As a combat support unit, the 550^th Engineering Brigade (under the 4^th Corps) is tasked with multiple complex missions where its forces and resources are frequently required to mobile to carry out tasks across different regions with high risks of insecurity, receiving little direct leadership from party committees and commanders. Moreover, as the Brigade’s stationed area is densely populated and located between industrial zones, it is directly affected by the negative aspects of the market economy and social evils, which poses several challenges in the management of troops and discipline maintenance. In response, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Commanders have adopted numerous directives and measures to build a comprehensively strong, “exemplary and typical” unit, laying a foundation for fulfilling all assigned tasks. Along with prioritising the building of a politically, ideologically, and organisationally strong unit, fostering internal solidarity and unity and promoting the pioneering of officers, the Brigade has intensified the three breakthroughs, namely enhancing the quality of training, intensifying regularity building and discipline management, and ensuring adequate logistics and technical support for tasks.

Conduct rivercrossing in an exercise

1. Enhancing the quality of training and professional expertise for officers and soldiers. This is not only a central and regular task but also the foundation and the driving force for the Brigade to successfully accomplish all assigned tasks, as the task of engineering assurance requires officers and soldiers to possess a thorough understanding of knowledge and technical and tactical requirements specific to each specialisation. Besides, they need courage, high-level skills, and creative thinking in executing tasks, especially when dealing with dangerous and complex situations. Being well aware of this, the Brigade attaches importance to thoroughly grasping and strictly implementing higher echelons’ directives, resolutions, and orders regarding the training work, particularly Resolution No. 1659-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022, of the Central Military Commission on “Enhancing the quality of training in the 2023 - 2030 period and beyond”, the Combat Training Order of the Corps Commander and instructions of functional agencies. The Brigade’s Party Committee has issued thematic resolutions and instructed units to formulate leadership resolutions, plans, and action programmes of party committees and commanders and to clearly define the targets for building excellent training units. Due to the Brigade’s diverse forces and specialisations, its variety of specialised means and equipment, and different tasks, it is necessary that the leadership, direction, management, and training operation be closely integrated and scientifically conducted. Therefore, to effectively carry out this pivotal, “central, and regular” task, the Brigade prioritises innovation and enhancement in the quality of leadership and direction of party committees, commanders, political commissars, and junior political commissars at all levels, as well as political education and ideology work, to foster unity in understanding and action regarding the task of training. Additionally, it emphasises the innovation of management and training operation mechanisms; directs the formulation and management of training plans and syllabuses; resolutely implements the “3 real” aspects; and thoroughly addresses subjective tendencies, formalism, complacency, and fear of hardships in training.

During the implementation process, the Brigade pays attention to the preparation work, from training and fostering officers to formulating plans and syllabuses and preparing synchronised training grounds and materials. Currently, the Brigade’s training ground system includes a full range of categories, including physical training, technical training, infantry tactics, explosive clearance, obstacle crossing, river crossing, TTM-3M mechanised bridge, crawler, etc. that can meet the increasingly high requirements of training. Thoroughly grasping and implementing the principle of being “fundamental, practical, and well-grounded”, the Brigade directs comprehensive and in-depth training, with technical training as the foundation and specialised tactics as the core, closely aligned with the characteristics and tasks of each force and the combat practice. Most importantly, it emphasises closely integrating training with task execution, using construction sites as training grounds.

Under the direction of the Brigade, units closely adhere to technical training standards and the “Excellent Training” criteria for engineering units as the basis for practical application. They organise basic training combined with advanced training, technical training with tactical training, focusing on nighttime training and engineering assurance training under conditions where the enemy employs high-tech weapons. Specifically, emphasis is placed on training troops to use various types of existing weapons and engineering equipment proficiently and to excel in their specialisations. Training content delves into the weaknesses from previous years, new content, revisions, and stages of command-agency exercises, tactical exercises on maps, general tactical exercises, lesson planning methods, lesson plan approval, trial teaching and demonstration lectures. Additionally, the Brigade actively innovates and enhances the efficiency of party work and political work in training. It also organises emulation movements, linking the criteria of an excellent training unit with the Determination-to-Win Emulation Movement and the Campaign titled “Promoting traditions, dedicating talents, deserving to be “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new era” to foster unified awareness, responsibility, motivation, determination, and efforts to overcome difficulties to successfully fulfil the task of training. Furthermore, it leverages the role and responsibility of commanders and functional agencies in management and operations; strengthens inspection, preliminary review, summary, lesson drawing to timely correct and address limitations and weaknesses in training. With appropriate measures, the Brigade has met the standards of an excellent training units for consecutive years while the organisational capacity and leadership capability to carry out tasks of officers and soldiers have been elevated. Currently, 100% of officers within the Brigade have comprehensive knowledge in politics, military affairs, and technology and sufficient training capabilities according to their respective levels, of which over 80% of training officers reach a good or excellent level. Participating in the 2023 division-level competitions, the Brigade achieved outstanding results, including First Prize in the Search and Rescue Competition, Third Prize in the Physical Education and Sports Competition, and Second Prize in the Vehicle Maintenance and Excellent Driving Competition.

