In 2021, in spite of being heavily impacted by COVID-19, under the timely, close leadership and direction of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the Ministry of National Defence (MND), the entire Military strived to surmount all difficulties, remained a sense of unity, and drastically, comprehensively, synchronously implemented various measures, thereby successfully fulfilling the task of training and combat readiness.

It should be noted that offices and units across the Military grasped and effectively executed the CMC’s Conclusion 60-KL/QUTW, dated January 18th, 2019 on continuing realising the CMC’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW on raising the quality of training in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond as well as the Government’s Resolution 128/NQ-CP, dated October 11th, 2021 and the MND’s Directive 106/CT-BQP, dated November 5th, 2021 on safe, flexible adaptation to and effective control over COVID-19 pandemic. The whole Military proactively prepared personnel, weapons, technical equipment, and materials for training, with a lot of innovations in training cadres at all levels. Party and political work during training and combat readiness was carried out effectively. Due attention was paid to directing and managing training work uniformly, flexibly in accordance with each group of troops and COVID-19 prevention and control. Grounded on the developments of COVID-19 in each area, offices and units proactively adjusted their training contents, programmes, and plans, combined training with pandemic prevention and control, and organised training courses for troops who had been absent. At the same time, they actively held contests at all levels in a focalised manner, with many encouraging results. It should be noted that in spite of negative impacts made by the pandemic, many units successfully organised joint exercises, sea and island defence exercises, field exercises, and defensive zone exercises. Due regard was paid to providing technical and logistics support for training, with more investments in shooting ranges, training grounds, and modern training equipment. As a result, the quality of training within main force, local force, reserve force, and militia and self-defence force was considerably improved. Military teams taking part in International Army Games 2021 and national sports events won top prizes. Our Military successfully hosted International Army Games 2021, which was highly appreciated by international friends.

As for combat readiness, the Military always proactively, flexibly, opportunely gave advice to the Party and the State on strategies to deal with issues to avoid falling into passivity. The entire Military proactively developed and practised combat readiness plans and projects at all levels, provided sufficient weapons, technical equipment, and logistics support for combat readiness, enhanced patrols and guard, prevented enemy infiltration, and ensured the absolute safety of the 13th National Party Congress and the Elections of Deputies to the 15th National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils for 2021-2026 tenure. Doing so significantly contributed to firmly protecting national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, safeguarding the Party, the State, the People, and the socialist regime, and defending national interests and socio-economic development activities amidst COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to training and combat readiness, the Military always played a core, vanguard role in the fight against COVID-19 and considered it as a “combat mission in peacetime.” While deploying its personnel and means to checkpoints to manage immigration and prevent illegal immigration via the border, the Military opportunely deployed forces and means to assist localities in localising and combating the pandemic. The MND directed the establishment of hundreds of quarantine zones, thousands of mobile military medicine teams, and many field hospitals for receiving and treating COVID-19 patients, thus making significant contributions to bringing our country to new normality.

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc addressing the national military-political conference

It is predicted that in 2022 the situation all over the world and in the region will witness complex developments, particularly in the East Sea. Domestically, in addition to advantages, non-traditional security challenges, especially the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be complicated. Natural disasters and epidemics have been negatively impacting on the Military’s performance of tasks, including training and combat readiness. Hostile forces will promote their “peaceful evolution” strategy, “self-evolution,” “self-transformation,” and plots of “depoliticising” our Military, with a view to sabotaging our people’s revolution via increasingly drastic, public artifices.

To successfully fulfil the assigned mission and particularly meet the requirements set by the building of a compact, strong Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), it is necessary to raise the quality of the VPA’s training and combat readiness as a central task. According to the CMC and the MND, it is essential to keep improving the quality of training and combat readiness and actively, proactively, safely, flexibly adapting to and effectively controlling the COVID-19 pandemic simultaneously. Therefore, the entire VPA shall focus on well implementing several basic measures as follows.

