75 years ago, on February 26^th, 1947, the Government issued a Decree on establishing Offices for War Invalids under military regions’ Political Departments and Committees for War Invalids in charge of monitoring and directing war invalid and martyr work within the armed forces. That event marked the inception of the system of military policy offices and opened a new field of work of importance and urgency to the development of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and the nation’s revolutionary cause. Since then, the 26^th of February has become the Traditional Day of the Military Policy Branch (MPB). Generations of cadres and soldiers of the MPB have built up the tradition of “maintaining close unity, remaining dedicated, proactive, and creative in work, overcoming all difficulties and challenges, successfully fulfilling all assigned missions” and made significant contributions to the VPA’s construction, combat, and development in each revolutionary period.

In the resistance war against French colonialists (1945 – 1954), in spite of a dearth of personnel, facilities, and materials, cadres and soldiers of the MPB always proactively surmounted difficulties, actively well carried out war invalid and martyr work with diverse, creative contents and forms, encouraged the whole country to take care of troops and war invalids, implemented policies to ensure troops’ standard of living, and conducted reward and commendation work to give encouragement to the resistance war. Moreover, military rear work was gradually formed and developed to directly contribute to maintaining troops’ combat morale, building up all citizens’ determination, and mobilising the entire people’s strength for glorious victories of the nation.

In the resistance against the U.S., for national salvation (1954 – 1975), while concentrating on well implementing preferential treatment policies for war invalids, sick soldiers, martyrs’ families, soldiers’ families, and demobilised soldiers after the resistance war against French colonialists, the MPB actively carried out policies for cadres and soldiers performing their missions on B and C battlefields, researched, proposed, and introduced new policies relating to wartime commendation, thereby making contributions to encouraging frontline forces to actively combat the enemy, motivating the rear to concentrate all resources under the spirit of “doing everything for the beloved South,” and building up our VPA and people’s “determination to defeat US invaders,” liberate the South, and unify the country.

In the Homeland construction and protection period, policy work has been centred on settling post-war issues. Emphasis has been placed on commending military exploits, rewarding collectives and individuals with achievements, implementing policies for war invalids and sick soldiers, issuing death warrants of tens of thousands of martyrs during resistance wars, border protection wars, and international missions, and ensuring sufficient policies and entitlements for demobilised soldiers. Military rear work has been both widely and deeply developed with diverse forms and methods to produce practical outcomes, demonstrate the VPA’s fine nature, help troops to stabilise their life, and build a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds.”

Furthermore, the MPB has proactively recommended our Party and State to bestow the noble title of “Heroic Vietnamese Mother” and closely cooperated with ministries and sectors in providing entitlements and policies for ex-youth volunteers, victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, and experts deployed to Laos and Cambodia. It should be noted that the MPB has always proactively proposed scientific, close measures to carry out the search, collection, and identification of martyrs’ remains, which has been highly appreciated by our Party, State, and people.

To meet the more demanding requirements of the Homeland protection task, over the years, the MPB has researched, proposed, and comprehensively, synchronously, effectively implemented our Party and State’s major guidelines and policies for the VPA and its rear, especially for active duty personnel, new forces, and forces performing particular missions. It has paid due attention to implementing policies for force adjustment, rearrangement and renewal of military enterprises, social insurance, and health insurance, thus better improving cadres and soldiers’ material and mental life and making contributions to building a revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern VPA.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Do Can, Deputy Director of the VPA’s General Political Department giving presents to families under preferential treatment policies in Dinh Bien commune, Dinh Hoa district, Thai Nguyen province

In the upcoming time, more requirements will be imposed on the military build-up under the Resolutions of the 13^th National Party Congress and the 11^th Military Party Congress in general and on policy work for the Military and its rear in particular. In order to satisfy the expectations of troops and citizens and bolster the confidence of our Party, State, and VPA, the MPB shall continue bringing into play its tradition and recorded results to more successfully fulfil all assigned missions, with a focus on the following.

