Combat training plays a decisive role in raising the synergy, combat power, and task performance of units across the Military. Hence, over the years, Engineer Brigade 229 of the Engineer Corps (hereinafter referred to as the Brigade) has adopted various measures to well perform this “central, routine” task. However, due to the particularities of a strategic reserve construction unit, the Brigade’s combat training work has extremely demanding requirements, together with a large number of difficulties and challenges. It should be noted that the Brigade has many target groups for training; its training courses are organised flexibly in various forms; while taking part in training courses, its troops have to perform their tasks of defence construction and bomb and mine clearance, mainly in the remote, isolated, extremely difficult areas with complex terrain, geology, and weather conditions and high safety risks, far from the Brigade’s direct direction and management; cadres’ capabilities and soldiers’ educational backgrounds are of different levels.

Training troops to set up TMM-3M bridge

Against that backdrop, to successfully fulfil its tasks, the Brigade has strengthened all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and direction over training work. The Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have required all-level party committees and commands to grasp higher echelons’ resolutions, directives, and guiding documents on training work, particularly Resolution 1659-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022, by the Central Military Commission and Resolution 464-NQ/ĐU, dated 30 March 2023 by the Engineer Corps Party Committee on raising the quality of training in the period of 2023 - 2030 and beyond. Grounded on those Resolutions, the Brigade Party Committee has decided to comprehensively renew training work, with a focus on stepping up a reform in the contents, organisation, and methods of engineering training and exercises, mobilising resources for training work, and closely combining combat training with combat readiness. It has developed its specialised resolution on training work and an action plan with specific goals, targets, and measures in accordance with the Brigade’s organisational structure, function, and assigned tasks. In the process, the Brigade has required its offices and units to exercise all-round, focalised leadership over training work, together with breakthroughs in handling weaknesses. Mechanisms for training management and operation have been renewed by developing and closely managing training plans, decentralising training work, and promoting all-level commands and offices’ roles in directing, inspecting, and supervising training work and giving advice to the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command on measures of training management and operation. Moreover, the Brigade has enhanced party and political work during training, while rendering its cadres and soldiers fully aware of the purposes, requirements, contents, and importance of training work, building up strong determination against difficulties and hardships among its troops, and closely combining training with bomb and mine clearance and construction of combat works. It is worth noting that the Brigade has stepped up emulation movements during training, particularly the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle and the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers in the new era”. At the same time, the Brigade has proactively, resolutely fought against signs of loose leadership and direction, reduction in training contents and programs, and “merit-driven disease” in training work.

Realities reveal that preparatory work has direct impacts on the quality and outcome of training. Due to the peculiarities of its specialised training, the Brigade has always proactively elaborately made necessary preparations for training, i.e. training plans, refresher courses for cadres, facilities, and training grounds. On a yearly basis, prior to each training season, the Brigade has always consolidated a contingent of cadres in charge of training work within its offices and units; importance has been attached to selecting and assigning cadres with great professional competence to difficult training matters and weaknesses, particularly during training contests, live-fire exercises, and international missions. While sending its cadres to refresher courses held by higher echelons, the Brigade has strictly maintained its training courses for key cadres at all levels and directed its offices and units to organise such courses for their cadres. The contents of those courses have embraced all military, political, logistics, and technical matters under the “practical, effective” motto, with a focus on new points, weaknesses, and issues of controversy. As a majority of its detachment-level cadres are young officers with limited capacity and experience in training work, over the years, the Brigade has directed its units to organise refresher courses and assign experienced cadres to provide support for young officers simultaneously. Commanding officers of the Brigade have been required to be in charge of training offices, while superiors have been assigned to train their inferiors. As a result, cadres at all levels, particularly at detachment level have achieved rapid maturity in training work; the performance of this work by all cadres has been considerably improved. Up to now, 100% of cadres have been able to take charge of training work; over 80% of cadres at platoon and company levels and 94% of battalion-level cadres have obtained merit or distinction in training work.

Training course for Vietnam Engineer Unit taking part in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

In addition to human resources, the Brigade has always attached great value to carefully preparing training facilities, models, equipment, grounds, and lectures in a uniform, regular, modern, specialised manner. Offices and units have frequently promoted technical initiatives and innovations and actively applied technological and scientific advancements to inventing training models and equipment. Over the years, the Brigade has consolidated and produced more than 10,000 training models and pieces of equipment, while developing over 100 valuable technical initiatives and innovations. Typical examples include commander’s batons, night-time training markers, multipurpose angle gauges, training grenades, PPM-2 mines, and OZM-72 mines which have been selected for mass production by the Department of Military Training of the General Staff.

During training work, the Brigade has always adhered to the motto of “basics, practicality, solidity”, attaching significance to synchronous and specialised training relevant to its combat projects, organisational structure, and operational areas, focusing on training its troops to master infantry combat tactics, engineering techniques, and existing technical equipment. The Brigade has concentrated on improving commands and offices’ capabilities in operational staff work, training staff work, and methods of directing and organising command - office maps-based exercises, field exercises, and general tactical exercises at company and battalion levels. It has attached importance to training its detachment-level cadres in construction techniques and methods of organising training work, making and approving lesson plans. It has focused on training its detachment-level units to use weapons and military hardware and increased field training, night-time training, and long-distance marches in harsh weather conditions and with a short period of preparation. It is worth noting that the Brigade has been assigned to be in charge of training Vietnam Engineer Unit Rotations taking part in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. To fulfil this honourable task, the Brigade has adhered to the Engineer Corps’ direction to seriously, closely hold training courses for this force, thereby enabling the Unit to accomplish their mission in the international environment.

To raise the quality of training amid the dispersion of its troops for different tasks, the Brigade has decided to “take construction sites as training grounds”, combining theory with practice, organising specialised training courses right in the process of construction and bomb and mine clearance. Besides, it has increased exercises, especially at company and battalion levels and participated in corps-to-corps interoperability exercises. It has maintained training contests, while intensifying inspection of training outcome to fight against all signs of perfunctory effort and merit-driven disease in training work. Thanks to those approaches, the Brigade has achieved a breakthrough in the quality of training. On an annual basis, it has obtained good results in training work, organising and taking part in exercises with good quality and absolute safety, earning high ranks in all-level training contests.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the Brigade has attached significance to support work for training, especially technical support. As a specialised unit, the Brigade has been provided with a large quantity of both old-generation and new-generation equipment, machines, and vehicles. Therefore, technical support work will directly affect the outcome of training work and the performance of all tasks. Fully aware of the importance of technical support work, the Brigade has directed its offices and units to actively, proactively overcome all difficulties to well perform this work. On the one hand, the Brigade has grasped and effectively executed higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on technical work in the new period, particularly Campaign 50 on “managing and using weapons and technical equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically and ensuring traffic safety”, strictly maintaining regulations on technical work, improving the quality of repair and maintenance to prolong the life span of weapons and technical equipment. On the other hand, it has combined preservation, maintenance, and repair with technical training, stringently maintaining regulations on classifying equipment and means for the tasks of combat readiness, construction, and training. As a result, the technical coefficient of the Brigade’s equipment has always been guaranteed for combat training.

With those drastic, synchronous measures, the Brigade’s quality of training has unceasingly improved; the Brigade has been given the Flag of “Good Training Unit” by the Ministry of National Defence in many consecutive years. That lays an important foundation for the Brigade to strive to further raise the quality of training and combat readiness, enabling the Brigade to readily undertake and excellently fulfil all assigned tasks, contributing to building a strong Engineer Corps and bringing into play the tradition of “paving the way for victory” in the new situation.

Col. LE VAN TRINH

Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Brigade