Fully aware of its functions and assigned tasks, Division 324 has always given priority to training and combat readiness to practically contribute to raising its synergy and combat capacity, ensuring victory in all situations, its 70-year-long heroic tradition in the new conditions. 

On 1 July 1955, Division 324 was founded on the basis of merging independent units which had been involved in the resistance war against the French across Inter-Zone 5 and then relocated to the North. Over the past 70 years of construction, combat, and maturity, despite many changes in the Division’s organisational structure, code name, and missions, generations of cadres and soldiers of the Division have always been absolutely loyal to the Party’s revolutionary cause, remaining unity to excellently fulfil all assigned tasks, achieving brilliant feats of arms in the resistance war against the US for national salvation, in international missions, and in the cause of Fatherland protection, fostering the Division’s tradition of “loyalty and courage, resilience, constant offensive, unity, victory”. With its remarkable achievements, the Division and 15 collectives and 12 individuals from itself were given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces, 1 Ho Chi Minh Order, 7 Military Exploit Orders, and 1 Third-Class Labour Order; the Party and State of Laos presented the Division with 3 First-Class Isala Orders.

A conference of the Division Party Committee to issue Resolution of 2025

As a full-strength main unit of Military Region 4 tasked with combat readiness, in recent years, the Division has focused its leadership and direction on taking synchronised measures to improve its task performance, with importance attached to training and combat readiness, thereby obtaining a lot of positive results. Notably, its troops’ awareness of training and combat readiness has been raised; training content, programs, and methods have been unceasingly renewed to be relevant to each group of troops and its task requirements; it has well organised all-level exercises and actively participated in defensive zone exercises. Regulations on combat readiness at all levels have been strictly maintained, thus allowing the Division to well perform its tasks in any circumstances. The Division has always taken the lead in the Military Region’s training and combat readiness operations; it has actively taken part in natural disaster prevention and control, search and rescue, and restoration of schools and villages, thereby being highly appreciated by the Ministry of National Defence and local party committees, authorities, and people. Those efforts have practically contributed to raising the Division’s task performance, building “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong offices and units, and fostering the noble virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new period.

Currently, the building of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and Fatherland protection are imposing new, high requirements on the Military Region’s armed forces in general, the Division in particular. Against that backdrop, the Division’s Party Committee and Command will continue making a breakthrough in raising the quality of training and combat readiness as the basis for the Division’s improved synergy and combat power in the new situation.

To that end, first of all, the Division will boost education and propagation work to raise its troops’ political steadfastness, sense of responsibility, and awareness towards training and combat readiness. All-level party committees and commands will thoroughly study Resolution 1659-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022, by the Central Military Commission, and Resolution 775-NQ/ĐU, dated 15 February 2023, by the Military Region Party Committee, on raising the quality of training in the period of 2023 - 2030 and beyond as well as higher echelons’ combat training directives. Grounded on those documents, the Division’s Party Committee and Command will direct offices and units to proactively review and supplement leadership regulations, issue specialised resolutions on training work, and establish goals and tasks of training in their weekly, monthly, quarterly plans with specific measures. Due attention will be paid to stepping up education and propagation work to achieve uniformity across the entire Division in terms of awareness and action towards training and combat readiness, rendering troops fully aware of the Party’s views and lines on military, defence, and Fatherland protection tasks, especially the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on “the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation”, providing troops with sufficient information about partners, opponents, and hostile forces’ plots and artifices. Doing so will enable the Division to completely handle wrong perceptions, a lack of vigilance, and signs of fearfulness of difficulties in training and combat readiness among its troops.

In response to its new task requirements and hostile forces’ sabotage efforts, the Division will direct its affiliates to continue executing Directive 2423-CT/QUTW on “renewing and improving political education in the new era” and Regulation 775/QC-CT on “managing troop ideology, grasping and orientating public opinion within the VPA”, educating their troops on Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought, and fostering the working-class nature of their cadres and party members. It will promote democracy, opportunely grasp its troops’ ideological developments, proactively provide ideological orientations, enhance its troops’ political steadfastness and loyalty to the Party’s goals and ideal, and encourage its troops’ law-abiding awareness and readiness to undertake and fulfil all assigned tasks.

