Untold stories about soldiers escorting 'special cargo' shipments

“During the process of escorting and transporting special goods, it is quite normal for officers and soldiers to “disappear” for a long time. Because the mission is absolutely secret, from the time of receiving the mission until the shipment has safely arrived, the officer is not allowed to contact anyone, including his or her relatives”...

Major Nguyen Van Tuan, Battalion Commander of the Special Goods Transport Protection Police Battalion, Mobile Police Command, shared...

1. The headquarters of the CSBV Special Goods Transport Battalion is nestled among the high-rise buildings of Cau Giay District, Hanoi. It is hard to imagine that this is the place where the Battalion Command and a number of functional units live, work, and fight.

However, according to Battalion Commander Nguyen Van Tuan, in the first 6 months of 2017 alone, the Battalion has organized forces, mobilized more than 2,000 officers and soldiers to participate in escorting and protecting 100% of special shipments, with the number of shipments increasing by about 32% compared to the same period last year. Each shipment is guaranteed to be safe for people, goods, weapons, equipment, support tools and vehicles.

The battalion successfully carried out two emergency missions: escorting, protecting, and receiving tons of animal bone samples, rhino horns, and ivory from the national archives in Hai Phong to Soc Son (Hanoi) for destruction; and developing a plan to escort and protect 60 special shipments with a volume of 200 tons to be destroyed in Thai Nguyen.

Battalion officers and soldiers practice martial arts to serve practical work.

Each officer and soldier participating in the protection and transportation of special goods must have good physical strength, be calm and in control of all situations, and have a firm grasp of the characteristics and conditions of the route the special goods pass through. Therefore, the Battalion has done a good job of basic investigation of the road route to be able to excellently complete all assigned tasks.

“The most important qualities of a special cargo transport officer are good ethics and high confidentiality. Because secrecy is also a factor in the success of the shipment, when receiving the plan and being fully informed of the plan and tasks, you must cut off all communication channels, with only the task of getting to the destination and the goods safely in mind,” said Major Nguyen Van Tuan.

Besides, according to him, officers and soldiers must also have a high level of independence and proactiveness in handling work to ensure that they are not allowed to make mistakes when on duty.

“There were officers and soldiers who were on the way to transport goods when their relatives died, but they did not know because their families could not contact the officers. At this time, the Battalion Command temporarily represented the officers and went to their homes to express condolences to their families, but could not inform them or let them go home because the officers could not leave their positions or abandon the goods. Only after returning from the trip could they fulfill their responsibilities to their families…”

2. For Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duc Nguyen, Deputy Battalion Commander - who has many years of experience commanding armed forces to protect economic targets and escort special goods, the sense of responsibility, sense of organization and discipline and team spirit of officers and soldiers are equally important.

“The Government’s special shipments are transported with great value, to all localities across the country, but the Battalion only sends one working group on each trip, and the number is not large. Therefore, if officers and soldiers do not uphold their responsibility, exemplary spirit, high vigilance, and do not support and coordinate effectively with each other, the mission will be difficult to complete,” he commented.

It can be said that the good coordination and understanding between officers and soldiers "on the same boat" acts as a mental shield to protect special shipments.

Officers of the Special Goods Transport Battalion of the Communist Party of Vietnam set up a security checkpoint on the train, preparing for business trips.

Officers and soldiers who are tasked with escorting and transporting special goods must also be specially trained. These include mastering martial arts, specialized tactics, various plans, and the skillful use of weapons, support tools, and journey monitoring equipment; knowing how to drive all types of cars, even using special vehicles; knowing how to handle unexpected situations when an incident occurs...

Having said that, the heavy task also comes with pressure. Have you ever been discouraged or bored with this job? Responding to my curiosity, Major Doan Anh Hung, Political Commissar of the Battalion, said: “Each individual always feels honored and proud to wear the uniform of the Mobile Police Force and to carry out the important tasks assigned by the Party and the State. There may be moments of physical fatigue in the actual performance of the task, but it never feels boring. Traveling to many places, learning from experiences in localities and other forces, and then the moments of sightseeing, cultural exchange and learning have erased all fatigue and stress.”

Pressure from work and duty is one thing, comrades who participate in escorting and transporting goods for the first time also face another terrible pressure. The reason is that they suddenly "disappear" mysteriously, making their families, wives and children jealous and blaming. Many comrades, after returning home, feel uneasy, the atmosphere is even more tense than on duty. Only when their families come to the unit to find out do they all "explode".

However, in the following shipments, many officers were often angry, because during difficult times for the family, the husband and father were not there to support, did not contact and share, and could not be "located" anywhere in the world...

Talking about their work, they often joke: “The shipment still goes in all weather conditions, whether it is stormy, flooded or dry. But besides the weather storm, there is also a “storm” in the rear, this “storm” comes at the most important moments.”

At the time I wrote this article, the Special Transport Battalion of the Communist Army was still on duty escorting shipments across the S-shaped strip of land. Their mission was regular, daily, mission after mission, silently and quietly among the streams of vehicles going back and forth...

Sharing more about the innovation of work content in the coming time, Battalion Commander Nguyen Van Tuan said that the unit will provide in-depth training for officers and soldiers according to scenarios and situations; and develop plans to protect special goods that are increasingly closer and more suitable to the actual situation.

Along with training in professional expertise, technical tactics, independent combat skills, ensuring officers and soldiers are in control in all situations, the Battalion will strengthen its equipment of weapons and modern technical equipment provided by the Mobile Police Command to serve the work of protecting and transporting special goods...

According to CAND