Practicing personal drill

2. Building regularity and maintaining strict discipline are identified as crucial steps to address weaknesses and shortcomings in building a comprehensively strong, “exemplary and typical” unit. The objective is for the entire Brigade to maintain and strictly implement the regularity regime, manage personnel, weapons, equipment, and public property; and to strive that there is no severe disciplinary violation by soldiers and no traffic accident caused by subjective errors. To realise this goal, the Brigade directs its agencies and units to fully implement the contents of building regular units according to Standard 3 of Directive 79/CT-BQP, dated 22 July 2022, of the Minister of National Defence, and Decision No. 2425/HD-TM, dated 03 October 2022, of the General Staff regarding Instructions to build comprehensively strong, “exemplary and typical” units. The focus is on the key contents, such as strict adherence to regulations and regimes in work, study, daily life, and task execution, ensuring a high-quality, unified, and regular regime. Agencies and units regularly reinforce their barracks and signage systems; strictly maintain daily and weekly regimes, military customs and courtesies, and manage soldiers during breaks and holidays; and effectively carry out ideological work, proactively prevent and handle violations, and ensure fair, accurate, and timely rewards and punishments. In addition, party committees and commanders at all levels strengthen inspection to promptly rectify shortcomings regarding implementing regular lifestyles and discipline awareness. Besides, they should base the evaluation of individual and unit task completion on the results of law and discipline observance, which is an important criterion. To achieve high efficiency, the Brigade increases the presence of officers at the grassroots level to directly monitor, guide, urge, and promote their pioneering role following the motto “words go hand in hand with actions” and grasp, and timely handle disciplinary violations by regulations. The Brigade maintains close relationships with soldiers’ families and localities and timely praises outstanding soldiers, which helps enhance the effectiveness of education and training. Thanks to these efforts, the Brigade’s regularity building and discipline management have made significant progress, with no severe disciplinary violations, desertions, or resignations, while the rate of minor disciplinary violations has decreased to below 0.12%.

3. Ensuring sufficient logistics and technical support for tasks, especially training, combat readiness, exercises, disaster prevention, search and rescue, is a top priority for the Brigade. Regarding logistics work, the Brigade strictly manages quantitative standards and menus, improves food processing to ensure the quality of military meals, and aims to have 100% of units meeting the “Excellent Troop-feeding and Logistics Management Unit” standards. It adheres to higher echelons’ regulations and instructions on managing the quality of food and supplies, providing prices 10% - 15% cheaper than the market. The work of production output is systematically implemented to ensure targets are met and exceeded. Adequate reserves of logistics materials, fuel, and oil are ensured for regular and ad hoc tasks. Additionally, the Brigade’s barracks are consolidated and standardised to be clean, green, and beautiful. Attention is also paid to epidemic prevention, physical fitness training, and healthcare for the soldiers. As a result, the percentage of healthy personnel consistently exceeds 99%, and their material life is well-maintained, contributing to improving the quality of training and combat, thus meeting requirements and tasks. Technical support work is regularly carried out by the Brigade according to regulations and regimes, ensuring the timely and synchronised provision of weapons, equipment, and technical vehicles for tasks, particularly combat readiness, training, exercises, and disaster prevention. Units focus on thoroughly training technical personnel to enhance their sense of responsibility in managing and operating engineering equipment and regularly ensure the consolidation and improvement of the technical expertise of technical personnel, thus forming the backbone to carry out technical work in units. Specifically, for drivers, machine operators, and repair technicians, the Brigade, in coordination with higher-level agencies, organises training sessions and competitions annually to make sure that each person is proficient in the assigned equipment and capable of operating two to three other items in the inventory and new ones. Furthermore, the Brigade promotes the Campaign “Effective, durable, safe, and economical management and use of weapons and equipment and traffic safety” to prevent incidents such as fires, explosions, occupational safety accidents, and traffic accidents, ensuring absolute safety within the units.

By synchronously and resolutely implementing the breakthroughs mentioned above, in 2023, the 550^th Engineering Brigade successfully completed the task of building a comprehensively strong, “exemplary and typical” unit, which was recognised and awarded with Emulation Flag by the 4^th Corps High Command. This achievement serves as a premise, motivation, and basis for the Brigade to continue striving, developing, and excellently fulfilling all assigned tasks.

Senior Colonel VU HOANG ANH, Commander of the Brigade