Training and combat readiness act as a determinant to the Military’s synergy and combat strength as well as the defence of the Socialist Vietnamese Homeland in all situations. Thus, great value should be attached to leading, directing, and performing this work via synchronous, scientific measures.

Raising the quality of training and combat readiness is one of three breakthroughs set by the 10^th Military Party Congress and a step towards the realization of the Party’s military-defence guidelines in the current revolutionary period. To achieve that breakthrough, over the past years, the General Staff has advised the Central Military Commission (CMC) and leaders of the Ministry of National Defence (MND) on directing units within the Military to carry out the military-defence work comprehensively, with a focus on taking the measures synchronously so as to successfully fulfil the targets, requirements, mottos, and tasks set by the CMC’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW, dated December 20^th 2012, on “improving the training quality in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond” and make contributions to building up the combat morale, technical and tactical capability, and mastery of materiel as the basis for enhancing the Military’s synergy and combat strength and defending the Vietnamese Socialist Homeland.

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Tan Cuong visiting the Regiment 2 (Division 395, Military Region 3) (photo: quankhu3.vn)

In the process, the entire Military has adhered to the training motto, combat projects and determination, and the country’s situation, regarded the tasks of Military build-up, national defence consolidation, and Homeland defence as the target, and attached great importance to the work of political education. As a result, the awareness and responsibility of cadres and soldiers, particularly party committees and commands at all levels towards training and combat readiness have been considerably raised. Yearly, the training work is organized closely, uniformly within the MND’s offices and the active, local, and militia and self-defence units in accordance with each force’s task, each area’s particularities, and the criteria for building strong units comprehensively. 100% of training contents and exercises have met the requirements. Offices, units, and schools have focused on renewing and improving the quality of training, education, and exercise and the training support work at all levels; aligned training with exercises, maintained the order for combat readiness, and built the potential and posture of the defensive zones, the posture of all-people national defence, and the posture of people’s security. At the same time, they have closely combined military training with political education and ideological orientation and enhanced the effectiveness of the party, political work, thereby contributing to building up troops’ political zeal and determination and consolidating their faith in our materiel and combat method. Via training and exercises, offices and units have studied and developed Vietnam’s military theory and art in the war for Homeland protection, completed the system of combat projects and plans at all levels, and opportunely, effectively dealt with the situations.

However, party committees and commands of some offices and units, especially hospitals, factories, and economic-defence units have paid insufficient regard to training and combat readiness. The reform in training contents and programs has yet to be comprehensive. The system of training documents has yet to keep pace with the development of objects of struggle, existing materiel, and new task. The observance of State’s law, Military discipline, and safety regulations during training and exercises has yet to be strict.

In the upcoming time, the situation in the world, the region, and the East Sea will continue to be complex and unpredictable. Domestically, the hostile forces step up their “peaceful evolution” strategy, “self-evolution”, “self-transformation”, and “depoliticization” and “civilization” of our Military. The Military’s weapons and equipment have been gradually modernized; however, they have yet to be synchronous. Young cadres have been basically trained, but their experiences and skills are limited. The resources for the military-defence task and particularly training grounds have yet to meet the requirements. Thus, the whole Military should continue to achieve a breakthrough in training and combat readiness to make contributions to building the “revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern” Military and safeguarding the Homeland in all situations. To that end, offices, units, and schools should focus on several measures as follows.

First, enhancing the all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and direction over training and combat readiness. Offices and units must regard this as a routine central political task and a determinant to their synergy and combat strength. Accordingly, party committees, commands, and commissars of offices, units, and schools should continue to grasp the Party’s guidelines and new thought on military-defence mission and resolutions and directives by the CMC and the MND on training and combat readiness. They should study, develop, and effectively employ the Project on “renewing political education at military units in the new period” in order to render cadres and soldiers fully aware of the importance and necessity of training and combat readiness as well as raise their responsibility and determination in the process. At the same time, measures should be adopted to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and direction over this important task. Significance should be attached to renewing the training work in a practical, effective, steady manner and completely overcoming the weaknesses in training pointed out by the conference on reviewing the 5-year implementation of the Resolution 765. Party committees and commands of offices and units within the Military should renew the method of leadership and direction; focus on adjusting and supplementing the contents and measures in their Resolutions on training and combat readiness in accordance with the combat objects, task development, areas’ characteristics, and conditions of modern warfare; continue to review and supplement the leadership regulations; promote the role of mass organizations in exercising military democracy. In the process, offices and units should closely combine the training and combat readiness work with the implementation of the 12^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum on the Party building and rectification and the Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on “studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle”; enhance the quality and effectiveness of the party and political work in training and combat readiness; well carry out the Determination to Win Emulation Movement; build “comprehensively strong, typical, exemplary” units and “pure, strong” party organizations.

