Building the armed forces in each region and area is a central, routine task in order to safeguard the Homeland in the new situation. Therefore, the Party Committee and High Command of the Military Region 1, which holds a strategic position, have taken synchronous, proper measures to build strong armed forces.
Located in the North and Northeast of Vietnam, the Military Region 1 holds a position of strategic importance to national defence, security, and diplomacy in the border area of the Northern Region and the country. It is stationed in a large area with enormous potential for boosting the socio-economic development and strengthening defence and security, but faces a lot of difficulties and challenges. Perceiving those characteristics and grasping the situation in its area and its task, over the past years, the Military Region’s Party Committee and High Command have cooperated with localities in adopting measures to perform the military-defence tasks, with importance attached to building strong armed forces, thereby gaining positive results. Consequently, the Military Region’s armed forces’ synergy and combat readiness and capability to counsel and carry out the military-defence tasks have been raised. They have opportunely, effectively settled the defence-security situations in the area; proactively fought to foil hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy and their plots of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”. At the same time, they have been active in preventing and mitigating natural disasters, building strong political bases, facilitating socio-economic and cultural development, and helping the people with hunger eradication and poverty reduction. Those operations have contributed to consolidating the posture of all-people national defence associated with the posture of people’s security and particularly the posture of “people’s hearts and minds”, maintaining political security, social order, and borders of peace and friendship as well as creating a favourable condition for localities’ rapid, sustainable socio-economic development.
However, a part from the attained results, several local party committees and authorities’ awareness towards building the armed forces has not been full; they have set store by economic development while paying insufficient regard to defence-security tasks. Some units’ training and exercise work has not been comprehensive or met the requirements; researches on military arts in modern warfare have been limited. The cooperation between localities and units on building the human resources for the reserve force and recruiting citizens to the Military has not been maintained synchronously. There have been shortcomings in organization of the self-defence force in foreign-invested enterprises. Meanwhile, taking advantage of socio-economic difficulties in some areas and the issues on defence land planning and defensive zone building, the hostile forces have been stepping up their sabotage plan, dividing the military-civilian unity, inciting the politicization and civilization of the armed forces, and denying the armed forces’ role in the cause of national construction and protection. Against that backdrop, the Military Region has taken various measures to make the armed forces strong and capable of acting as the core in cooperating with all-level authorities, sectors, other forces and all people in successfully fulfilling the task of Homeland defence in the new situation.
To that end, the Military Region has focused on making the armed forces politically strong as the basis for improving their synergy and combat strength. Grounded on the 5-year implementation of the Project on renewing political education in units in the new situation, the Military Region’s affiliates have taken measures and approaches in accordance with objects, tasks and areas in a bid to enhance the quality and effectiveness of this important work. Focuses of education have been placed on making troops grasping Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s military-defence guidelines, the State’s law, the hostile forces’ plots and artifices, and especially the goals, requirements and guidelines for building the armed forces in the new period. Significance has been attached to orienting troops’ ideology, building up their world view and methodology as well as enhancing their capability to analyze, assess and filter the information, thereby making them politically strong and absolutely loyal to the Party, the Homeland and the people, and ready to undertake and fulfil all assigned tasks.
The Military Region has directed its affiliated units to promote the pioneering and exemplary role of cadres and party members as well as the leadership capacity and combativeness of all-level party organizations in order to strengthen the Party’s leadership over all operations of the Military Region’s armed forces. Great value has been attached to closely combining party committee consolidation with the building of all-level key cadres, particularly in units tasked with combat readiness in the key areas. At the same time, consideration has been given to improving the quality of party meeting, self-criticism and criticism under the Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee’s 4th Plenum on the Party building and rectification; enhancing the management and education of party members, particularly their social relationships, morality and lifestyle; resolutely fighting against the degradation in political ideology, morality and lifestyle as well as the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within, thereby contributing to maintaining the Party’s political ground in each office and unit.
