Tank and Armoured Brigade 409 is one of Military Region 1’s units that have been provided with modern weapons, equipment, and facilities by higher echelons as a favourable condition for raising their synergy and combat power. However, the tasks of Army building, defence consolidation, and Fatherland protection have imposed very demanding requirements on units across the entire Military in general, the Brigade in particular. Meanwhile, across the Brigade, there is a constant change in the contingent of cadres; the number of its experienced non-commissioned cadres sharply declines; the quantity of its weapons, equipment, and means in use is large, including new and old ones; its training grounds have yet to meet its task requirements. Against that backdrop, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have synchronously adopted measures to raise the synergy and combat power, worthy of a “powerful raiding force” of the Military Region, deserving the heroic Tank and Armoured Force’s tradition of “winning victory after every deployment”.

Training troops to master new weapons and equipment

First of all, the Brigade has renewed and improved political and ideological education, building up political steadfastness and determination to undertake and successfully fulfil all assigned tasks among its cadres and soldiers. There is a fact that Tank and Armoured Troops frequently work in high-intensity, harsh, narrow-space conditions greatly impacting on their ideology, psychology, and health. Thus, the Brigade has attached great value to renewing political education, grasping and closely managing its troops’ ideological developments, and providing ideological orientation for its cadres and soldiers, particularly during training and combat readiness. Under Directive 2423-CT/QUTW, dated 9 November 2023, by the Central Military Commission (CMC) Standing Board, on political education in the new era, the Brigade has directed its offices and units to render their cadres and soldiers fully aware of the Party’s lines on military - defence work and Fatherland protection, particularly the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on “the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation” as well as the task requirements of the Military Region and the Brigade itself. Sufficient information has been provided to allow troops to be cognisant of situational developments, partners, opponents, and hostile forces’ plots and artifices. In the process, affiliates of the Brigade have attached importance to renewing education work, making it short and easy to remember and to understand in accordance with each group of troops, closely combining regular education with historical tradition education. In response to the complex developments of violations of law and discipline, the Brigade has promoted models, such as “improving life skills”, “learning one article of law on a weekly basis”, bringing into play chat groups on Zalo and Facebook platforms to exchange information, strengthening its coordination with families and localities in troop management and education. At the same time, it has promoted the vanguard, exemplary role of cadres and party members in grasping and handling ideological issues under the motto: “staying close to troops, understanding troops, believing in troops”. As a result, all cadres and soldiers of the Brigade have shown their political steadfastness and resolve in performing their tasks.

Under resolutions and directives by the CMC, the Ministry of National Defence (MND), and the Military Region on building an “adept, compact, strong” Vietnam People’s Army, the Brigade has made a breakthrough in force adjustments and streamlining and the improved quality of training and combat readiness. Grounded on Decision 703/QĐ-TM, dated 8 May 2019, by Chief of the General Staff, on issuing the organisational structure of tank and armoured brigades (in peacetime) under military regions’ management and the MND’s directives on merging and reorganising logistics and technical offices, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have developed a specialised resolution together with action plans and programs in a close, synchronous, proper manner. Priority has been given to providing sufficient personnel, weapons, and equipment for the key units and detachment-level units in charge of training and combat readiness. In the process, ideological work has been closely combined with organisational work and policy work, particularly at sections undergoing force adjustments, in order to maintain unity and avoid any impacts on the Brigade’s task performance.

In addition to organisational and personnel adjustments, the Brigade has comprehensively renewed training and exercises according to Resolution 19-NQ/ĐU, dated 16 March 2023, by the Military Region Party Committee, on “raising the quality of training in the period of 2023 - 2030 and beyond”. To achieve the established targets and goals, the Brigade has focused on synchronous, specialised training courses relevant to combat reality and the particularities of its operational areas. It has attached importance to training its troops to master the existing, new weapons and equipment, improving its manoeuvrability and interoperability between services and corps, and increasing night-time, raiding training during hi-tech warfare, with a short period of time for preparation. It has concentrated on studying and including new issues drawn from recent military conflicts worldwide in training courses for office commanders, while improving their methods of organising training and exercises as well as their maps-based operational staff work. As for detachment-level units, the Brigade has focused on training troops to master steps of combat preparation and practice; consideration has been given to training troops in camouflage, diversion, movement, prevention and response to enemy reconnaissance, electronic warfare, hi-tech weapons, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), increasing practical training courses, and training tank platoons and companies in long-range, combat shooting and driving on complex terrain and at night-time. Regarding units provided with new equipment, emphasis has been placed on training troops to master modern features, such as projectile calculator, laser rangefinder, signal equipment, and protection system. To achieve effectiveness, the Brigade has directed its offices to proactively research materials, select instructors, design separate lesson plans, and develop extra training plans and curriculum for all cadres, with great weight added to tanks and armoured vehicles’ features, structure, operating principles, and order of usage as well as steps in dealing with common errors of the upgraded and modernised equipment. Moreover, it has actively renewed the content and methods of holding exercises, with great value attached to researching and directing two-side field exercises from platoon to battalion levels to better cadres’ command and coordination capability and bring troops close to combat reality. Thanks to synchronous measures, the results of training and exercises by the Brigade have been considerably improved. Cadres and soldiers of the Brigade have mastered new weapons and equipment. On a yearly basis, all sections of training and exercises have been rated good or excellent; shooting and driving sections have all been rated excellent. The Brigade won top prizes in training contests held by its higher echelons, while obtaining a Certificate of Merit from the General Staff for its outstanding achievements during an exercise with Army Corps 12.

Getting prepared for Good Tank Crew Contest

Additionally, the Brigade has strictly maintained regulations on combat readiness, regularly reviewing and adjusting combat resolutions and plans on response to catastrophes, incidents, and natural disasters and search and rescue in accordance with situational developments and the Military Region’s intent, increasing practice and exercises to improve its capacity to respond to all situations. Stationed in the areas frequently affected by natural disasters, the Brigade has paid due regard to organising search and rescue forces with sufficient equipment and requiring those forces to practise their specialised projects to guarantee their good task performance in the event. In 2024, it conducted a deployment of over 200 cadres and soldiers to assist the Northern people in settling the consequences of Storm No.3 (aka Yagi Storm), with the absolute safety of its personnel and equipment, being highly appreciated by local party committees, authorities, sectors, and citizens.

To keep raising its synergy and combat readiness, the Brigade has attached significance to well carrying out the work of logistics and technical support. While reviewing, adjusting, supplementing, and perfecting the system of combat documents, ensuring sufficient logistics - technical materials and means for combat readiness, the Brigade has stringently maintained regulations on logistics - technical work, intensifying refresher courses to improve its logistics - technical staff’s professional competence, service attitude, and skills in dealing with errors of the existing and new equipment. It has stepped up the emulation movement entitled “Military Logistics Sector follows Uncle Ho’s teachings” and the campaign on “managing and exploiting weapons and technical equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically, and ensuring traffic safety”. It has proactively given advice on upgrading its workshops and repair stations, well maintaining regulations on weaponry preservation, maintenance, and repair at all levels. Due attention has been paid to encouraging cadres and soldiers to take part in technical initiatives and innovations. Since 2019, the Brigade has developed and widely applied 102 technical initiatives and innovations, many of them have been highly appreciated by the Military Region.

Bringing into play its recorded results and hands-on experiences, Brigade 409 will keep raising its synergy and combat readiness to excellently accomplish all assigned tasks and bolster its tradition of “active, proactive, united, creative, self-reliant, resilient, shining symbol of iron will”, worthy of the title of “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces in the Renewal Period”.

Col. DAO VAN CHUNG

Commander of the Brigade