveness of coordination among levels, branches, and socio-political organisations and diversifying contents and forms in legal propagation, dissemination, and education. To be effective, the District has directed the District Military Command to develop and implement the plan for coordination with the Propagation Committee, Radio Station, Justice Department, District Centre for Culture, Information, Sports, and Tourism in propagating on the Military Service Law 2015, Decree No.37/2022/NĐ-CP issued on June 6^th, 2022 by the Government on “Amending and supplementing a number of articles of decrees regulating sanctions for administrative violations in the fields of defence,  cipher, and management and protection of national borders on seas, islands, and continental shelves of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”; and circulars and guidelines on military recruitment on the media (The District's web portal for legal propagation, dissemination, and education; Armed Forces column; Legal inquiry column; Monthly Internal Newsletter,...); directed communes and township to propagate on the radio system; assigned cadres, union members and members of socio-political unions (Fatherland Front, Veterans’ Association; Youth Union, and Women's Union), reputable people, village elders, and village heads to go every family with young men of military service age to directly propagate before each military service examination to be close to the local practical conditions; integrated the propagation on the Law through local revolutionary movements and actions; and coordinated with local educational institutions to integrate the contents of the Military Service Law into the official defence and security education program and extracurricular activities to raise awareness and sense of responsibility of the young generation for the cause of national defence. As a result, the people's classes, especially the youth of military age, have been correctly aware of the rights and obligations of citizens in implementing the Military Service Law and sanctions for violations to uphold responsibilities in participating in prequalification and examination for military service without any cases of evasion. Young men admitted to military service have all shown their honour and pride to continue the local glorious heroic tradition and been motivated to strive to complete their duties during their time on active duty.

To improve the effectiveness of propagation, the District has focused on leading and directing the good implementation of the incentives and policies for young people before enlisting and demobilised soldiers returning to their localities.  This is an important basis that helps the propagation to achieve practical effects and contribute to putting the Military Service Law into practice. To achieve the objectives of recruiting and calling citizens to enlist in accordance with the Resolution of Luc Ngan District Military Party Congress for the term 2020 - 2025, the District has attached special importance to directing communes and township to strictly follow the motto: Farewell parties at home, send-offs at communes and township, and recruit delivery at the district. The recruit delivery ceremonies have been organised in a solemn and vibrant manner in accordance with regulations to make it a real military enlistment day and create vivid visuals directly affecting the people's awareness, thoughts, and feelings about the rights and obligations of citizens in performing the task of defending the Fatherland. To encourage young people to implement the military service, the District, communes, and township have carefully organised meetings and sent delegations directly to each family to visit, encourage, and give gifts to new recruits (500,000 - 1,000,000 VND/gift and 1,000,000 - 2,000,000 VND/gift for new recruits who volunteer to apply for military service and announced and encouraged on the communal radio system). When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, under conditions of social isolation, many military personnel who were performing military service could not return home; meanwhile, their families could not visit and encourage them at their units either, the localities paid attention to doing a good job of propagation so that the people understood and shared with the common situation of the country and the Army and actively encouraged their relatives to feel secure to perform their tasks. At the same time, the organised visits and gave gifts to disadvantaged families whose members were performing military service on the occasion of holidays and Tet. The work of reception, registration, and management of demobilised military personnel in the locality has been organised solemnly and thoughtfully. The District Military Command, in collaboration with the No.1 Vocational College - Ministry of National Defence and vocational schools in Bac Giang Province, has counseled, oriented, and facilitated demobilised military personnel to be apprenticed according to their wishes to quickly stabilise their lives after completing military service and returning home, etc. These practical actions have contributed to strengthening and enhancing people's confidence in the Party, State, and Army; creating motivation to directly encourage citizens to feel secure to perform the task of defending the Fatherland. As a result, every year, Luc Ngan District has completed 100% of the target of recruiting and calling citizens to enlist for the military service with increasingly high quality.

Thanks to the above practical solutions, the Law on Military Service has been extensively propagated among the people's classes to make the recruitment and calling of citizens for military service more solid and contribute to the successful implementation of local defence and military tasks; improve the quality of force building, training, and combat readiness of permanent units; and build the contingents of self-defence militia, reservists, and high-quality adjacent cadres for the locality, contributing to building Luc Ngan District strong in socio-economy and solid in defence and security.

LA VAN NAM, Chairman of the District People's Committee