In the fierce, decisive period of the resistance war against US aggressors for national salvation, Infantry Division 8 - Military Region 8 (currently Military Region 9) was founded on 22 October 1974, becoming the first large-scale, highly mobile main unit of the Central South Region.

In the past 50 years of combat, construction, and maturity, the Division has been tasked with taking part in many large-scale important campaigns, such as the 1974 - 1975 Dry Season Campaign and the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, fostering economic development in Dong Thap Muoi and Moc Hoa (Long An province), fighting to protect the Fatherland’s Southwestern border, and performing international missions. Despite adversities and fierce combat situations, generations of cadres and soldiers of the Division have always strived to excellently fulfil all assigned tasks, thereby building up the Division’s glorious tradition.

With its extraordinary achievements, the Division was honoured with the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces by the State; 14 collectives from company to regimental levels and 25 cadres and soldiers from the Division were given the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces; Regiment 1 and Regiment 2 were given that title twice, while Regiment 9 was bestowed that title three times; hundreds of other collectives and thousands of individuals from the Division were commended by our Party and State.

Typical collectives and individuals in the Division’s Determined to Win Emulation Movement for the period of 2019 - 2024

Currently, the Division continues to perform the functions and tasks of a main unit stationed in the Fatherland’s strategic Southern localities. In addition to ensuring combat readiness, training the standing force, managing and training the reserve force, preventing and controlling natural disasters and incidents, conducting search and rescue operations as its central tasks, the Division is actively taking part in building the posture of all-people national defence associated with the posture of people’s security, building defensive zones in its stationed areas, and performing other contingency missions. This is a great honour for the Division, however, requires tremendous efforts and determination from all leaderships, commands, organisations, cadres, and soldiers of the Division. To that end, the Division’s Party Committee and Command have focused on enhancing the Determined to Win Emulation Movement, promoting internal strength, and heightening a sense of responsibility among each collective and individual as an incentive for the Division’s task performance.

Adhering to higher echelons’ lines, over the years, offices and units of the Division have effectively carried out the Determined to Win Emulation Movement via specific, creative measures. Steps and procedures of the Determined to Win Emulation Movement have been closely taken. In 2024, under the motto of “united, exemplary, disciplined, proactive, creative, determined to win”, targets of the Determined to Win Emulation Movement have been established in accordance with the Division’s tasks and the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”. Despite differences in topics and targets of emulation movements, the consistent goals of those movements have been centred on raising the quality of the Division’s central political tasks in a “practical, effective, sustainable” way.

The Determined to Win Emulation Movement has created a new motivation for the Division to excellently fulfil its central political tasks. Over the years, all-level party committees and commands have attached importance to emulation in training and exercises. Under the motto of “basics, practicality, solidity”, the requirements of “rapidity, strength, accuracy” and substantial outcome evaluation, and the Military Region’s “three-substantial” line during training, the content and targets of emulation have been centred on preparing and carrying out training work, holding training contests, encouraging technical initiatives and innovation of training equipment, organising refresher training courses for cadres, conducting training outcome assessment, and combining military training with political education, discipline management, and regularity building. The Division has organised many effective emulation movements, such as “good training, strict discipline, ideological steadfastness, high combat readiness”, “following Dien Bien soldiers’ footsteps, advancing towards three best things”, “cadres and soldiers of the Division determinedly achieve feats of arms and bolster tradition”, “proud of tradition, continuing to gain more feats of arms, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”. Those movements have motivated cadres and soldiers to actively renew forms and methods of training and heighten a sense of responsibility for self-training and self-improvement to obtain better results in training and exercises. The movement on self-study and technical initiatives and innovations has encouraged the participation of a large number of cadres and soldiers. Many initiatives and innovations have been highly appreciated and effectively applied in practice by the Military Region. As a result, on a yearly basis, the Division has accomplished all training programs and live-fire exercises with good results and absolute safety.

