Building a “strong, extensive” militia and self-defence force with a high level of synergy and combat power is a matter of strategic importance; it is a duty of the entire Party, people, and Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), aimed at developing military - defence potentialities and postures, meeting the requirements of Fatherland protection.

Being founded during the masses’ revolutionary movement, in the past 90 years of construction, combat, and maturity (28 March 1935 - 28 March 2025), under the Party’s leadership, the Vietnam Militia and Self-Defence Force (MSF) has overcome numerous difficulties and challenges to win great victories in the cause of national liberation, construction, and defence together with the entire VPA and people, worthy of President Ho Chi Minh’s praises: “The MSF and guerrillas are the force of the whole nation, an invincible force, a solid wall of the Fatherland. No matter how vicious enemies are, if they clash with that force, that wall, they are surely destroyed”.

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Quang Ngoc and Military Region 9’s Command inspect Division 330’s combat readiness work

In the resistance war against the French, under the Party’s line of all-people, all-round war, the MSF bravely stuck to the people and areas to build combat villages and communes, cooperating with our main force in fighting the enemy with guerrilla tactics and obsolete, improvised, confiscated weapons, containing and forcing the enemy to stretch their formation, conducting agitprop among enemy troops, disintegrating and annihilating a large number of enemy troops, greatly contributing to our victories on the battlefield, particularly the Dien Bien Phu Victory that ended more than 80 years of French colonial rule.

In the resistance war against the US for national salvation, the MSF was developed robustly both qualitatively and quantitatively to meet the revolutionary task requirements in the South and the North. Taking part in production, combat, and combat support simultaneously, the MSF always stood shoulder to shoulder with the main force and others to defeat wars of destruction waged by the US air force and navy, firmly safeguard the Northern great rear, and provide reinforcements for the Southern great frontline. On the South battlefield, under the leadership of the Party, particularly the Central Office for South Vietnam, militias, guerrillas, and rangers invented and developed many combat methods and forms, working with the main force and others to set up “a net from heaven to earth” across the entire battlefield, playing a core role in enabling all people to fight the enemy’s mop-up, population herding, “strategic hamlet”, and “concentration camp” campaigns, neutralising and smashing “special war”, “local war”, “Vietnamisation of war” strategies by US imperialists and their lackeys. In the 1975 Spring General Offensive and Uprising, the MSF and guerrillas played a key role in helping the people at grass-roots level rise up en masse to overthrow puppet governments, maintaining combat coordination with and providing combat support for the liberation army to completely liberate the South and reunify the country.

In the period of national construction and protection, the MSF has continued to achieve new developments, acting as an important part of the three-category armed forces, playing a key role in performing defence - military tasks at grass-roots level. It should be noted that the promulgation of the MSF Law has led to breakthroughs in the building, organisation, and operation of this force. The MSF has been made “strong, extensive” with proper structure and increasingly high political quality and credibility, serving as a reliable political force for protecting the Party, authorities, and citizens at grass-roots level and make contributions to thwarting all “peaceful evolution”, “riot”, “conversion” plots and artifices of hostile forces, firmly safeguarding national sovereignty, the Fatherland’s territorial integrity, our socialist regime and renovation cause as well as the people’s peaceful life.

It could be affirmed that over the past 90 years, generations of cadres and soldiers of the MSF have always been loyal to the Fatherland, people, and revolutionary cause, remaining united, ingenious, courageous, and resilient in combat, staying active, enthusiastic, and creative in production and work, achieving brilliant feats, serving as a really reliable political and combat force of party committees, authorities, and people at grass-roots level. With its outstanding achievements, the MSF has been honoured with Gold Star Order, Ho Chi Minh Order, and the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces; 370 collectives and 284 individuals from the MSF have been given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces and many other noble rewards.

In the upcoming time, there will be complex changes throughout the world and in the region; our country will have new opportunities but face new challenges. Higher requirements of Fatherland protection are being imposed on the people’s armed forces, including the MSF. To build an increasingly strong MSF capable of its functions and assigned tasks, worthy of the trust of the Party, State, and people, sectors, localities, and units should well implement several main measures as follows.