Second, to focus on making the Military Region’s armed forces compact and strong. Grounded on resolutions and directives by the Politburo, the CMC and the MND, particularly the Politburo’s Decision 16-KL/TW and the CMC’s Resolution 606-NQ/TW on the structure of the Vietnam People’s Army until 2021, the Military Region has directed its affiliates to review and consolidate their organizational structure under the regulations by the MND. As for the reserve force and the militia and self-defence force alone, local military offices have counselled local party committees and authorities on adjusting the plans to build these forces in accordance with each area’s characteristics. Importance has been attached to building the two forces in peacetime and supplementing and expanding them according to the demands in wartime; maintaining the combat key positions of border commune active militia force; drawing lessons on organizing the self-defence force in foreign-invested enterprises; associating military recruitment with preparation of the human resources for the reserve force in each area; gradually maintaining a balance of human resources for the reserve force between localities, meeting the task requirements in the new situation.
Besides, the Military Region has accelerated the implementation of the CMC’s 765-NQ/QUTW and its Party Committee’s Resolution 703/NQ/ĐU on enhancing the training quality in the 2013-2020 period and beyond; continued to renew the training content, form and method in accord with the combat method, military arts, guidelines on the people’s warfare and the new development of objects of struggle in the war for Homeland defence. In the training process, consideration has been given to following the motto of “basics, practicality, and thorough grasp”; to providing synchronous, specialized training relevant to objects of struggle, combat projects and operating areas for the active force as well as “basic, practical, qualitative” training for the militia and self-defence force and “practical, effective” training for the reserve force. At the same time, due attention has been paid to taking training in hi-tech warfare as the environment to train troops; taking the protection of the Homeland, socialist regime, localities and people’s life and assets as the basis for developing the training programs. Focuses have been placed on training forces to master the existing materiel and new one; enhancing training under the projects and manoeuvring troops across complex terrains of all types. Due attention has been paid to improving the quality of aggregate exercises in line with field exercises of the armed forces at all levels; combining campaign-level exercises with tactical ones as well as joint exercises with defensive zone operations; at the same time, enhancing local party committees and authorities’ capability to operate the mechanism for leadership and operation as well as natural disaster and incident prevention and control, search and rescue drills in order to opportunely, effectively deal with the situations in the areas.
While improving the training quality, the Military Region has directed its affiliates to well perform the work of regularity building and State’s law and Military discipline observance, and align the results of discipline management with the responsibility of party committees and commanders at all levels. Importance has been attached to combining regularity building with discipline management under the motto: “discipline serves as the strength of the Military Region’s armed forces”, striving to gradually reduce violations of discipline and minimize serious violations of discipline.
Third, to improve the quality of logistics and technical support to ensure the armed forces’ fulfilment of all assigned tasks. Grasping and executing the CMC’s Resolution 623-NQ/QUTW on the military logistics work until 2020 and beyond, the Military Region has focused on renewing the method of logistics and financial support with the proper, direct decentralization given to units and tasks, particularly to training, combat readiness, natural prevention and control, and search and rescue missions. Due regard has been paid to closely combining financial and material support by higher echelons with exploitation of on-spot sources of food to ensure timely, effective support for the armed forces’ missions. Emphasis has been placed on taking measures to prevent and fight epidemics and take care of troop health. As for the technical work, units and offices have stepped up the implementation of the CMC’s Resolution 382-NQ/ĐUQSTW and the Campaign 50, ensuring correct quantity and type, quality and synchronicity of weapons and technical equipment provided for the armed forces, particularly the active units, the Border Guard, and forces for emergency mobilization to perform the missions. At the same time, importance has been attached to upgrading technical bases, depots and stations in a safe manner; actively undertaking researches and applying technical initiatives and innovations; strictly maintaining the order for maintenance and repair in order to ceaselessly improve the technical coefficient and ensure traffic safety. Besides, due attention has been paid to dealing with degraded weapons and technical equipment to opportunely, effectively provide technical support for the Military Region’s armed forces to successfully fulfil all assigned tasks.
Lt. Gen. Tran Hong Minh, Commander of the Military Region