Division 8 of Military Region 9 is a main-force unit stationed in a strategically important area in the southern part of the country, tasked with maintaining combat readiness, training standing and reserve forces, responding to natural disasters and incidents, conducting search and rescue operations, and performing other contingency missions.

Over the years, apart from advantages, the Division has encountered numerous difficulties when performing its tasks. Hostile forces have intensified their sabotage efforts on the political, ideological, cultural fronts; high-tech crime has become more sophisticated. The Division’s affiliates are stationed in dispersed locations undergoing urbanisation and complex developments in social evils. The Division is responsible for managing a large number of soldiers and reservists from many regions with different customs and cultural characteristics, as well as uneven educational levels. These factors have had a considerable impact on its troops’ awareness, sense of responsibility, and behaviour in terms of observing discipline and law, as well as on regularity building and discipline management. Hence, the Division’s Party Committee and Command have attached special importance to leading, directing, and organising the work of legal dissemination and education via appropriate measures. As a result, there have been clear improvements in the awareness, responsibility, and conduct of each officer, soldier, and reservist towards State law and military discipline, thereby contributing to building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Division capable of fulfilling all assigned tasks.

An exchange programme between officers and soldiers of Regiment 9

The awareness and responsibility of party committees and key cadres at all levels constitute a fundamental and decisive factor in the effectiveness of legal dissemination and education. Accordingly, the Division has grasped circulars and directives on legal dissemination and education, regularity building, and discipline management, especially Resolution 570-NQ/ĐU, dated 30 March 2020, by the Division Party Committee on “Leadership over management and education work, prevention of violations of discipline and law, and safety assurance in all activities”. It has demanded to align collective and individual responsibility with legal dissemination and education according to their functions and assigned tasks, considering this a criterion for assessing the quality of party members and officers and for annual commendation. Through these measures, a sense of responsibility among all-level party committees and key cadres regarding this important work has improved considerably.

Every year, all-level party committees have issued specialised resolutions with content, targets, and measures suited to each task and target group, while assigning their members and key cadres to provide guidance and direction in a strict, serious manner. All-level party committees’ regular resolutions and conclusions have correctly assessed the discipline-abiding awareness among officers, soldiers, and reservists, and clearly identified shortcomings, causes, and remedial measures. Each year, all military personnel have been required to sign written commitments to strictly observe the law and discipline and to ensure safety. On a monthly basis (after each reservist training period), party committees at all levels have evaluated the results of leadership, direction, and implementation, while promptly adjusting content, forms, and methods to address weaknesses, particularly in the forms and methods of legal dissemination and education.

The Division has regularly directed the renewal of content, programmes, forms, and methods to enhance attractiveness and persuasiveness and overcome the rigidity often associated with legal dissemination and education. Offices and units of the Division, especially the three regiments responsible for managing and training soldiers and reservists, have adhered to the Division’s annual plans to determine key points, incorporating practical situations and typical cases to increase persuasiveness and improve the ability of officers and soldiers to remember the content, focusing on core issues directly regulating troops’ conduct in training, combat readiness, regularity building, and safety assurance. Consideration has been given to disseminating regulations on using social networks, protecting state secrets and information security, and preventing violations in the digital environment and in daily work and social relations. Each month, based on documents about violations of law and discipline across the whole Military and within the Military Region, offices and units have designed materials for legal dissemination and ideological orientation, analysing the causes of legal and disciplinary violations, drawing lessons, introducing measures to prevent violations.

Legal topics delivered to troops in 2025

To instil educational content into each target group, the Division has directed its units to flexibly, creatively apply various forms and methods, such as direct delivery of specialised topics, dissemination through political and news briefings, regular meetings, unit activities, internal broadcasting systems, notice boards, and posters, and integration with political and ideological education, military training, and regularity building. At the same time, it has promoted the role of cultural institutions and directed company- and battalion-level units to build and effectively operate “Legal Bookcases” under regulations to meet troops’ needs of studying the law. It has also maintained the Political and Cultural Day at grass-roots level, Legal Study Day, and models, such as “One Article of Law on a Weekly Basis”, “Psychological and Legal Counselling Teams”, and “Youth Union Branches without cadres or members violating law or discipline”, thereby creating fundamental changes in troops’ discipline-abiding awareness and effectively preventing violations.

Legal dissemination and education can only produce substantive, sustainable results when closely combined with regularity building, discipline management, and emulation movements. Accordingly, the Division has directed its offices and units, especially Regiment 9 and the two regiments responsible for managing and training reservists, to develop a system of signboards in a standardised way under the guidance of the General Staff, as well as spacious, green, clean, beautiful barracks. At the same time, the Division has strictly maintained routines and discipline management in conformity with military regulations. Party committees and commands at all levels have been required to strengthen inspection and supervision to promptly detect and effectively prevent signs of disciplinary violation and the infiltration of social evils, particularly during off-duty hours and among personnel on independent missions outside their barracks. Importance has been attached to raising the effectiveness of monitoring and managing troops’ ideological developments and social relationships, especially among those facing difficulties or showing unusual signs in study, training, living, or work. The role of mass mobilisation and protection soldiers has been promoted; democratic dialogue has been maintained at all levels; coordination with local authorities and families has been strengthened to monitor ideological developments among troops, and promptly address unusual signs. As a result, regularity building and military etiquette of officers, soldiers, and reservists have improved significantly.

Conference to disseminate Politburo Resolution No.57

To motivate troops to better themselves, the Division has closely combined discipline education with the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and lifestyle, the campaign on “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers in the new period”, and the Determined to Win Emulation Movement, thereby creating a vibrant, widespread emulation atmosphere. Training and emulation activities have been oriented towards breakthroughs to create fundamental changes in self-cultivation, self-discipline, and safety assurance in training, exercises, and traffic participation. Since 2020, the Division and many of its affiliates have been recognised by the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region as “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong units. Many outstanding examples have been disseminated and replicated, thus creating a far-reaching positive impact within the Division, contributing to building a healthy, diverse cultural environment and minimising violations among troops.

Furthermore, the Division has regularly directed the consolidation and improvement of Coordinating Councils for Legal Dissemination and Education. Recognising this as a measure to promote the synergy and responsibility of its offices and units in legal dissemination and education, on a yearly basis, the Division has promptly adjusted and supplemented these councils at all levels to ensure proper quantity, structure, and quality. In order to enhance their operational capacity, the Division has required these councils to regularly refine and issue operating regulations appropriate to their functions and tasks and closely aligned with practical conditions. Great value has been attached to training a pool of legal rapporteurs and communicators, and psychological and legal counselling teams, improving their political steadfastness, sense of discipline, legal knowledge, and educational skills, requiring them to set good examples in studying and observing the law and discipline for troops to follow. These staff members have actively addressed ideological, psychological problems and provided sound advice on legal and disciplinary knowledge, especially on issues directly related to troops’ rights and obligations. As a result, in the 2020 - 2025 term, there have been substantial improvements in the observance of law and discipline among officers, soldiers, and reservists, with no serious violations requiring disciplinary action.

Thanks to the synchronous, effective implementation of the above solutions, the work of legal dissemination and education across the Division has made remarkable progress. All cadres and soldiers have strictly observed State law and military discipline, contributing to building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Division, enhancing the Division’s overall strength, successfully fulfilling all assigned tasks, bolstering the Division’s heroic tradition of “Overcoming hardships, advancing across fields, launching vigorous offensives”.

Sr. Col. NGUYEN TRUONG SON

Political Commissar of Division 8