First, strengthening party committees and authorities’ leadership and direction, promoting all-level local military agencies’ core role in building the MSF. This is a fundamental measure aimed at ensuring that the organisation, building, and operation of the MSF will be effectively carried out under the Party’s lines. To do so, sectors and localities, particularly party committees, authorities, cadres, and party members should grasp and seriously execute the Party’s directives and resolutions and the State’s laws and policies regarding the organisation, building, and operation of the MSF, especially the 2019 MSF Law and other normative documents on this force. It is necessary to review, supplement, and complete action plans and projects together with measures relevant to each group of troops, each area, and each locality’s capacity. There should be reforms in methods of leadership, direction, command, management, and implementation; it is vital to be fully aware that the building of a strong, extensive MSF with proper structure and high quality is a crucial, routine task and must be placed under local party committees’ direct leadership, local authorities’ operation, and local military agencies’ staff work. Competent agencies, particularly the MSF Department should closely cooperate with ministries, sectors, and localities in directing, guiding, and inspecting the building of the MSF across the country, opportunely giving advice on measures to handle issues, meeting both long-term and short-term task requirements. At the same time, due attention should be paid to conducting propagation and education work to render sectors, localities, and people from all walks of life fully aware of the strategic importance of the building of the MSF in the new situation, heightening a sense of responsibility, and achieving consensus in the performance of this important task.

A combat training session of Quang Ninh provincial MSF

Second, consolidating the MSF’s organisational structure to build a strong, extensive MSF with high combat readiness and task performance. Bringing into play the recorded experiences and results, in the upcoming time, under the MSF Law and other relevant legal normative documents, all-level military agencies should proactively give advice to local party committees and authorities on the work of MSF registration, management, training, and operation, with much importance being attached to key areas of defence and security, particularly the Northwest, Central Highlands, and Southwest, as well as standing militia units, standing militia key combat positions, and maritime militia and self-defence units. In the process, great value should be attached to the MSF’s extensiveness; wherever party organisations and population are existent, there should be militia and self-defence units; it is necessary to resolutely prevent areas from being “void” of any militia and self-defence units. Consideration should be given to researching into the building of militia and self-defence models and units in key areas of defence and security. Significance should be attached to building militia and self-defence units in charge of information warfare, cyber warfare, and neutralisation of unmanned aerial vehicles in the new situation. Offices, units, and localities should promote the role of cadres in charge of militia and self-defence work, enhance coordination between all-level local military agencies and sectors in staff work and implementation process, and avoid the “complete delegation” of militia and self-defence work to military agencies. At the same time, it is important to apply science, technology, and national digital transformation to the management, direction, and operation of the MSF.

Additionally, offices, units, and localities should continue to make a breakthrough in raising the quality of MSF training. In the medium term, it is necessary to standardise training programs under the motto of “basics, practicality, quality” and organise synchronised, specialised, real-world training for each group of troops. Military training should be closely combined with political education and discipline management to improve political zeal of cadres and soldiers. Units and localities should focus on training cadres of the MSF, while reviewing, supplementing, and completing the system of combat documents for the MSF under relevant regulations, intensifying defensive combat and civil defence exercises to improve the MSF’s tactics, combat skills, and combat coordination with other forces.

Third, aligning the building of the MSF with defence - security goals and tasks in each area and across the country. As an armed force of the masses at grass-roots level, the MSF maintains a close-knit bond with the people, playing a core role in enabling all people to fight enemies. Thus, offices, units, and localities should closely combine projects and plans on the organisation, building, and operation of the MSF with the performance of local military - defence work; due attention should be paid to building all-people national defence and posture of all-people national defence associated with posture of people’s security, particularly a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” in each area and across the country. Offices, units, and localities should align the building of the MSF with the building of comprehensively strong localities and political bases, raise the quality of party organisations, authorities, Fatherland Fronts, political - social organisations, and mass organisations at grass-roots level, and take the quality and effectiveness of military, defence, and security work at grass-roots level as a primary criterion for assessing the building, training, and operation of the MSF as well as this force’s combat readiness capacity.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, offices, units, and localities should concentrate on ensuring sufficient policies and entitlements for the MSF. In the medium term, competent offices, particularly the MSF Department should proactively collaborate with relevant ministries and sectors to well implement policies and entitlements for the MSF in accordance with the building of the MSF and the country’s development. Moreover, all-level military agencies should proactively work with competent sectors to make estimates, receive, manage, and effectively use the allocated budget, sufficiently provide responsibility allowances for cadres of the MSF under regulations, and ensure all other policies and entitlements during the MSF’s training and operation process under the MSF Law. At the same time, resources should be tapped to acquire uniform, means, and supporting tools for the MSF to perform its tasks as well as construct commune-level military command headquarters and training grounds to improve the MSF’s training and operation quality within localities.

Building a strong, extensive MSF with great synergy and combat readiness capacity is a matter of strategic importance and a duty of the entire political system and people. This is an important foundation for the MSF across the country to keep promoting its position and excellently fulfilling all tasks assigned by the Party, State, and people, worthy of “an invincible force, a solid wall of the Fatherland” as praised by President Ho Chi Minh.

Lt. Gen. NGUYEN QUANG NGOC

Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the Central Military Commission

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the VPA