The Training Centre under the Staff Department of the General Department of Logistics (GDL), founded on August 16^th 1989, is tasked with drafting and training new recruits and non-commissioned officers, providing primary and intermediate-level training courses and military training courses for troops of the GDL, cooperating with the Academy of Military Politics in managing cadets of the regiment-level political training course, and maintaining readiness for performing other missions at higher echelons’ request. Over the past 30 years of construction and development, generations of staff members of the Centre have always united in overcoming difficulties and performing the assigned task, building up the glorious tradition of “good training, unity, and strict discipline”. It was given the Certificate of Merit in 2009 by the Government and the Third-Class Fatherland Protection Order in 2019 by the State President.

The Centre receiving the Flag of Excellent Unit in the Determination to Win Emulation Movement by the General Department of Logistics in 2018

The Centre is located in a densely populated area together with the complex traffic problems. With a large number of cadets and soldiers, to fulfil the assigned political task, the Centre’s Party Committee and Command have determined to step up military standardization building and discipline management as a central task.

First of all, the Centre’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership on performing the work of propagation and education to raise cadets and staff members’ awareness and responsibility towards the military standardization building and discipline management. To that end, the Centre has directed its affiliates to enhance the work of political and ideological education to render their staff fully aware of the role and necessity of standardization building and discipline management towards each unit’s improved synergy and combat strength. To make this work effective, the Centre’s Command has required the party committee and command of offices and units to grasp the resolutions, directives, regulations, and guiding documents by the Central Military Commission (CMC), the Ministry of National Defence (MND), the GDL, and the Staff Department on standardization building and discipline management. A focus has been placed on grasping the Directive 37-CT/ĐUQSTW by the CMC Standing Board, the MND’s Directive 04/CT-BQP, dated February 9^th 2012, on “Enhancing discipline management and education, preventing serious violations of law and discipline within the Vietnam People’s Army”, and the Directive 55/CT-HC by the GDL’s Commander on executing the “four breakthrough steps” and a model within the Training Centre. In the process, the Centre’s Command has ordered offices and units to carry out the work of education at each level and closely combine basic, regular education with education in the peak periods of discipline management with emphasis placed on the fields that would easily lead to violations of military discipline and State’s law. To avoid boredom and make this work easier for troops to understand, the Centre’s Party Committee and Command has required offices and units to frequently renew the content, form, and method of propagation and education of law, discipline, morality, and lifestyle in accordance with the task of each group of troops. At the same time, units have been asked to promote the role of organizations, such as Soldiers’ Council, Youth Union, and Women’s Union in legal education, propagation, and dissemination with a view to making a huge change in all soldiers’ legal awareness and culture. Doing so has contributed to raising all cadres, cadets, and soldiers’ awareness and responsibility towards the standardization building and discipline management as a deciding factor in offices and units’ task performance.

Besides, the Centre’s Party Committee and Command have directed offices and units to strictly maintain the order for study and meetings, particularly the Political and Cultural Day and the Legal Study Day. In the process, the Centre has combined the work of ideological and discipline education and management for troops with the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle and the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”. At the same time, due attention has been paid to improving troops’ mental and material life, building the healthy cultural environment, and valuing a sense of responsibility and self-awareness towards the observance of State’s law, Military discipline, and units’ regulations.

The opening ceremony of training season of 2019

In addition to the work of propagation and education, the Centre has directed offices and units to promote the role of party committees and commands as well as the exemplary role of cadres, party members, and mass organizations in the standardization building and discipline management. To do so, the Centre’s competent offices have always grasped units’ discipline situation and particularities to formulate and execute sufficiently, effectively the programs and plans for standardization building and discipline management. At the same time, they have advised units to step up the military administrative reform, develop the working regulations, and stringently maintain the order for standardization building and discipline management. To make it effective, the Centre’s Party Committee and Command have required all-level party committees and commands to clearly assign the task to each party committee member and cadre, with a focus on the units in charge of training new recruits and the independent ones. They have also directed offices and units to heighten the vanguard, exemplary role of cadres, party members, particularly key cadres. In this regard, offices have been asked to set examples for units to follow, superiors have been required to set examples for inferiors to follow, and party members must set examples for the masses to follow.

In the process, offices and units have strictly maintained the order for legal and discipline propagation, dissemination, and education and included sufficient content of the Regulations on military courtesies and troop management in the training of soldiers. The whole Centre has actively consolidated and built the system of signs in a uniformed fashion within each office and unit. The Centre’s Command has frequently inspected and reminded all-level party committees and commands to rectify the discipline situation, observe the regulations on military secret protection and management of stamps, classified documents, personnel, materials and materiel, ensure safety during training and live firing, grasp and adhere to the regulations on traffic safety.

It should be noted that the Centre has frequently provided information for troops and orientated their ideology amidst the developments of the situation and against the hostile forces’ plots of “depoliticizing” and “civilizing” our Military as well as their tricks of promoting “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within the armed forces. Offices and units have well promoted the vanguard role of Youth Union in preventing and combating violation of discipline and organized cultural, artistic, and sports activities, forums, and exchange programs with other units in their stationed areas. Via those activities, they have encouraged the people to well implement the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policy and closely cooperated with local party committees and authorities in preventing social evils from penetrating into their units, thereby contributing to building standard, exemplary, safe units and safe areas.

In order to opportunely draw lessons, seek the effective approaches, and create a positive, steady change in its work of standardization building and discipline management, the Centre has attached great value to building model units and multiplying typical examples in this work. Consideration has been given to realizing the central points of the breakthroughs and overcoming weaknesses in offices and units’ discipline management. To make it effective, the Centre’s Party Committee and Command have imposed high requirements on each office and unit in accordance with each group of troops and task. Annually, the Centre’s Party Committee and Command select one office or unit as a comprehensively strong model for others to follow and a model in terms of cultural environment. By doing so, the Centre could strengthen its leadership over those offices and units and help them improve their task performance. Besides, the Centre has well conducted reviews, exchanged experiences, promoted the strong points, clearly identified and completely settled weak points, commended and rewarded typical examples, and resolutely fought against negative practices and violations of military discipline and State’s law, thereby making contributing to raising the quality and effectiveness of the work of standardization building and discipline management within itself.

Due regard has been paid to improving the Centre’s staff members’ mental and material life, strictly implementing the Regulations on Democracy at Grass-Roots Level, harmoniously settling relationships between superiors and inferiors as well as between cadres and soldiers, and cementing a sense of unity within offices and units and the military-civilian unity. By doing so, a favourable condition has been created to maintain the Centre’s standard order while a positive change in the work of standardization building and discipline management has been made. Up to now, there has been no serious violation of discipline within the Centre. In 2018, in the conference to review the Determination to Win Emulation Movement, the Centre was given the Emulation Flag while 8 collectives, 43 individuals, 1 youth union members, and 2 women’s union members from the Centre were presented certificates of merit by higher echelons.

The synchronous, proper, creative measures for the work of standardization building and discipline management have greatly contributed to making the Centre’s Party Organization pure, strong and building a comprehensively strong Centre as the basis for it to successfully fulfil all assigned tasks. 

Col. Tong Xuan Hau, Director of the Centre