First, frequently conduct the work of education and propagation to raise cadres and soldiers’ awareness and responsibility for training and combat readiness. Offices and units shall continue rendering their cadres and soldiers fully aware of the Party’s military-defence guidelines and resolutions and directives by the CMC and the MND on training and combat readiness, particularly the CMC’s Conclusion 60-KL/QUTW, the MND’s Directive 106/CT-BQP, and the Directive on military-defence work of 2022 by Chief of the VPA’s General Staff. At the same time, they shall adhere to viewpoints, principles, and mottos of training and measures to increase the quality of combat readiness. To that end, party committees and commands of offices and units across the Military shall renew their methods of leadership and direction and focus on adjusting and supplementing contents and measures stipulated in their annual resolutions on training and combat readiness in accordance with their task requirements, objects of combat, particularities of each area, and COVID-19 prevention and control. Besides, they shall continue reviewing and supplementing leadership regulations, improve the quality and effectiveness of party and political work during training and combat readiness, well implement Determination to Win Emulation Movement, and build “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong units and pure, strong party organisations. The work of political education and ideological management should be renewed to build up cadres and soldiers’ political zeal and great determination for training and combat readiness. In the education process, importance should be attached to cementing troops’ faith in our existing weapons and technical equipment, our Military’s capacity to master modern materiel, and Vietnamese military art.

To satisfy the requirements set by the building of a compact, strong VPA, greater value should be attached to increasing the quality of training and combat readiness. Although COVID-19 is still complex, the task of training and combat readiness must be seriously, effectively performed with a high quality. To that end, party committees, commands, cadres, and soldiers across the VPA shall build up their determination and heighten a sense of responsibility at highest level. The whole Military shall keep flexibly, creatively performing the task of training and combat readiness in new normality under guidance set by the VPA’s General Staff. Offices, units, and schools shall clearly identify contents, forms, and methods of training in accordance with their stationed areas’ pandemic prevention and control, while strictly conforming to regulations on training schedules, scales, methods, and grounds.

Second, focus leadership and direction on raising the quality of training in accordance with each office and unit’s task and the pandemic’s developments.

The entire Military shall continue achieving a breakthrough in improving the quality of training and exercises, realising the motto of “basics, practicality, solidity,” and creatively applying 3 viewpoints, 8 principles, and 6 connections in the training process. Consideration should be given to organising synchronous, intensive training courses and increasing night-time, practical, manouvrability, and situations-based training courses. At the same time, significance should be attached to training troops to master weapons and equipment, particularly the new ones, combining military training with political education and physical training, enhancing troops’ political zeal, determination, and manoeuvrability in any circumstance, inspecting and evaluating training outcome in a serious, substantive fashion to opportunely draw lessons and completely overcome weaknesses.

Military schools shall actively renew, standardise, modernise, and make their training procedures, programmes, and contents relevant to each group of cadets, training and combat readiness practice, and military build-up in the new condition. In this regard, it is necessary to step up a breakthrough in training high-quality military human resources for the modernisation of the VPA. Due attention should be paid to continuing formulating and perfecting mechanisms for training management and operation in a “focalised, uniformed, synchronous, effective” way to provide a firm prerequisite for raising the quality of education, training, and scientific research. Emphasis should be placed on developing some military academies and universities into “smart schools capable of approaching the 4th industrial revolution.”

Grounded on the recorded results and experience in training and education, the whole VPA shall multiply effective approaches to perform training work and design scenarios in line with the developments of COVID-19, while stringently implementing safety regulations during training and exercises. Training work must be seriously carried out with sufficient contents, programmes, and duration in accordance with the pandemic’s developments to guarantee that in any circumstance the entire Military’s training quality and combat readiness capacity must be improved. Training work must be aligned with bettering combat coordination and designing situations relevant to combat reality to assess training outcome and propose solutions for promoting strong points and opportunely settling shortcomings. At the same time, greater importance should be attached to organising training courses on response to non-traditional security challenges, especially COVID-19 pandemic in various degrees, environmental catastrophes, and natural disasters.