First, keep grasping and seriously, effectively realising our Party and State’s guidelines and policies on policy work for the VPA and its rear. Policies represent the concretisation of the Party’s guidelines. Policies for the VPA and its rear must derive from the Party’s guidelines on the Homeland protection, military-defence task, the building of the armed forces in general and the VPA in particular, and the country’s socio-economic conditions to guarantee the Military’s task performance and facilitate the country’s sustainable socio-economic development. To well carry out this important work, first of all, it is necessary to grasp the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, especially on building the people’s armed forces under the Resolutions of the 13^th National Party Congress and the 11^th Military Party Congress as well as directives and resolutions by the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence, particularly the Central Military Commission’s Directive 169-CT/QUTW, dated December 29^th, 2020 on enhancing leadership and direction over policy work for the VPA and its rear in the period of 2021 -  2025. Grounded on those documents, all-level party committees, commissars, and commanders shall exercise their focalised, uniformed leadership and direction, proactively develop specific, feasible programmes, plans, and measures, and improve the effectiveness of managing and implementing policies. In the process, it is important to closely combine policy work with ideological work and organisational work, promote all forces’ proactiveness and creativity, and exploit all resources to implement policies for the Military and its rear with the highest effectiveness.

Second, strengthen the work of propagation and education to raise organisations and sectors’ awareness and responsibility towards policy work for the VPA and its rears. The MPB, offices, units, and press agencies shall focus on deeply, widely disseminating our Party and State’s guidelines and policies on policy work for the VPA and its rear as a measure of paramount importance to improving the quality and effectiveness of this work. In this regard, it is essential to closely maintain coordination in renewing contents, forms, and methods of propagation and education so as to raise organisations, sectors, localities, offices, and units’ awareness and responsibility towards policy work for the Military and its rears. Emphasis should be placed on the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, the State’s laws and policies, the national tradition of “remembering the source when drinking water,” and entitlements and policies for beneficiaries. Doing so will enable organisations, sectors, forces, localities, and particularly all-level party committees and commanders to fully understand and well execute policies for the VPA and its rear. They will be fully aware that the “Gratitude” Movement is the tradition of our nation and each citizen’s responsibility for great sacrifice of generations of ancestors for national independence and freedom. In the process, significance should be attached to closely cooperating with offices, units, and localities, bringing into play the synergy and effectiveness of institutions and means of communication to conduct the work of propagation and education to raise individuals, organisations, and communities’ awareness and responsibility and achieve a consensus about researching, promulgating, and implementing policies.

Third, focus on better researching and proposing entitlements and policies for the building of a compact, strong VPA under the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress. The building of a compact, strong VPA as a solid precondition for the building of a modern VPA from 2030 represents a major policy and expresses the Party’s strategic vision and new thinking towards the Military build-up, national defence consolidation, and the Homeland protection. 2022 has been selected as “the year for implementing force adjustment plans” by the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence. To well carry out this policy, the MPB shall closely cooperate with committees, sectors, and forces in researching, anticipating, and assessing situations as well as proposing entitlements and policies in a scientific, highly feasible fashion. Due regard should be paid to formulating policies for developing high-calibre human resources and preserving and attracting talents for the building of a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern VPA in 2030. Great value should be attached to ensuring policies for forces performing their tasks in strategic, remote, isolated, border, sea, island areas and international missions so that they will dedicate themselves to the Military and the country. The MPB shall proactively cooperate with offices, units, committees, and sectors in completing and flexibly, effectively implementing policies for non-traditional security challenge prevention and response, particularly for natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control as well as search and rescue. At the same time, it shall continue well implementing salary, allowance, and social insurance policies under Resolution 27/NQ-TW, dated May 21^st, 2018 and Resolution 28/NQ-TW, dated May 23^rd, 2018 by the 12^th Party Central Committee to stabilise the material and mental life of beneficiaries and military staff members.

