Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in our country in early 2020, under the leadership and direction from the Party, the Government, and the Prime Minister, the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) has been promoting its vanguard, core role in the fight against the epidemic to protect the people’s health and life. In the very beginning of the epidemic, the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the Ministry of National Defence (MND) have considered COVID-19 prevention and control as a combat mission of the VPA in peacetime under the spirit of “fighting the epidemic like fighting enemies.” That spirit has been concretised into resolutions, directives, and guiding documents on epidemic prevention and control across the Military. Performing its function as “an army ready for combat, for work, and for production,” the VPA has mobilised its troops to assist the entire Party and people in epidemic prevention and control. That is both responsibility and sentiment of the Military’s cadres and soldiers and motivates them to successfully fulfil their task to deserve the trust of the Party, the State, and the people.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Vu Hai San addressing the online conference to implement measures of urgency for COVID-19 prevention and control (photo: MND)

To ensure that the VPA would always maintain combat readiness at a high level, successfully fulfil its task in any situations, and effectively combat COVID-19, the CMC and the MND have frequently directed the entire Military to proactively take measures to prevent the epidemic from penetrating into offices and units, maintain coordination in clinically trialling Nanocovax vaccine and manufacturing test kits and robots for COVID-19 prevention and control. Offices and units have been required to prepare barracks and facilities, employ projects for quarantine at each level, opportunely organise hundreds of large-scale quarantine zones, and assist localities in sterilisation, localisation, and epidemic combat. Military regions, the Navy, the Vietnam Coast Guard, and other units have cooperated with the Border Guard Force Command to deploy more troops and means to checkpoints to manage and protect the border, prevent illegal immigration, and combat the epidemic along the border and at sea. The Military has also employed its personnel and means for localities’ epidemic prevention and control, ensured food, and provided products of units’ animal/crop husbandry for citizens in the epidemic-hit provinces during the 4th wave, namely Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Nghe An, Da Nang city, Ho Chi Minh city, and other Southern ones, thereby making contributions to preventing the spread of COVID-19 and maintaining social security and the people’s life.

In addition to epidemic prevention and control, the whole VPA has always strictly maintained training courses and combat readiness. Although COVID-19 pandemic has directly impacted on the training work and the task performance, party committees and commands at all levels together with cadres and soldiers across the Military have always proactively, creatively surmounted difficulties and drastically, comprehensively performed their mission with a sense of responsibility. Offices and units have carefully prepared materials and training grounds, organised refresher courses for cadres prior to the training season, designed and opportunely adjusted their training programmes and plans in accordance with the developments of the epidemic to raise the quality of training and prevent infection within their barracks.

As for combat readiness, the Military has proactively grasped the situation and opportunely given advice to the Party and the State on dealing with strategic issues to avoid falling into passivity. The entire VPA has formulated combat readiness plans and projects in accordance with its task, provided sufficient weapons, technical equipment, and logistics support for combat readiness, enhanced patrols and guard, kept secrets, and protected the safety of its targets. At the same time, great value has been attached to inspecting combat readiness at each level, closely combining regular and irregular inspections, and examining the system of combat documents, plans, and projects, the strength, weapons, equipment, means, and troops’ skills in settling situations.

In the upcoming time, the situation on a global and regional scale will continue to be complex together with notable non-traditional security challenges. The complex developments of COVID-19 and natural disasters will directly impact on the VPA’s task performance. Besides, the hostile forces will step up their sabotage scheme against the Party, the State, and the Military via a large number of cunning artifices and methods in all fields. To meet the requirements set by training, combat readiness, and COVID-19 and natural disaster prevention and control, the whole VPA shall focus on well implementing several basic measures as follows.

First, conduct the work of propagation and education to raise cadres and soldiers’ awareness and responsibility for training, combat readiness, response to non-traditional security challenges, and particularly COVID-19. According to the Resolutions of the 13th National Party Congress and the 11th Military Party Congress, we shall “build a revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern VPA, with a number of services, corps, and forces moving straight to modernity; by 2025, the VPA shall be made basically compact and strong as the basis for building a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern VPA from 2030.” To achieve that goal, importance should be attached raising the quality of training and combat readiness and improving troops’ tactics and skills to satisfy the requirements set by the Homeland protection in modern warfare. That is also one of the central tasks identified by the CMC and the MND that shall be well performed in the second half of 2021 and the upcoming year. The CMC and the MND have determined to keep renewing training and combat readiness, raising the quality of this work, and effectively preventing and combating COVID-19 simultaneously. Therefore, party committees and commands at all levels together with cadres and soldiers across the Military shall build up their determination and proactively overcome difficulties to successfully fulfil the military-defence work in general, the task of training and combat readiness in particularly. To that end, offices and units shall grasp the Party’s military-defence guidelines and resolutions and directives by the CMC and the MND on training, with a focus on the CMC’s Conclusion 60-KL/QUTW on continuing to execute the CMC’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW on raising the quality of training in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond, the Directive on the military-defence work in 2021 by the Chief of the General Staff, and the guidelines on building a “compact and strong” VPA, while comprehending the nature, plots, and artifices of opponents. Furthermore, they shall work towards measures for the training work in accordance with their own function, task, and particularities. They shall keep renewing political education and ideological management to cement troops’ faith in our combat method, military art, existing weapons and equipment, and capability in mastering state-of-the-art materiel and defeating wars of aggression, even the hi-tech ones.