Regarding the militia and self-defence force, it is necessary to continue adopting measures to raise the quality of training in tandem with the performance of this force’s task to promote its core role in helping local party committees and authorities maintain political security and social order and safety as well as carry out the work of epidemic prevention and control. Contests and exercises must be organised closely in accordance with the developments of COVID-19 and natural disasters. At the same time, it is essential to provide logistics and technical support for holding training courses, maintaining combat readiness, building strong units, and improving troops’ material and mental life.

Third, strictly maintain regulations on combat readiness to meet the requirements set by the Homeland protection in all situations. Taking advantage of opportunities and dealing with traditional and non-traditional security challenges, rapid transformations between partners and opponents, and the hostile forces’ sabotage strategy, offices and units, particularly strategic-level staff agencies within the Military shall carry out correct analyses and evaluations of situations to opportunely advise the Party, the State, and local party committees and authorities on effectively settling military-defence issues. The VPA’s General Staff shall direct offices, units, and schools across the Military to stringently maintain measures of combat readiness, adjust their organisational structure, and build forces properly. Offices and units shall frequently review, supplement, adjust, and practise their combat projects and determination in accordance with reality and objects of combat, strictly maintain regulations on command, headquarters, combat duty, patrol, and guard, and readily deal with possible situations. Simultaneously, they shall actively cooperate with local party committees and authorities and relevant forces, especially the Public Security Force in protecting national sovereignty and security, maintaining political security and social order and safety, and actively taking part in crime, natural disaster, and epidemic prevention and control as well as search and rescue in their stationed areas.

Fourth, closely combine training with military standard order building and discipline management to make a comprehensive, solid change in troops’ observance of the Military’s discipline and the State’s law. Training, military standard order building, and discipline management play a decisive role in enhancing synergy and combat power of the entire VPA and its offices and units. Therefore, in addition to training work, offices and units shall keep grasping resolutions, directives, and guiding documents by the CMC, the MND, the VPA’s General Staff, and the VPA’s General Department of Politics, other relevant documents on military standard order building and discipline management as well as lessons learnt from troop management to work towards appropriate guidelines and solutions. Contents of military standard order building should be comprehensive but focalised in order to achieve a huge, solid positive change in all missions, while emphasis should be placed on overcoming weaknesses in this work to foster troops’ observance of the Military’s discipline. Thus, in the upcoming time, offices and units across the VPA shall focus on improving military standard order building during training and combat readiness, closely managing their personnel, weapons, and technical equipment, and combining military standard order building with discipline management. Offices and units shall decrease the annual rate of normal violations of discipline to below 0.3% and minimise serious violations of discipline and safety regulations during training.

To that end, the whole Military shall keep well conducting the work of education and propagation to build up cadres and soldiers’ self-consciousness and determination to implement regulations and directives on troop management, while combining political and legal education with administrative sanctions. Great value should be attached to reviewing offices and units’ military standard order building and discipline management to draw lessons, handle offences, tighten discipline, and strictly maintain regulations on study and work. Measures should be intensified to manage troops’ social relationships and especially prevent cadres and soldiers from committing illegal gambling or borrowing money with high rates of interest. Due attention should be paid to improving all-level cadres’ qualities, command capacity, and hands-on experience in managing and training troops. Regulations on responsibility of cadres and party members to set good examples should be well executed, while synergy created by organisations and forces should be promoted to manage troops’ ideology and opportunely detect and handle violations of discipline right at grass-roots level. Offices and units within the VPA shall closely cooperate with localities and families in grasping and settling cadres and soldiers’ ideological and daily issues. Due regard should be paid to ensuring troops’ material and mental life. Besides, importance should be attached to building a healthy military cultural environment and proactively fighting against negative practices and evil culture.

To satisfy the requirements set by Military build-up, national defence consolidation, and the Homeland protection, it is vital to further practically improve the performance of military-defence work and the quality of training and combat readiness. Doing so will provide an important prerequisite for raising the Military’s synergy and combat strength and building a “revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern” VPA capable of successfully fulfilling all assigned missions to deserve the confidence of our Party, State, and People.

Sr. Lt. Gen. NGUYEN TAN CUONG, Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the CMC Standing Board, Chief of the VPA’s General Staff

Deputy Minister of National Defence