Fully aware of the importance of the building of an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Brigade, the Party Committee and Command of Brigade 170 have been focusing their leadership and direction on taking practical, effective measures to keep raising the Brigade’s synergy, combat power, and task performance, contributing to bolstering the 70-year tradition of the heroic Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN).

To successfully fulfil their assigned tasks, over the years, Brigade 170’s Party Committee and Command (Naval Region 1) have concentrated on adopting various measures, with a breakthrough in building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Brigade under Directive 79-CT/BQP, dated 22 July 2022, by Minister of National Defence. Thanks to its practical, effective measures, the Brigade has made itself politically strong; its organisational structure has been consolidated in an “adept, compact, strong” manner; its training and combat readiness work has been gradually improved; regularity building and discipline management have been seriously maintained; logistics and technical work has been enhanced to provide sufficient, timely support for its tasks.

Taking part in a joint patrol

Currently and in the upcoming time, the sea and islands of the Brigade’s responsibility face many potential destabilising factors; the Brigade has to undertake different missions; its forces frequently operate far from their headquarters under harsh weather conditions. To firmly protect national sacred sovereignty over seas and islands, the Brigade will continue to raise its synergy and combat readiness capacity, with emphasis placed on making itself “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong.

First of all, building a politically strong Brigade. This measure plays a decisive role in building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong unit. Hence, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command will direct their affiliates to adhere to the criteria for a “politically strong unit” and the recorded results in this regard to develop proper criteria and measures. Great value will be attached to raising the quality and effectiveness of party and political work during missions, enhancing political and ideological education under Directive 2423-CT/QUTW, dated 9 November 2023, by the Central Military Commission Standing Board on “renewing and improving political education in the new era”. Great weight will be added to educating cadres and soldiers on the VPN’s tradition, making all troops clearly understand hostile forces’ plots and artifices, rendering them fully aware of the goal, targets, and necessity of building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Brigade. Due attention will be paid to renewing forms and methods of political education relevant to each task and target individuals, aligning the outcome of the building of politically strong units with yearly evaluations of cadres, party members, and party organisations. In this regard, all cadres and soldiers shall have full political awareness, grasp their tasks, readily undertake and successfully accomplish all assigned missions.

Notably, the Brigade will attach significance to improving the leadership capacity and combativeness of all-level party committees and party organisations, particularly at grass-roots level and on combat vessels, ensuring the quality of issuing and realising resolutions, heightening criticism, self-criticism, and example-setting responsibility among its cadres and party members, building a pool of key cadres under the “seven dares” spirit, and raising the quality of inspection and supervision work. The Brigade Party Committee has recently exercised its leadership over the successful organisation of party cell-level congresses as an important basis for holding the Brigade’s Party Congress for 2025 - 2030 tenure.

Second, raising the quality of training and combat readiness. As a unit of surface vessels, the Brigade has been equipped with a large quantity of vessels and modern weaponry; while its task requirements are increasingly high, there are differences in the education background among its cadres and soldiers. Under higher echelons’ resolutions and directives, the Brigade will focus on raising the quality of training its troops. It will make elaborate preparations, ranging from personnel to lesson plans and facilities; it will organise refresher courses on content and methods of training work relevant to its organisational structure, weaponry, and tasks for its cadres. In the process, it will closely follow training mottos, viewpoints, principles, and connections, with a breakthrough in “training troops to master weapons and technical equipment and training cadres”. It will increase practice under harsh weather conditions, night-time training, and joint training, encourage self-study and self-improvement in knowledge of foreign languages and information technology, and raise the quality of exercises and contests at all levels. At the same time, it will concentrate on carrying out preliminary and final reviews to opportunely draw lessons and commend typical examples in training work.

A live-fire exercise by the Brigade

Furthermore, the Brigade will continue to grasp and introduce higher echelons’ commands and directives on combat readiness to all cadres and soldiers, strictly maintain regulations on duty at all levels, intensify patrol and reconnaissance at sea, in days off and rest hours, on national holidays, and during major political events of the country and the Military. It will continue to review, adjust, supplement, and seriously practise combat readiness projects and plans to opportunely deal with possible situations and avoid falling into passivity.

Third, making a breakthrough in regularity building, discipline management, and safety assurance. Well implementing this measure will lay a solid foundation for raising the Brigade’s task performance. Promoting its recorded results, the Brigade will continue to make a breakthrough in “regularity building, troop management, safety assurance without any serious violation of law or discipline”. It will continue to conduct propagation and education work to raise troops’ awareness of the State’s law, the Military’s discipline, and its regulations, actively build a “regular, bright, green, clean, beautiful” barrack system, tighten military courtesy, and strictly maintain daily, weekly regulations under the criteria for “regular, exemplary” vessels and stations. Moreover, it will step up digital transformation in management, command, direction, and operation work, especially in archiving and digitalising data for management work.

As the Brigade has a large number of professional service men and women performing their tasks in a scattered manner with a high risk of violating discipline, it will make a breakthrough in “ideological forecast, management, orientation, and settlement”. It will closely cooperate with families and localities in grasping and settling troops’ ideological issues. It will closely manage troops’ use of cell phone and alcohol in days off and rest hours, while resolutely handling violations as a strong deterrent to all troops. It will continue to effectively maintain models, i.e. “10 exemplary days of regularity building, discipline management, safety assurance” and “learning one article of law on a weekly basis”; it will strive to record no serious violation and ensure absolute safety in terms of personnel and weaponry.

Fourth, improving the effectiveness of logistics and technical work. Offices and units across the Brigade will focus on reviewing and adjusting logistics - technical support documents for all tasks, especially for training, combat readiness, search and rescue, exercises, patrol, and reconnaissance at sea, stringently maintaining material reserves under regulations. Besides, the Brigade will step up animal and crop husbandry, hygienic work, and epidemic prevention to improve its troops’ life and achieve the rate of healthy troops at 98.5% or above. It will continue to effectively execute the emulation movement entitled “Military Logistics Sector follows Uncle Ho’s teachings”.

In addition, the Brigade will make a breakthrough in “technical regularity building and mastery over technical equipment”; in this regard, offices will be required to provide sound direction and guidance for units, while units will be asked to well maintain technical work and master technical equipment. The Brigade will continue to receive, distribute, register, and manage technical means for its units, sufficiently, opportunely provide means and technical equipment for all affiliates, with priority given to units in charge of training, combat readiness, and other contingency missions. It will strictly execute regulations on “technical day”, maintenance, and repair after missions at sea, while managing and grasping the quantity and quality of weapons and technical equipment, categorising its weaponry, and guaranteeing the technical coefficient of its weapons and technical equipment. It will step up technical researches, innovations, and initiatives as well as the Campaign entitled “managing and exploiting weapons and technical equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically and ensuring traffic safety”.

Bringing into play the heroic VPN’s 70-year tradition of construction, combat, and maturity, cadres and soldiers of Brigade 170 will proactively overcome difficulties, remain unity, and devote efforts to building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Brigade with great synergy, combat power, and capacity to firmly protect national sacred sovereignty over seas and islands.

Lt. Col. BUI DUY TUONG

Commander of the Brigade