Second, strictly maintain the order of training amidst the complex developments of COVID-19. In spite of COVID-19 pandemic, grounded on achievements and experience in the training work, the entire VPA shall continue multiplying effective approaches to organise training courses in accordance with practical conditions and readily opportunely, effectively responding to non-traditional security challenges. Offices and units shall stringently maintain regulations on training and guarantee sufficient training contents, programmes, and duration. In any circumstance, the quality of training across the VPA must be boosted to meet the task requirements. To do so, offices, units, and schools shall continue renewing training contents, programmes, and methods, and intensify practical, night-time, manoeuvre, and situations-based training. Significance should be attached to training troops to master new, modern weapons and technical equipment, inspecting the training work in a serious, substantive manner, opportunely drawing lessons, and completely handling weaknesses in this work. Military academies and schools shall adjust their training contents and teaching-learning methods to be relevant to COVID-19 prevention and control. It is necessary to adopt measures to improve the quality of training and operation for the militia and self-defence force. It is vital to be fully aware that this force will play a role of importance to assisting local party committees and authorities and others in reducing the number of community cases right at grass-roots level. Besides, due regard should be paid to organising defensive zone exercises relevant to combat situations in a serious, effective fashion amidst the pandemic.

Third, closely combine training with improvement in combat readiness and prepare all available resources to effectively respond to COVID-19 pandemic in a higher degree and natural disasters. Strategic-level staff offices shall undertake researches to grasp the situation, particularly the force development, strategies, and artifices of opponents and hostile forces, while opportunely giving advices on solutions to effectively deal with military-defence situations and absolutely avoid falling into passivity. Due attention should be paid to anticipating both non-traditional and traditional security issues to quickly adjust and supplement combat plans, determination, and projects properly, practically, and scientifically. In the training process, it is essential to improve combat coordination, strictly maintain regulations on command, office, and combat duty and patrols in offices and units’ stationed areas. Additionally, importance should be attached to designing and practising combat scenarios in order to evaluate the results of training and propose measures for bringing into play strong points, reducing weaknesses, and continuing improving troops’ tactics and combat skills. Offices and units shall concentrate on training their troops to respond to non-traditional security challenges, particularly new COVID-19 variants and environmental and natural disasters. At the same time, they shall always prepare personnel, facilities, means, and logistics-technical support to readily help the people with epidemic and natural disaster prevention and control.

Fourth, provide logistics-technical support for the performance of the “dual task.” Party committees and commands at all levels shall synchronously implement measures to raise the quality and effectiveness of logistics support in a rapid, timely, sufficient manner, with priority given to units tasked with training, combat readiness, protection of crucial targets, and contingency missions. Emphasis should be placed on making all necessary preparations for epidemic prevention and control and ensuring troops’ fitness for training, combat readiness, and response to non-traditional security challenges. Besides, it is important to provide technical support for missions, with a focus on upgrading the existing weapons and technical equipment, managing and effectively exploiting new materiel, and executing the Campaign titled “managing and using weapons and technical equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically, and ensuring traffic safety.”

Fifth, continue stringently maintaining measures of COVID-19 prevention and control. Currently, the 4th wave of COVID-19 in our country is still extremely complex, while the rate of vaccination against COVID-19 has yet to be enough for herd immunity. Hence, offices and units across the Military shall grasp and seriously execute directions by the Party, the Government, the CMC, the MND, and all-level steering boards on COVID-19 prevention and control as well as regulations and guiding documents by the Ministry of Health. In any circumstance, the VPA shall be in the vanguard of the fight against epidemics. To that end, all-level party committees and commands shall enhance the work of propagation and education to remain cadres and soldiers’ vigilance against the epidemic. Once COVID-19 cases are detected, offices and units shall closely cooperate with local party committees and authorities in their stationed areas in activating the system of epidemic prevention and control in a proper degree, sufficiently, drastically implementing responsive measures, and quickly tracking infections to organise quarantine and test persons relating to COVID-19 cases. Besides, due attention should be paid to taking measures to prevent the epidemic from penetrating into offices and units and proactively designing projects to establish quarantine zones within barracks. Offices and units shall frequently carry out screenings to soon detect COVID-19 cases via test kits or RT-PCR technique for high-risk staff members and those with symptoms of COVID-19, particularly cadres and soldiers who regularly perform their task outside their barracks. Party committees and commands of offices and units shall grasp the epidemic development in their areas to formulate COVID-19 prevention and control scenarios and projects properly.

The Border Guard Force shall cooperate with offices, units, localities, and relevant forces in controlling the border, fighting against illegal immigration, and preventing the epidemic from penetrating into Vietnam. The MND’s Department of Military Medicine shall review and supplement equipment and means to readily respond to the epidemic at the highest level (on a national scale). Offices and units shall well implement the “four on-the-spot” motto and proactively acquire equipment to raise the effectiveness of epidemic prevention and control. Quarantine zones under the Military’s management must be capable of ensuring citizens’ health and safety and preventing cross-infection.

The VPA’s central mission in the foreseeable future is to maintain the quality of training and combat readiness, defend the assigned targets, and firmly protect the Homeland in any situations. However, the entire Military will have to devote more effort to overcoming difficulties and acting as one of the core forces that provide great support for local party committees, authorities, and citizens in the fight against this dangerous epidemic.

Sr. Lt. Gen. VU HAI SAN, Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the CMC, Deputy Minister of National Defence