Second, enhancing the capability in assessing and forecasting the situation, practising combat projects, opportunely recommending the CMC and the MND to advise the Party and the State on successfully dealing with the situations. Amidst the complex developments of the security-political situation in the world and the region, the intertwined traditional and non-traditional security challenges, the rapid transformation between opponents and partners, and the hostile forces’ sabotage in cyber space, offices and units within the Military, particularly the strategic-level offices should proactively improve their cadres’ comprehensive capability, with a focus on enhancing their capability in studying, analyzing, and assessing the regional and global situation at the macro level. Emphasis should be placed on thoroughly analyzing and assessing the major powers and neighbours’ national security and defence strategies as well as the issues debated at the regional and international defence and security-related forums. Based on the analysis and assessment, the General Staff should direct offices, units, and schools within the Military to identify the training contents, tasks, and direction, maintain the methods of combat readiness, and adjust their structure properly. To make it effective, strategic offices of the General Staff should give advice on well managing the defence relations with the major powers and neighbours, propose the measures to defend the sea and island sovereignty, key areas, and national benefits as the basis for the national development. Besides, offices and units should review, supplement, and adjust the combat determination in line with reality and objects of struggle, further practise the combat projects, build the strong defensive zones, raise the revolutionary vigilance, and readily deal with the possible situations effectively. At the same time, they should strictly maintain the order for duty; proactively counsel and closely cooperate with local party committees and authorities and relevant forces, particularly the Public Security Force in protecting the national territorial sovereignty and security, maintaining the political security and social safety and order in the areas; actively take part in the struggle against crime, violation of law, smuggling, and trade fraud as well as in natural disaster prevention and control, search and rescue, and post-war bomb, mine, and toxic chemical clearance.

Third, continuing to renew the work of training direction, management, and operation in a focalized, uniformed, synchronous, effective manner. Offices and units should closely cooperate with one another in implementing the approved training plans and directives; adjusting, completing, and effectively maintaining the regulations; clearly identifying the function, authority, and responsibility between the office in charge of training direction, management and operation and the party committee and command in charge of this task. At the same time, due regard should be paid to consolidating the military training offices from strategic to grass-roots levels and the contingent of cadres in charge of training under the Project to adjust the structure of the Vietnam People’s Army towards 2021; enhancing the comprehensive capacity of all-level offices in charge of training direction, management, and operation, particularly their advisory capacity. In the training process, offices and units should strictly maintain the Regulations on combat training and staff work and enhance the effectiveness of directing and operating the active, local, and militia and self-defence forces’ training and exercises. Importance should be attached to improving the quality of directing and operating the campaign and strategic-level joint exercises, live-firing tactical exercises, and particularly the exercise entitled “the Military take charge of counselling the settlement of demonstrations, riots, and terrorist attacks” within the defensive zones, drawing the lessons, and multiplying it across provinces and cities in the country.

Fourth, renewing the content, program, form, and method of training. Units and schools should closely cooperate with the MND’s competent offices in amending, supplementing, and completing the basic training program and the system of training documents on a systematic, uniformed, comprehensive, specialized basis in accordance with objects of struggle and each force’s function, task, and materiel. In this regard, great value should be attached to supplementing the training program for the forces in charge of special mission and the newly-founded, specialized forces; fostering international cooperation in training and education; developing military science and technology; particularly effectively implementing the military, national defence, and national border protection strategies and the strategy for the Homeland defence in cyber space. Focuses of training programs should be placed on night-time training, manoeuvre training, situations-based training, projects-based training, training to master new weapons and equipment, and search and rescue training. At the same time, due attention should be paid to renewing the training procedure at military academies and schools, the training work, exercises, contests, and examinations in accordance with combat reality; closely combining military training with political education, training-education with combat training, and combat training with physical training,  discipline management, and the performance of patrol, reconnaissance, diplomatic, mass mobilization tasks and the building of political bases and new-style rural areas, particularly in the strategic, key, remote, isolated areas.

Fifth, renewing the training support work in a synchronous, timely, comprehensive, focalized fashion, with priority given to newly-founded units, units stationed in the key areas, and units in charge of combat readiness; using the higher echelons’ budget and the units and localities’ resources and mobilizing troops’ labour to build and upgrade facilities and the system of shooting ranges and training grounds. The MND’s competent offices, particularly the Department of Operations, the Department of Military Training, and the Department of Schools should closely cooperate with units and localities in executing the general plan for the system of shooting ranges and training grounds in a standardized, uniformed manner within the whole Military; closely combining the national military training centre and regional shooting range with units’ shooting ranges and training grounds; realizing the 3-in-1 model (provincial-level shooting range, training ground, and centre for reserve force training and defence-security education). Offices, units, and schools should renew the mechanism for training support in a public, democratic manner and fight against wastefulness. They should provide sufficient weapons and technical equipment for training and combat readiness; put more investments in innovating and making training models and equipment modern, sustainable, useful. Besides, due attention should be paid to ensuring troops’ mental and material life and health so that they could well perform the task of training and combat readiness in all conditions.

The increasingly higher requirements set by the tasks of military build-up, national defence consolidation, and Homeland protection necessitates the work of training and combat readiness enhancing its effectiveness and application to reality as the basis for improving the Military’s synergy and combat strength, contributing to building the “revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern” Military and making it capable of all missions to deserve the Party, State, and people’s faith.

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Tan Cuong, Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the CMC, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, the Vietnam People’s Army