New soldiers of Regiment 9 during a training course on shooting skills

Regarding combat readiness, via the Determined to Win Emulation Movement, units of the Division have grasped and seriously executed higher echelons’ directives and regulations on this work; forces and means for natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control, search and rescue have always been in a state of readiness; the system of combat readiness documents and projects have regularly been supplemented and completed. As a result, the Division’s combat readiness capacity and manoeuvrability have been unceasingly improved to meet its task requirements in the new situation. In regularity building, the Determined to Win Emulation Movement has greatly contributed to raising troops’ self-consciousness of observing regulations on regularity building and disciplined lifestyle. All-level party committees, commands, and cadres have concretised targets of emulation into statutes, while closely managing their troops at any moment, anywhere, particularly those performing tasks outside barracks. Therefore, the Division has made good progress in regularity building; its troops’ uniform etiquette, conduct, and courtesies have been maintained under military regulations; normal violations of discipline have been reduced; the Division has witnessed no serious disciplinary violation.

Concerning logistics and technical support work, offices and units across the Division have effectively maintained emulation movements, namely “Military Logistics Sector follows Uncle Ho’s teachings”, “units good at financial management”, and “building units good at catering and quartermaster management”. The Division’s affiliates have developed and multiplied many efficient production and processing models, such as large-scale production and processing zones and the model of raising black soldier fly larvae as food for poultry at Regiment 9; messes within the Division have always ensured ration, nutrition, and food hygiene for troops. Thanks to active approaches, offices and units of the Division have not only sufficiently provided 100% of vegetables for troops, but also sold their products in the market. With revenues from agriculture, the Division has invested billions of VND in building and consolidating its barracks and campus. The Military Medical Force has well carried out the work of epidemic prevention and control, ensuring the rate of healthy troops at nearly 99%. Moreover, offices and units of the Division have enhanced the Campaign on “managing and using weapons and technical equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically, and ensuring traffic safety”, developing models, such as “youth’s garage” and “exemplary depot”, promoting the movements of “technical day” and “traffic culture”, thus contributing to raising the quality of technical support for the Division’s regular and irregular tasks.

Performing its function as “an army ready for work”, the Division has proactively integrated the Determined to Win Emulation Movement with localities’ Patriotic Emulation Movement. Offices and units of the Division have actively taken part in “paying debt of gratitude” activities, well performing the work of natural disaster and fire prevention and control, opportunely engaging in dealing with complex issues at grass-roots level, building cultural life within residential areas, maintaining political security and social order and safety. Via the “clever mass mobilisation” movement, with their sentiment and responsibility, cadres and soldiers of the Division have organised many marches combined with mass mobilisation work, participating in building strong political bases, helping the people with economic development, effectively executing the movements, namely “the Military joins hands to build new-style rural areas” and “the Military joins hands for the poor, no one will be left behind”, making contributions to cementing the close-knit bond between the Military and the people, building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”, maintaining political security and social order and safety as the basis for the Division’s good task performance.

With a comprehensive reform and robust development, the Determined to Win Emulation Movement has been a big incentive for cadres and soldiers to surmount all difficulties and well accomplish their assigned tasks to make contributions to building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Division and bolstering the tradition of a “Hero of the People’s Armed Forces”. When leading and directing the Determined to Win Emulation Movement, the Division’s Party Committee and Command have drawn several lessons as follows.

First, strengthening all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and direction, promoting the role of all-level political agencies, political commissars, and junior political commissars, frequently consolidating and maintaining all-level Councils (boards) for emulation and commendation, encouraging members of mass organisations to take part in emulation movements launched by sectors or their units in accordance with each organisation’s functions and tasks.

Second, regularly educating cadres and soldiers on emulation work to achieve a consensus about this work, taking the outcome of emulation as an important criterion for assessing the task performance of collectives and individuals, resolutely fighting against signs of mediocrity, merit-driven disease, partiality, and dishonesty.

Third, frequently renewing the content and forms of the Determined to Win Emulation Movement towards grass-roots units, focusing breakthroughs on settling weaknesses to create a noticeable positive change in the task performance of each office and unit, combining the Determined to Win Emulation Movement with the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum on Party building and rectification, as well as other campaigns and movements.

Fourth, regularly conducting preliminary and final reviews to draw lessons, concentrating on detecting, cultivating, and multiplying typical examples, and aligning emulation with commendation to motivate cadres and soldiers to successfully accomplish all assigned tasks.

Sr. Col. PHAN THANH PHONG

Commander of the Division