On August 23^rd, 1945, Bac Lieu Province armed forces were established to meet the urgent demands of the resistance war against the French colonialists. Born in the war, despite hardships, the Provincial armed forces actively overcame difficulties to quickly consolidate and develop forces, participate in fighting, and continuously mature in all aspects, becoming the core forces in the resistance movement of the people in the province and the Mekong Delta.

Over 75 years of building, fighting, and maturing, under the leadership and direction of the Military Region 9 Party Committee and High Command and the Provincial Party Committee and the People's Committee of Bac Lieu - Ca Mau (Minh Hai) Province, now Bac Lieu Province, generations of cadres and soldiers of the Provincial armed forces have successfully completed their tasks. Bac Lieu's armed forces and people were recognized as Hero of the People's Armed Forces (in 2003) and many other noble awards by the State.

The armoured troops of Bac Lieu armed foreces in the launch for annual training

Promoting the tradition of heroic Bac Lieu, in recent years, the Provincial Military Party Committee and Military Command have been focusing on synchronous and drastic implementation of multiple solutions to build comprehensively strong, “exemplary and typical” units. First of all, the Province has focused on building politically strong armed forces. The Provincial Military Party Committee and Military Command have directed agencies and units to strengthen political and ideological education to create a unity of awareness and actions and help cadres and soldiers to master views and lines of the Party, policies and laws of the State, and directives and orders of the superiors on defence and military tasks; promoted the implementation of the Scheme entitled “Renovating the political education work at the units in the new period” and strictly maintained the political studying routine; and, at the same time, well implemented the Grassroots Democracy Regulation and Political and Spiritual Culture Day and ensured Army's rear regimes and policies, etc. Accordingly, the agencies and units have always maintained high solidarity and unity with 100% of the cadres and soldiers having strong political steadfeasness and being enthusiastic with their work, and enhancing their sense of responsibility to be ready to receive and fulfill their assigned tasks.

Along with that, the Provincial Military Command has focused on improving leadership capacity and combat power of the Party committees and organizations at all levels and strengthened inspection and supervision to promote the pioneering and exemplary role of cadres and Party members, regularly review and draw lessons, and promptly overcome the limitations and shortcomings in leadership , direction, and the performance of tasks in the spirit of the 4^th Central Resolution (the 12^th Tenure) on building and rectifying the Party. At the same time, it has stepped up the implementation of the Determination-to-Win Emulation movements in association with the implementation of Directive No.05-CT/TW issued on June 15^th, 2016 by the Politburo (the 12^th Tenure) and Directive No.87-CT/QUTW issued on July 8^th, 2016 of the Central Military Commission Standing Committee on “Promoting the learning and following of Ho Chi Minh thoughts, ethics, and style” and the Drive entitled  “Promoting tradition, dedicating talents, deserving to be Uncle Ho's soldiers” in the new period.

The Provincial Military Command has focused on making breakthrough in adjusting the organizational structure and improving the quality of training and combat levels and readiness. By thoroughly grasping and implementing the guidelines of the Military Region Party Committee and High Command, the Provincial Military Party Committee and Military Command have actively adjusted the structure of the three forces towards being “lean, compact, strong, balanced, and synchronous” to ensure a rational structure and distribution among agencies, units, and localities. During the training process, the Province has directed the units to follow the motto of “basic, practical, and solid” for the standing forces and “basic, practical, and quality” for the militia, ensure proper and sufficient training contents, programs, and plans for subjects, with cadre training as the focus, and practice training synchronously, in depth, and close to combat reality and objects.

Being a locality with a long coastline and a large area of sea, the Provincial Military Command has focused on building militia and self-defense force, especially maritime militia and self-defense, in terms of organization, staffing, and equipment assurance and strictly complying with training regulations to raise the efficiency of maritime defense and military operations. In addition to 3 detachments and 8 self-defense linkages for offshore fishing, the Province has directed two coastal districts (Hoa Binh and Dong Hai) and Bac Lieu city to build 9 mobile and 18 in-place militia platoons. Besides military training under the general program, this force has also been educated and fostered in the following topics: The 4^th Central Resolution (the 12^th Tenure) on “Vietnam Sea Strategy to 2020”; 1982 United Nations Convention on the Maritime Law; Vietnam Maritime Law​​, etc. Accordingly, the overall quality of the maritime militia and self-defense force has been significantly improved to ensure good coordination with the Border Guard, Navy, Coast Guard, and other forces in enhancing propaganda and dissemination of defense and security knowledge for fishermen; managing and controlling estuaries; patrolling, watching, and detecting strange ships and boats illegally entering the territorial sea; actively participating in handling situations; taking part in search and rescue activities and smuggling and piracy prevention; and maintaining security and safety of the waters under management. In addition, the Provincial Military Command has regularly adjusted and supplemented the defensive warfare determination and combat readiness and search-and-rescue planning system at all levels; conducted combat plan practice; and directed the organization of one-side, two-level defense drills at district level and commune-level defense combat drills, fulfilling 100% of the plan.

The regularity construction and discipline training tasks have been maintained strictly by agencies and units. The Provincial Military Command has required all levels to pay attention to educating and raising the soldiers’ awareness and sense of responsibility in observance of the Army disciplines, orders, and regulations of and the unit rules. The soldier inspection and management work has been carried out according to decentralization with the close combination between education and persuasion with administrative measures to raise the sense of observance of the Army disciplines, State laws, and the unit regulations, especially during training sessions and operations of militia and self-defense force and mobilization reservists. It has also accelerated the implementation of the movement entitled “Work in accordance with responsibilities and act in accordance with orders; the superiors setting examples for subordinates, agencies setting examples units, cadres setting examples for soldiers.” In addition to educating the soldiers to strictly observe the Army disciplines and the State laws, the units have also paid attention to educating the observance of the rules of social activities and order in public places, so the majority of cadres and soldiers, when participating in social activities, have showed off the military culture and good nature of “Uncle Ho's soldiers”, creating a good impression in the people's hearts. Therefore, in recent years, the Provincial armed forces have not seen any serious disciplinary violations, while the normal violation rate has been low, and the units have been absolutely safe.

The logistics and technical work has been focused on and directed by the Provincial Military Command. The agencies and units have strictly implemented resolutions, directives, plans, and instructions of the superiors and adjusted and supplemented the documents and materials to promptly serve the tasks of training, drills, combat readiness, prevention of floods, storms, forest fires, search and rescue, and other sudden tasks. At the same time, it has well implemented the emulation movement entitled “Military Logistics Industry follows Uncle Ho’s teachings” and the Drive entitled “Managing and exploiting weapons and technical equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, and economically and traffic safety” (aka the Drive 50). As a result, logistics and technical reserves have always been fully guaranteed. The life of the soldiers has been constantly improved with the annual healthy rate reaching over 99%. For technical work, the Provincial Military Command has stepped up the implementation of the Drive 50 to strictly manage and ensure the safety of warehouses and stations, preventing fire, explosion, and loss of weapons and equipment.

Being proud of the 75-year tradition of building, fighting and development, the Provincial armed forces continue to strive to constantly improve the overall quality and combat strength and be ready to receive and complete all assigned tasks under all circumstances, contributing to building Bac Lieu to become a province that is politically stable, economically developed, and strong in defense and security.

Senior Colonel DO MINH DAU, Commander of the Provincial Military Command