Grasping the Party’s military-defence guidelines and its own task requirements, over the years, in addition to streamlining its organizational structure and making itself politically, ideologically, and organizationally strong, the Army Corps 1 has attached special importance to renewing its training work and considered this as a breakthrough measure for unceasingly raising its synergy and combat strength to meet the requirements for a strategic mobile main army corps. To do so, the Corps has synchronously, drastically taken measures for performing this central, routine task and achieved significant results. In the period of 2013-2018, the entire Corps organized refresher courses for all of its cadres, over 80 exercises for its units, and 271 military contests, while upgrading 468 training grounds. On a yearly basis, the Corps’ units organize shooting tests and combat firing for 100% of their batteries, squads, and first-year soldiers with 100% of the test results being rated satisfactory and 78% of them being rated as distinction and credit; 33 units at all levels have been given the title of a good training unit. As a result, the Corps’ synergy, combat readiness capacity, and manoeuvrability have been considerably raised to make it capable of undertaking and successfully fulfilling all assigned missions.

Commanders of the Corps dealing with a situation on the map in the exercise of 2019

However, for the subjective and objective reasons, the reform in the training content and method has yet to achieve a breakthrough, several units’ manoeuvrability has been limited, and the training results have yet to be stable.

At present, the task of military build-up and Homeland defence is imposing higher requirements on the Corps. To fulfil its glorious mission, the Corps continues to comprehensively adopt measures for improving its training quality and achieving a breakthrough in its synergy and combat strength, with a focus on the following.

First of all, attaching importance to raising the quality of all-level party committees, commands, commissars and political commissars’ leadership and direction over the training task. The Corps requires its offices and units to build and supplement the leadership regulations, to issue special resolutions on the training task, to concretize the Corps Party Committee’s Resolution 449-NQ/ĐUQĐ on “raising the training quality in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond” into targets and measures relevant to their task, and to completely overcome their weaknesses. Learning from its hands-on experiences, the Corps continues stepping up a reform in the mechanisms for training management and operation, decentralizing the training work, and clearly assigning responsibility to the all-level offices and commands for counselling, directing, and performing the training task. In the process, the Corps frequently directs its competent offices to raise the quality of developing and managing the plans for training and exercises to ensure that the training courses and exercises would be operated and organized in a scientific, focalized, uniformed, synchronous, effective manner. Offices and units are asked to use the system of standard training registration and statistics and strictly adhere to the procedures for formulating and approving the training plans as well as for preparing and ratifying the lesson plans and training timetables. Additionally, the Corps enhances the work of training inspection, investigation and re-examination, with emphasis placed on renewing the organization and method of inspection, combining regular inspection with unscheduled inspection to correctly assess its units’ training quality, opportunely draw lessons, rectify their weaknesses, and deal with the signs of oversimplification, formalism, and “achievement disease” in the training work.

Second, promoting a reform in the training content, program, and method. To meet the combat requirements for a main unit in the conditions of modern warfare, the Corps continues to adhere to the training motto of “basics, practicality, and thorough grasp” and actively renew and make the training content, form, and method relevant to the existing materiel and the development of military technologies and Vietnam’s military art in the war for Homeland defence. In this regard, great value is attached to drawing combat lessons and updating new issues on the military-defence guidelines, military art and the development of modern materiel so as to supplement and complete the training content and program. Notably, the Corps steps up situations-based training to create a positive change in its combat readiness capacity.

Moreover, the Corps requires its affiliates to provide training courses in a comprehensive but focalized fashion, to align technical and tactical training with tasks-based and situations-based training, to increase night-time and physical training, to combine traditional training with modern training, and to improve their capabilities in manoeuvre, movement, camouflage, and diversion in the conditions of harsh weather and durable training march. In the process, the Corps directs its affiliates to combine training with exercises, align military training with political education and discipline management, and build up their troops’ faith in our combat method and existing materiel. Moreover, the Corp organizes many exercises at all levels, with emphasis placed on company and battalion-level exercises and live-firing field exercises, and participation in joint exercises and defensive zone exercises in a practical and effective manner. This is a matter of utmost importance to making the Corps capable of organizing and coordinating the campaign-level exercises under the direction of the General Staff with the participation of various components and forces.

Third, enhancing the quality of the training of cadres and detachment-level units. Advocating that the training of cadres is a key element while the training of detachment-level units is a focus, the Corps well performs the work of training its cadres, builds a contingent of cadres, particularly those who are in charge of training, with sufficient quantity and good quality, and makes them capable of directing and organizing the training work as well as giving advice on and proposing measures for raising the effectiveness of training management and operation. At the same time, it directs its offices and units to focus on training its cadres on the issues relevant to their position and task. More specifically, commanders and officers at all levels are provided with knowledge of infantry, service, arm, specialized tactics, combat and training staff work, and safety regulations, and materiel management. Meanwhile, non-commissioned commanding officers are trained to master the method of operating the training sessions within their squads and batteries. In the process, the Corps attaches great value to promoting the self-awareness and self-improvement of all-level cadres, ensuring that 100% of its cadres would be able to be in charge of the training work at their level while 90% of battalion-level cadres and 70% of company and platoon-level cadres are rated as good training ones.

Besides, the Corps asks its affiliates to train their troops and detachment-level units to master the existing weapons and equipment, especially the new ones. Infantry and mechanized infantry units from platoon to battalion levels are required to organize tactical exercises. Arm and specialized units attach significance to training manoeuvre, camouflage, and diversion in line with exercises and shooting tests. In addition, due regard is paid to provide basic training courses for chemical units. Signal units organize field exercises with the participation of the electronic warfare force. Engineer units train their troops to cross rivers and deal with preventers. Importance is attached to training the logistics work, first aid service, station and depot relocation, and materiel preservation during training marches. Cadres-based units pay due attention to training their cadres on the method to provide training courses for the reserve force.

To that end, superiors at all levels are asked to train their inferiors while commanders must train their units. The Corps directs its offices and units to combine combat training with political education and physical training and align line-up and troop management regulation training with military standard order building and discipline management. Focuses of physical training are placed on swimming, preventer handling, and combat martial art. The order for physical training and long-distance loaded marches is strictly maintained. Units develop the plans for supplementary physical training courses to achieve the uniformity of fitness among their troops and increase their troops’ resilience and manoeuvrability. After each level of tactical training, units are required to hold live firing tests for 100% of their troops, with priority given to the full-strength units.

Fourth, well performing the logistics work for training. There is a fact that to make the training work effective, there must be good training grounds. While personnel play a decisive role, materials, weapons, equipment, and training grounds represent very important elements. As facilities and budgets for the training work are limited, the Corps directs its offices and units to overcome difficulties, effectively use budgets allocated by higher echelons, and mobilize on-the-spot resources to provide sufficient training equipment, models, and documents. Units are required to promote their internal resources to make preparations for the training work, repair, build, and acquire high-quality training models and aids. Besides, the Corps asks its affiliates to step up the movement of technical initiatives and innovations to apply them to their training and exercise work. In the training process, offices and units make best use of the training grounds and closely cooperate with one another and localities in managing, effectively using, and upgrading those training grounds for the training work. The Corps also make investments in specialized classrooms’ equipment and combat simulation software. The Technical and Logistics Branch enhances the Movement 50 and provide logistics and technical materials sufficiently and opportunely. Doing so will make great contributions to successfully fulfilling the training task, creating the Corps’ new combat strength, and making it capable of defending the Homeland.

Sr. Col. Do Minh Xuong, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Army Corps 1