Promoting learning and following Ho Chi Minh's thoughts, ethics, and style is one of the central and cross-cutting contents that Soc Trang Provincial Military Party Committee and Command have focused on leading and directing through various practical and effective guidelines and measures to make an important contribution for the Province's armed forces to fulfill their assigned tasks.

Soc Trang Province has an important strategic position in terms of socio-economics, defence, and security both on land and at sea. As one of the provinces that are home to a large number of Khmer people, hostile and reactionary forces always take advantage of the “ethnicity” and “religion” issues and use all means to sabotage fiercely. Besides, on the Southwestern borderline and seas, multiple new complicated and unpredictable factors arise, together with drought, saltwater intrusion, high tides, landslides occurring in many places, complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, etc. that have directly affected people's lives and the performance of tasks of the provincial armed forces. To fulfill the local defence and military tasks in such context, the Provincial Military Party Committee and Command have synchronously implemented various leadership and direction solutions, among which, promoting learning and following Ho Chi Minh's thoughts, ethics, and style is an important and throughout one.

First of all, building the cadres, Party members, and the masses’ solid political bravery, clean and healthy ethical qualities and lifestyle, and high sense of responsibility is the most important content to directly make learning and following Uncle Ho deeply infiltrate into the thoughts and actions and become a voluntary and regular work of each organisation and individual. Therefore, the Provincial Military Party Committee and Command have focused on leading and directing the Party committees, Party organisations, and commanders at all levels to promote propagation and education on His thoughts, ethical qualities, beautiful lifestyle, background, and career in numerous rich and diverse forms. Annually, the Provincial Military Party Committee directs 100% of the Party and mass organisations, cadres, Party members, and the masses, especially leading cadres at all levels, to adhere to five common criteria and standards for promoting the qualities of “Uncle Ho's Soldiers” in the new period and the Provincial armed forces’ specific criteria to strive to learn and follow Uncle Ho in close association with their responsibilities and tasks, the commitments to implement the Resolution of the 4^th Central Party Committee (the 12^th and 13^th Tenures) on the Party building and rectification, the Politburo, Secretariat, and Central Military Committee Standing Commission’s regulations on exemplary role, and the Drive entitled “Promoting tradition, dedicating talents, and being worthy of the title of “Uncle Ho's Soldiers” in the new period; integrate the content of learning and following Uncle Ho into the periodic activities of the Party cells and mass organisation to review the performance; uphold the sense of model setting responsibility of the cadres and Party members, especially leading and key ones at all levels; and take the results of learning and following Uncle Ho as one of the criteria for emulation evaluation, commendation, classification, and assessment of quality of organisations and individuals. Accordingly, the Provincial armed forces’ cadres and soldiers always show steadfast political bravery, absolute loyalty to the Party, Fatherland, and People, a high sense of responsibility, dedication to work, word-action consistency, and daring in thinking, doing, and taking responsibility within the scope of their work in charge without deterioration in political thoughts, ethics, and lifestyle and the manifestation of “self-evolution”, and “self-transformation” internally.

Commandant of Soc Trang provincial armed forces presents award for outstanding individuals in implementing Directive 05 of the Politburo.

Upholding the spirit of practicing democracy, voluntarily and strictly observing disciplines, and building internal solidarity, and military-civilian unity, the Provincial Military Party Committee has paid attention to leading and directing to strictly implement the Regulations on Grassroots Democracy, particularly democracy in leadership and commanding and promote the role of mass organisations and the Military Councils in democratically discussing and giving opinions on building and supplementing the units' rules and regulations and discussing measures to implement the task of education and training, regularity building, discipline training, etc. especially giving suggestions to the Party Committees, commanders, cadres, and Party members and supervising relevant issues as prescribed or required by the Party organisations. The Provincial Military Command has required the agencies and units to strictly observe the order and mode of dialogue between officers and soldiers and between superiors and subordinates, while the Party committees and commanders at all levels have received, researched, and promptly handled legitimate opinions, thoughts, and aspirations of cadres, Party members and the masses as prescribed and in line with the units’ capabilities. Those practical deeds have contributed to building a democratic atmosphere and favourable environment to maintain and promote the qualities of “Uncle Ho's Soldiers” in the new situation and maintaining and strictly implementing the order and regimes of meeting, learning, and working of agencies and units. Cadres and soldiers have always self-consciously observed the Constitution, the State’s laws, the Army’s Commandments and disciplines, and the superiors’ directives and orders and constantly trained their sense of self-disciplining, and formal behaviours. Therefore, over the years, The Provincial armed forces have seen no cases of serious disciplinary violations and unsafety in training and working and traffic accidents due to subjective errors, while the normal violation rate has dropped to less than 0.2%. Meanwhile, internal unity and unification and the superior-subordinate, individual-organisation, and comrade relations have always been standardised.

