Saturday, December 22, 2018, 17:39 (GMT+7)

“Uncle Ho’s soldiers” – an undeniable Vietnamese military cultural value

The title of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” attaches to the process of construction, combat and development of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), being preserved in the people’s hearts and minds, becoming a typical military cultural value of the new era - the Ho Chi Minh’s era. For the sake of an “apolitical VPA”, hostile forces have sought in vain to distort and deny this unique military cultural value.

“Uncle Ho’s soldiers” is a noble, intimate title which our people have conferred upon cadres and soldiers of the VPA. The people call our military members “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” as they feel the special relationship between leader Ho Chi Minh and the Military and at the same time express their love for and their faith in the VPA - an army by the people and for the people. Perhaps, this is a unique phenomenon around the globe which can’t be distorted or denied by any force.

Over the past 74 years of construction, combat and development, the title of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” has become a typical cultural value in the national history and deeply demonstrated our Military’s revolutionary nature. It is typical of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” to single-mindedly devote themselves to the Party and the people, to readily fight and sacrifice for the national independence and socialism, to fulfil all assigned task, to surmount all difficulties, and to defeat all enemies. That military cultural value not only shone through the wars for national liberation, but also continues to be preserved and promoted in today’s Homeland construction and protection.

Recently, to encourage an “apolitical VPA”, the hostile forces have sought to undermine and then deny this unique cultural military value. They make best use of every trick to distort the revolutionary nature of the VPA in the period of accelerating national industrialization and modernization and international integration. To do that, they spare no effort to deny the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) over the VPA, while calling on the Military to stay out of the politics. Taking advantage of mistakes of several military members, offices and units during the course of performing the task, particularly during the Military’s process of economic production and defence land management, they make distortions saying that military members nowadays, in the context of a market economy are no longer “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, and that the Military pays no attention to maintaining combat readiness, protecting the Homeland’s sea and island sovereignty, or fighting or sacrificing for the people. Besides, they plot to encourage “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within the military staff in a bid to undermine the Military’s combat ideal and revolutionary soldiers’ virtues and morality. Those malicious artifices are all aimed at transforming the VPA’s nature, defaming our Army in the society, tearing down the symbol of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the people’s hearts and minds, separating the Military from the Party and the people, and then neutralizing the VPA’s function as the core in the cause of national defence consolidation and Homeland protection.

The VPA’s process of performing its functions in the past years has refuted those above-mentioned distortions and proved the truth: our Military is always a loyal, reliable political and fighting force of the Party, State and people in the Homeland construction and protection in the period of national industrialization and modernization and international integration while the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” continue to be preserved and promoted in all operations by generations of military staff. As an army ready for combat, the VPA has proactively cooperated with other forces in advising the Party and State on formulating the guidelines for the Homeland protection, the National Defence Strategy and the Military Strategy in the new situation as well as proper strategies to effectively handle complex situations and sensitive issues on defence-security. Its units have always paid due regard to performing the training task, improving the synergy and combat strength, and mastering modern materiel; regularly maintained discipline, a sense of vigilance, and combat readiness, well fulfil the function as the core in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity. It is a fact that cadres and soldiers in Truong Sa islands and the Vietnam Coast Guard day and night resolutely fight to protect the national sovereignty over the seas, islands, continental shelf as well as the traditional fishing grounds and opportunely rescue fishermen in danger. That image is our Military’s continued tradition of “sacrificing for the people”. Besides, the Military has actively cooperated with ministries, committees, sectors and organizations as well as local party committees and authorities in building the potential and posture of the all-people national defence associated with building the potential and posture of the people’s security in strategic, key directions and border, sea, island areas. Military units stationed in the areas have played the core role and cooperated with local party committees and authorities in enforcing the 10th Politburo’s Resolution 28-NQ/TW and the Government’s Decrees 152/2007/NĐ-CP and 02/2016/NĐ-CP on building the defensive zones. Besides, the Military has always been in the vanguard of the fight to foil the “peaceful evolution” strategy by the hostile forces, thereby contributing to protecting the Party and its guidelines on national reform for the sake of “wealthy people, strong nation, democratic, equitable, civilized society”, and defending the Homeland in terms of political regime.

As an army ready for work, the whole Military has regularly enhanced the work of mass mobilization with various content and forms, actively encouraged the people to well implement the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policy, and taken part in hunger eradication and poverty, production development, and grass-roots political system consolidation. Only in 5 years (2013-2018), the Military participated in consolidating over 4,000 Party cells, 5,300 authorities, and making 107 villages no longer devoid of party members, while coordinating the provision of defence and security education for over 20 million people and vocational training for 525 village-level nurses. Military units have spent over 2 million working days on building new-style rural areas, presented the Gratitude Houses to the people, and provided free medical examination and treatment for over 2.5 million people. Besides, the Military has actively taken part in preserving and sustainably developing ethnic minorities, such as the Dan Lai people in Nghe An province, the La Hu people in Lai Chau province, the Chut people in Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces, etc. Its units have also cooperated with local party committees and authorities in encouraging people from ethnic minorities to abolish depraved customs; counselling the building of cultural models and places for practising beliefs in accordance with geographical and socio-economic condition of each ethnic people. The Border Guard Force’s High Command has dispatched 332 cadres to join commune-level authorities.

Considering search and rescue and natural disaster mitigation as a combat task in peacetime, over the past years, the Military has really played the core role in this task. In the past 5 years (2013-2018), the Military has mobilized 1.3 million cadres and soldiers and nearly 30,000 vehicles in natural disaster prevention and control, while rescuing over 10,000 vehicles and 18,000 people, thereby cementing the close-knit bond between the Military and the people, building a firm posture of “people’s hearts and minds”. It should be noted that military members wrestled with difficulties and creatively rescued 12 workers from the tunnel collapsed in the Da Dang hydropower plant (Lam Dong province), or stayed in the rains and storms, or even sacrificed their life to evacuate and rescue the people and their property across the country, which imprinted good impressions on the people’s hearts and minds.

As an army ready for production in the period of national reform, in addition to agricultural production at the military barracks to improve troops’ life, the military-owned enterprises have contributed to building the economic potential of the all-people national defence. Many military-owned enterprises, such as the Viettel Group, the Saigon Newport Company, the 36 Corporation, etc., have become the backbone of the national economy and greatly contributed to the country’s economic growth. Economic-defence units stationed in the areas in extreme difficulty and the border areas have both helped localities foster socio-economic development and directly built the posture of all-people national defence associated with the posture of people’s security in the key, strategic areas. Those operations have contributed to bolstering the image of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the people’s hearts and minds in the new period.

The noble title of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” is the invaluable cultural asset exclusively given by the people to our military cadres and soldiers. To thwart the hostile forces’ plots to distort and deny this unique military cultural value requires the joint efforts made by the entire Party and people, and particularly each member of the VPA. The key to preserving and fostering the cultural value of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period is to unceasingly strengthen the Party’s absolute, direct leadership over the Military as it decides the Military’s revolutionary nature. Moreover, military units and offices should continue to effectively execute the Campaign “promote the tradition, devote the talent, deserve to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in line with the 12th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, moral example and lifestyle via forms and measures in accordance with their functions and tasks. Those are practical actions so that our Military will forever deserve the title of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”.

Nguyen Ngoc Hoi