Military Region No.2 is one of the areas with a large number of policy beneficiaries and national contributors of the whole country. Over the past years, along with successfully performing military and defence tasks, the Military Region’s Party Standing Committee and Command have led and directed agencies and units to coordinate with the local Party committees and authorities to promote "Gratitude" movement, contributing to improving the material and spiritual life of the beneficiaries.

The Military Region No.2 consists of nine provinces in the northwest of the country, bordering with Laos and China. Therefore, it has a very important geo-strategic position in terms of socio-economy, national defence, security and foreign affairs of the country. During the resistance wars, the Military Region No.2 was both the rear and the fierce battlefield, with millions of people participating in various fields and fronts against colonialism and imperialism, defending the Fatherland and performing their international duties to help Laos. Currently, the number of policy beneficiaries and national contributors in the Military Region is very large, including 51,241 martyrs; 29,929 wounded soldiers; 10,701 sick soldiers; 87 Heroes of the People's Armed Forces; 3.312 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers; 19,990 people infected with toxic chemicals. Along with the honour and pride in the great contributions to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation, the Party Committee, administration, people and armed forces of the Military Region No.2 have been making efforts to effectively implement "Gratitude" movement, taking care of the material and spiritual life of wounded and sick soldiers, martyrs’ families, and national contributors.

Deeply grasping the resolutions and directives of the Party, State, Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence on taking care of national contributors, and imbued with President Ho Chi Minh's advice: "wounded and sick soldiers, military personnel and martyrs’ families are people who have made contribution to the Fatherland and the people. Therefore, it is our duty to be grateful, to love and to take care of them", over the years, the Military Region’s Party Standing Committee and Command have always paid attention to leading and directing the implementation of the "Gratitude" movement, with creative solutions and recorded practical outcomes, bearing profound social meaning. Thereby, it has made contribution to enhancing both materially and spiritually to wounded soldiers, sick soldiers, families of martyrs, and national contributors, and supported and appreciated by the people.

Working group of Military Region No.2 visit Vietnamese Heroic Mother Tran Thi Doanh living in Van Hoa commune, Lao Cai city

Thoroughly grasping the point of view: attaching importance to the implementation of policy in general and improving the efficiency of the "Gratitude" movement in particular, are contribution to building a firm "people’s hearts posture" to proactively protect the Fatherland from afar, in the coming time, the Military Region’s Party Standing Committee and Command will direct their agencies and units to successfully conduct the work of grasping, educating and raising the awareness of responsibility for officers, soldiers, especially the contingent of commanding officers at all levels on this important and humane work. Accordingly, Party committees at all levels should thoroughly grasp the resolutions and directives of the Party, State, Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence on the "Gratitude" movement to ensure its nature of continuity, diversity, and variety. In particular, importance should be attached to educating through activities on the occasions of the Wounded and Martyrs' Day, holidays, and Tet, etc., making officers and soldiers imbued with the principle of "Drinking water, remember the source", and "Gratitude is the sign of noble souls"; understanding the heroic sacrifices of martyrs and uncounted contributions and merits of wounded and sick soldiers, national contributors to the cause of national liberation. Then, they would have the correct awareness and show responsibility by practical actions and deeds, making this work spread and developed in both wide and deep dimensions.

The reality shows that the "Gratitude" movement could only be practical and effective when the Party committees and commanders at all levels uphold their roles and responsibilities in leading and directing the implementation. Therefore, the Military Region’s Party Standing Committee and Command ordered their affiliate Party committees and commanders at all levels to thoroughly understand and study the contents of the Ordinance No.02/2020/UBTVQH14, dated December 9, 2020 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on preferential treatment for national contributors; Decree No. 131/2021/ND-CP dated December 30, 2021 of the Government detailing on the measures to implement the Ordinance on preferential treatment for national contributors; Resolution No. 07-NQ/DU, dated March 18, 2021 of the Party Committee of Military Region No.2 on leading the implementation of policy on the soldiers and their families in the 2021-2025 period. On that basis, it is important to identify guidelines and measures to lead, direct the development and implementation of a plan on gratitude activities, ensuring that they are practical and relevant to reality, aiming at achieving the following goals: constant improvement of the material and spiritual life of the national contributors’ families, especially those are in difficulties, living in remote, isolated areas, and revolutionary bases, bringing the policies of the Party, the State and the Army on wounded soldiers, martyrs families, and national contributors into life. During the implementation, attention should be paid to upholding responsibilities, actively coordinating with the local Party committees, authorities and mass organisations to effectively coordinate and carry out the "Gratitude" activities in units stationed in these areas, especially in the provinces of Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang, and Dien Bien. It is also necessary to regularly inspect, examine, supervise, promptly detect, and strictly handle violations in the implementation of policies towards wounded and sick soldiers, families of martyrs, and national contributors, as to firmly consolidate the people's belief in the Party, State and Army.

To “further improve the material and spiritual life of national contributors; to ensure the preferential policy for national contributors and their families in line with the economic growth, social progress and justice", the requirements set out for the "Gratitude" movement should be comprehensively renovated in terms of content and implementation with practical activities. On the basis of identified programs and plans, leaders and commanders at all levels should attach to reality in order to conduct specific, flexible, and appropriate "gratitude" activities, making them relevant to the development of the country, the tasks of the Army, Military Region, and units. In implementation, attention should be paid to renewing the Movement in the direction of developing good deeds, that are not only valuable in material and spiritual encouragement to the beneficiaries, but also help to raise the patriotism and the proud of the tradition of revolutionary struggle, showing the sentiment and responsibility of the whole army and people to the task of taking care of national contributors. Accordingly, agencies and units, especially local military agencies, should perform a good job of giving advice to the local Party committees and authorities to mobilise all possible resources, focusing on successfully implementing the policy of socialising the care of national contributors, promoting synergy, making the "Gratitude" movement an activity with profound humanistic meaning. Emphasis should also be placed on actively reviewing and promptly detecting problems, difficulties and inadequacies, and irrelevant or low outcomes forms of implementation, closely getting in touch with the situation of the locality to determine the appropriate content, method and form of "Gratitude" activities.

The Military Region’s Policy Division should be active in understanding the situation and giving advice to the Military Region’s Party Standing Committee to effectively lead the implementation of guidelines, programmes and plans for coordination with local agencies, departments, and mass organisations, aiming at promoting and improving the effectiveness of the "Gratitude" movement. At the same time, it should perform well the function of guiding and directing provincial policy departments to closely coordinate with the Department of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs to further reviewing, appraising and resolving policies for those who participated in the war to protect the Fatherland and performed international tasks, etc., aiming at solving completely, without leaving a backlog of documents that can affect the interests of beneficiaries. Agencies and units should well perform the tasks of preliminary and final reviews; praising, rewarding and replicating advanced models and examples; promptly adjusting and overcoming limitations and shortcomings and making recommendations and suggestions to senior levels on methods and solutions to solve problems at the grassroots level, ensuring higher effectiveness of the "Gratitude" movement.

The further promotion of the "Gratitude" movement is the sacred sentiment of officers and soldiers of the whole Military Region, contributing to better care for the living of wounded and sick soldiers, families of martyrs, and national contributors. As the result, it would make contribution to further strengthening the "the people's hearts posture" and deepening the tradition and morality of the Vietnamese people of "Drinking water, remember the source", and "Gratitude" of the Vietnamese people, and the tradition of the Heroic Armed Forces of the Military Region No.2.

Major General TRAN NGOC TUAN, Deputy Political Commissar of Military Region No.2