Additionally, the Provincial Military Command has directed agencies and units to thoroughly grasp and well perform the function of the working army to constantly consolidate and enhance the military-civilian relationship by practical and effective deeds through mass mobilisation, participation in building a strong local political base, and settlement of complex cases. For the past five years, the Provincial Military Command has advised the Provincial People's Committee to organise the “Army - People Tet Festival” in 10 remote communes and revolutionary base areas with practical meanings, which has created a consensus among the Party committees, authorities, mass organisations, and local people; visit and give nearly 5,900 gifts to policy families and poor households; support the construction of nearly 300 “House of Gratitude”, “House of Comrades”, and “House of Great Solidarity”; donate 519 bicycles and 690 scholarships to poor and studious pupils; and provide free medical examination and medicine for more than 3,500 policy families and poor households, etc. with a total amount of over VND 72 billion. Besides, the Provincial armed forces have also well implemented the emulation movement entitled “Joining hands to build new rural areas - Joining hands for the poor - Leaving no one behind”. Its agencies and units have signed and participated in building 26 communes to meet new rural standards, while the remaining communes have met 15 or more criteria. In particular, in the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Provincial Military Command has advised the Provincial Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control to develop documents to direct, review, and supplement 25 quarantine points inside and outside the military bases and organise the reception of 11 rounds of concentrated isolation at the Provincial Military School, including 1,592 Vietnamese citizens returning from abroad, to ensure dedication, thoughtfulness, and good pandemic prevention and control. Those practical deeds have contributed to making the people excited and assured of working and production and tightening the military-civilian relationship.

Follow Uncle Ho's teaching that “… always raise your vigilance and fighting spirit without subjectivity and contempt for the enemy. Always try to practice tactics, techniques, thoughts, and politics”, Party committees and commanders of agencies and units have often associated “following” Uncle Ho with making a breakthrough in improving the quality of political education and military training as planned and close to reality and strengthened periodic and unscheduled inspection measures to promptly correct and overcome shortcomings in training and meet requirements of tasks in all situations. The results of the examination of political education and military training have been improved every year with over 75% good and excellent. Defensive area combat drills, district-level flood and storm prevention drills, and commune-level combat and security drills have achieved 100% of the targets of the plan. Through the drills, the leadership and administration capabilities of the Party committees, authorities, and armed forces at all levels have been improved to contribute to building an increasingly solid defense area.

In recent years, under the high demands of the requirements and tasks of protecting the Fatherland, the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, etc. the performance of military and defence tasks has faced multiple difficulties and complications, negatively affecting the overall quality, combat readiness, and regularity building of agencies and units. However, with the spirit of learning and following Uncle Ho, the Party committees and commanders of agencies and units have focused on advising and assisting local Party committees and authorities in leading and directing the implementation of defence and military tasks; regularly reviewing, supplementing, and perfecting working regulations and work plans; strictly maintaining the regimes and order; renewing the working manners and styles to implement the motto of “work under the scope of responsibility and act under the Commandments”, etc. As a result, the overall quality and level of combat readiness of the Provincial armed forces have constantly been improved to fulfill defence and military tasks and contribute to the Province's rapid and sustainable development.

The effect of learning and following Uncle Ho has directly contributed to the Provincial armed forces’ fulfillment of all assigned tasks. In the past 5 years, the Provincial Military Party Committee has continuously been rated as typically clean and strong. The Provincial Military Command has won the Government's Emulation Flag twice and the Ministry of National Defence’s Emulation Flag in four consecutive years. In 2018 and 2020, it was awarded the Third-class Labour Medal and the First-class and Third-class Fatherland Protection Medals by the State President. This is the basis and motivation for officers and soldiers of the armed forces of Soc Trang Province to continue promoting learning and following Ho Chi Minh's thoughts, ethics, and style to contribute to highlighting the noble qualities of the “Uncle Ho's Soldiers” in the new period.

Senior Colonel DO TIEN SY, Commissar of the Provincial Military Command