Tank Brigade 201 whose forerunner was Tank Regiment 201 under the Tank-Armoured Corps was founded on November 18th, 1971 under the then Defence Minister’s Decision 211/QP. In the past 50 years of construction, combat, and development, generations of cadres and soldiers of the Brigade have always stayed united and surmounted all difficulties and challenges to successfully fulfil their assigned task, thereby building up the glorious tradition of “preserving unity to overcome difficulties, remaining proactive and creative, maintaining strict discipline, successfully fulfilling the task, winning victory whenever troops are deployed.” With its remarkable achievements, the Brigade has been given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces (2001) and many other noble rewards by the State and the Military.

Currently, the Brigade’s task has new developments together with more new requirements. Meanwhile, its weapons and technical equipment considerably deteriorate. Its training grounds are narrowed. Professional service men and women are confronted with advancing age. Families of many staff members are in economic difficulty. There is a difference in educational background amongst cadres and soldiers. The stationed area has complex social evils. Logistics and technical support has yet to meet actual demands. Hence, to keep raising the synergy and combat power as the basis for improving the task performance and building a typically strong, pure Party Organisation, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have comprehensively, synchronously taken various measures, with a focus on achieving a breakthrough in military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance.

Strictly maintaining regulations during training and combat readiness

First of all, the Brigade has strengthened propagation and education to raise cadres and soldiers’ awareness of this work. Offices and units have attached importance to rendering their cadres and soldiers fully aware of regulations, directives, and guiding documents on military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance. Emphasis has been placed on the Directive 103/CT-BQP, dated November 28th, 2019 by the Ministry of National Defence on continuing to enhance discipline management and safety assurance within the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), the General Staff’s Directive 07/CT-TM, dated March 10th, 2020 on “realising the year of discipline of 2020 within the VPA,” the Dispatch 1740/CT-TH, dated September 1st, 2020 by the General Political Department on strengthening leadership and direction over the work of education and management to prevent serious violations of law and discipline and suicides at military units, the Corps Commander’s Directive 465/CT-BTL, dated December 5th, 2019, and the Brigade’s Directive 2267/CT-LĐ, dated December 12th, 2019 on continuing to promote discipline management and safety assurance. In the process, the Brigade has always considered military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance as a central task, while flexibly, creatively applying forms and methods of propagation and education. Significance has been attached to educating new cadres and soldiers, professional service men and women, technicians, and independent affiliates as well as combining propagation and education with ideological orientation and troop management. As a result, all cadres and soldiers of the Brigade have always clearly understood the importance of military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance to raising the Brigade’s synergy and combativeness. They have also built up their self-awareness and determination to comply with the State’s law, the VPA’s discipline, and the Brigade’s regulations.

The Brigade has enhanced all-level party committees, commissars, and commanders’ leadership and direction, while promoting the role of forces and organisations in military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance as a decisive measure. The Brigade Party Committee has issued a specialised resolution on building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Brigade and realising “the year of discipline of 2020” and beyond and developed a breakthrough action programme to make a huge change in military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance. All-level party committees’ regular resolutions and conclusions have always seen military standard order building and discipline management as a centrepiece of leadership, while commissars and commanders have included this work in their units’ work plans, with great value attached to inspecting sections having the signs of violation of discipline. In the process, the Brigade has promoted the roles of political and staff offices in staff work, inspection, and evaluation under the preset plans and programmes in a close, uniformed manner. All-level key cadres have formulated their own programmes to set good examples. Each cadre and soldier and the masses have been self-aware to write commitments to military standard order building and discipline management. The outcome of those commitments has been used as an important yardstick for assessing the quality of cadres, party members, and party organisations and for yearly commendation as well. Moreover, the Brigade has encouraged the function of mass organisations, the pioneering, exemplary role of cadres and party members, and troops’ self-awareness, “self-education,” and “self-training”. The Brigade has required cadres, superiors, and party members to set good examples for soldiers, subordinates, and the masses to follow. The Brigade Party Committee has directed offices and units to closely combine military standard order building and discipline management with the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, the Determination to Win Emulation Movement, and other movements and campaigns, particularly the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period.

It is necessary to be fully aware that military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance are mandatory. Therefore, the Brigade Party Committee has exercised its leadership over the strict maintenance of regulations and regimes, enhanced the work of inspection, and completely handled violations of discipline. To achieve a consensus in the implementation process, on a yearly basis, the Brigade selects and builds 3 model units (from its offices, battalions, and affiliated companies) in terms of military standard order building and discipline management to draw lessons and multiply them. Due attention has been paid to frequently reviewing and releasing plans and regulations together with specific measures to prevent violation of discipline. The Brigade has directed its offices and units, particularly at platoon and company levels to stringently maintain daily, weekly regimes and military etiquette. Importance has been attached to building a scientific, meticulous working style amongst cadres and soldiers. Besides, all offices and units of the Brigade have placed emphasis on strictly maintaining regulations on ensuring safety during training and traffic as well as at depots, workshops, and technical zones. The Brigade has decentralised the management work, closely combined discipline management with troop ideological management, frequently grasped and correctly assessed the work of discipline management, proactively made and regularly updated soldiers’ profiles, thereby enabling party committees and commands to comprehensively manage troops, especially their family background and relationships. Significance has been attached to managing troops particularly in days off, rest hours, and missions outside barracks. Notably, as for cadres and soldiers of the Brigade who are members of the VPA’s Tank-Armoured Team in the annual International Army Games, the Brigade has concentrated on educating them on our Party, State, and VPA’s foreign guidelines and policies, while closely managing the performance of their task in other countries to further bolster the image of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in international relations.

In order to create a favourable environment for military standard order building and discipline management, the Brigade has directed party committees and commands at all levels to enhance the work of internal political protection, well implement the Regulations on Grass-Roots Level Democracy, organise the Political and Spiritual-Cultural Day, and the Legal Study Day, promote the effectiveness of cultural institutions at grass-roots level, and realise models, such as “voice of commissars,” “five must-know things during a week,” and “Uncle Ho’s soldiers with traffic culture.” Due regard has been paid to ensuring troops’ material and mental life. Besides, the Brigade has enhanced the work of inspection and patrol. When it comes to a violation of discipline, the Brigade directs its competent offices to give instructions on conducting reviews, clarifying reasons, and identifying responsibility of collectives and individuals as the basis for the reasonable, stringent handling of that violation.

With those synchronous, proper, practical measures, the work of military standard order building, discipline management, and safety assurance within the Brigade has witnessed an enormous positive change. On an annual basis, over 90% of offices and units of the Brigade are rated “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong, while the rate of violations of discipline to be settled is below 0.1%. Cadres and soldiers of the Brigade have been self-aware and responsible to build the military standard order, observe law and discipline, and readily undertake and successfully fulfil their assigned task. In 2018 and 2019, the Brigade was presented with the Emulation Flag by the Government. In 2020, it was given the Emulation Flag by the Ministry of National Defence. On the occasion of its 50th founding anniversary, it is honoured with the First-Class Homeland Protection Order. Those achievements serve as an important prerequisite for Tank Brigade 201 to keep bringing into play the heroic Tank-Armoured Force’s tradition of “winning victory whenever troops are deployed” in the new period.

Sr. Col. DO HA HOAN, Commissar of the Brigade