Fourth, promote sectors, units, and localities’ roles and responsibility to further implement policies for the military rear. The MPB and all-level party committees and commands shall frequently pay due regard to opportunely visiting and encouraging families of soldiers and defence workers in extreme difficulty as well as cadres and soldiers performing their missions in isolated, remote, border, sea, island areas. Significance should be attached to guaranteeing entitlements and policies for persons with life-threatening diseases or long-term medical treatment to help them overcome difficulties. It is necessary to closely cooperate with vocational schools and employment centres in renewing vocational training and creating proper employments for demobilised soldiers. Due regard should be paid to ensuring entitlements and policies for cadres and soldiers taking part in resistance wars, Homeland protection wars, and international missions as well as for retired military cadres. Offices and units across the VPA shall keep enhancing the “Gratitude” Movement and mobilising and effectively employing resources during policy work to create wide and deep positive effects within the society and cement the people’s faith in the Party, the State, the Military, and the Homeland protection cause in the new situation.

Fifth, step up the search, collection, and identification of martyrs’ remains and well implement policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution. Over the years, in spite of a lot of difficulties, thanks to the country’s fine tradition and close coordination between sectors, localities, forces, and the entire people, the work of searching, collecting, and identifying martyrs’ remains has achieved many encouraging results. However, in order to deal with post-war consequences and fulfil the expectations of martyrs’ families, the MPB shall concentrate resources on searching, collecting, and identifying martyrs’ remains in the period of 2021-2030 and beyond. At the same time, due attention should be paid to synchronously, drastically adopting measures to enhance the work of information and propagation, set up national database of martyrs and martyrs’ graves, establish maps of search and collection, organise the search and collection of martyrs’ remains both at home and abroad, and foster international cooperation in the search and collection of martyrs’ remains. Besides, emphasis should be placed on settling shortcomings in confirmation and recognition of people with meritorious services to the revolution under the 12^th Secretariat’s Directive 14-CT/TW, dated July 19^th, 2017 on “continuing strengthening the Party’s leadership over gratitude work for contributors to the revolution” and the National Assembly Standing Committee’s Ordinance 02/2020/UBTVQH14, dated December 9^th, 2020 on “preferential treatment for people with meritorious services to the revolution.” Importance should be attached to taking best care of people with meritorious services to the revolution in order to express our Party, State, and VPA’s special tribute to those people and families under preferential treatment policies.

Sixth, concentrate on building a contingent of “both red and expert” cadres in charge of policy work. The Military’s policy work has a profound humanistic sense and wide positive effects on communities and the entire society. Thus, in order to smoothly, effectively perform this work, due regard should be paid to building a pool of policy cadres at all levels with great political zeal, professional competence, enthusiasm, dedication, and responsibility for their comrades and citizens. That necessitates all-level party committees and commands further improving those cadres’ qualities and capabilities according to Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle as well as the Campaign titled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period. Doing so will help form a wide and deep action movement and encourage cadres and party members in charge of policy work to better themselves against the degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle as well as against “self-evolution” and “self-transformation.” Additionally, great value should be attached to selecting, training, and employing cadres in charge of policy work within strategic and campaign-level offices. All-level leaderships and commands shall well carry out the work of political and ideological education to build up their policy cadres’ political zeal against difficulties, hardships, and material temptations. Due attention should be paid to enhancing the work of inspection and supervision to strictly handle staff members’ exploitation of policies for personal benefits in order to guarantee the MPB’s prestige and the people’s faith in the Party and the State.

The MPB’s 75^th founding anniversary gives us a chance to take a look back on the MPB’s glorious history during the cause of national liberation, construction, and protection. Bringing into play that tradition, all-level party committees, party organisations, commissars, and commanders shall continue focusing their leadership and direction on raising the quality and effectiveness of the “Gratitude” Movement and policy work for the Military and its rear to make contributions to building a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern VPA capable of firmly protecting the Socialist Vietnamese Homeland.

Sr. Lt. Gen. DO CAN, Deputy Director of the VPA’s General Political Department