Second, renewing content, forms, and methods of training. Taking the fulfilment of combat tasks as the primary objective of a breakthrough reform in content and methods of training, the Division will concentrate on making preparations for training work, constructing and upgrading its training grounds, organising refresher courses for its cadres to ensure that they will be able to provide training for troops. It will hold yearly ceremonies to kick off the training season, organise contests on improving training models and materials, and launch emulation movements relating to training work, with the aim of encouraging its offices, units, and staff members to accomplish all goals and targets of training.

Under the training motto of “basics, practicality, solidity”, the Division will attach importance to synchronised, specialised training, actively applying science, technology, and digital transformation to raising the quality of training direction, management, and operation, ensuring “focalisation, uniformity, synchronicity, effectiveness, without any overlaps” in training work. Consideration will be given to heightening a sense of responsibility among cadres, particularly those in charge of training work, taking the results of training as a criterion for evaluation of commanding officers and units. The Division will closely organise basic and specialised training programs for each group of troops to ensure that troops will effectively exploit its existing weapons and technical equipment, master independent combat skills, and improve coordination with other forces in defensive zones. It will closely combine training with discipline management, while increasing situations-based and combat projects-based training under the conditions of hi-tech warfare. At the same time, it will stringently maintain inspections of training work, opportunely point out weaknesses and emerging issues, and introduce measures to completely handle those drawbacks in this work. Stationed in the area characterised by harsh weather conditions and a high frequency of storms and floods, the Division will direct its affiliates to combine combat training with improved coordination and skills in dealing with the consequences of natural disasters, conducting search and rescue operations, and maintaining readiness for performing their tasks in all situations.

Third, making a breakthrough in dealing with situations in combat readiness. The Division will continue to grasp and strictly implement higher echelons’ combat readiness directives and seriously maintain duty regulations at all levels. At the same time, it will regularly review and perfect all-level combat documents in accordance with situational developments, its task requirements, and the Military Region’s combat resolution as the basis for organising training courses and exercises and improving all-level officers’ combat command and coordination capability as well as troops’ combat readiness capacity. It will actively work with other forces to give advice on realising the Government’s Decree 03/2019/NĐ-CP, dated 5 September 2019, promptly, effectively handling all situations, and avoiding passivity.

Military Region 4’s Command encourages troops during one-side, two-level command - office exercise

The Division will closely practise shifting states of combat readiness relevant to its combat projects and realities. It will direct its offices and units to organise exercises, especially general tactical exercises at platoon, company, and battalion levels, live-fire field exercises, one-side, two-level command - office exercises, and reservist mobilisation exercises, and take part in the Military Region’s defensive combat exercises. It will frequently ensure manpower, weapons, equipment, and logistics - technical materials for training and combat readiness; great value will be attached to preparing forces, means, and materials for natural disaster response and search and rescue. Following President Ho Chi Minh’s words: “Helping our friends is helping ourselves”, the Division will actively cooperate with local party committees, authorities, and people in well carrying out diplomatic work. Emphasis will be placed on effectively executing exchange and twinning activities between the Division itself and the 1^st Division of the Lao People’s Army, exchanging information, and signing memoranda of understanding for cooperation in personnel training to contribute to maintaining peace and stability in the border area and developing the special relationship between Vietnam and Laos.

Bringing into play their 70-year-long glorious tradition, cadres and soldiers of Division 324 will continue devoting efforts to well performing training work, stringently maintaining combat readiness, and building “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong offices and units capable of excellently fulfilling all assigned tasks, worthy of the noble title of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” - Heroic Division 324’s Soldiers in the Central Region of hardships, resilience, and courage.

Sr. Col. NGUYEN THAO TRUONG

Commander of the Division