Firmly consolidate the position, protect the Fatherland 'from early, from afar'

Drill situation of amphibious tanks crossing rivers to attack the enemy. Photo: Thanh Duy

An exercise of unprecedented scale

Immediately after receiving the Directive of Military Region 4 on the exercise, the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, the Provincial Exercise Steering Committee and the Provincial People's Committee promptly issued a synchronous system of documents to organize the exercise to ensure quality, correct intentions, specifications, close to the situation, characteristics and defensive combat tasks of the province; organized and deployed the preparation work for the provincial departments, branches, sectors, organizations and 5 localities to participate in the exercise closely and seriously.

Military Region 4 and Nghe An province mobilized about 10,000 officers and soldiers of the armed forces, more than 1,000 officers from departments, branches, organizations and 5 localities of the province to participate in the exercise in coordination with forces of units of the Ministry of National Defense and Military Region 4 with many types of weapons, equipment, and technical means to focus on training the contents of the live-fire exercise as intended.

With such careful and thorough preparation, the results of the exercise were highly appreciated by the Military Region 4 Exercise Steering Committee. First of all, during the exercise, the Party committees, authorities, departments, branches, sectors, and socio-political organizations performed well in operating the leadership and direction mechanism to change the state of combat readiness, and change the locality into a state of national defense; organized preparations and practiced defensive operations in the spirit of Resolution 28 of the Politburo (10th tenure) on continuing to build provinces and cities into solid defense zones in the new situation and Decree 21 of the Government on defense zones.

Opening fire to destroy airborne enemies. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The mechanism conferences took place in accordance with principles, order and content; demonstrating a spirit of urgency, close to functions and tasks, and suitable to the proposed situation. Thereby, it was affirmed that the Party committees, authorities, departments, branches and organizations have thoroughly grasped, changed awareness, and well implemented the mechanism: the Party leads, the government operates; departments, branches and organizations advise and organize implementation, in which the military and police agencies play the core role.

Along with that, the results of the live-fire drill were organized, commanded and operated closely, flexibly, and in accordance with principles; the actions of the forces participating in the drill clearly demonstrated their mettle, professional level, and expertise. The situations were complicated, but the armed forces of the province, together with the units of the Ministry and Military Region 4, promoted a sense of responsibility, coordinated smoothly, resolved flexibly, cleverly, and performed well the contents of the live-fire drill, such as: Resolving situations of large gatherings, protests causing disorder and security, riots, and terrorist activities in the area; imposing martial law and curfew; responding to disasters of fire, explosion, toxic chemicals, and setting up field hospitals; especially in handling situation A2, there was coordination and cooperation between the functional forces of Nghe An province and the Air Defense - Air Force.

The practice of mobilizing and receiving reserve soldiers; mobilizing civilian ships and vehicles was carried out quickly, safely, in accordance with procedures, urgently and closely following reality. Main force troops, local troops, and border guards coordinated and coordinated to fight the enemy's airborne landing and border infiltration closely, rhythmically, smoothly, closely following actual combat, practicing live ammunition firing according to the plan, ensuring safety.

“In particular, for the first time, a civil defense drill with live fire, explosion, and toxic chemical disaster response was organized at the provincial level, but the local forces closely coordinated with the provincial armed forces and the Military Region 4 units stationed in the area to handle real-life situations, carried out urgently and seriously, achieving the set goals and requirements,” said Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Head of the Provincial Steering Committee for the drill at the recent drill summary conference.

Lieutenant General Nguyen Doan Anh - Commander, Head of the Military Region 4 Exercise Steering Committee assessed: This is a large-scale exercise with many components, participating forces, and a large number of troops. The live-fire exercises used a large number of modern weapons and technical equipment. It can be affirmed that the exercise was successful, according to plan, and absolutely safe.

Regular important tasks

Located in the center of the North Central region, Nghe An province is identified as a key area in the defense zone of the whole country and Military Region 4, and is also an area that is often heavily affected by natural disasters and epidemics. Therefore, along with focusing on socio-economic development and Party building, the work of ensuring national defense and security is always identified by the province as a regular and important task.

Disaster prevention drill in Cua Lo. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Therefore, to deploy the provincial defense and civil defense drills in 2022, right from the beginning, Nghe An has identified this as a key political task for 2022 and the entire term. The Provincial Steering Committee for the drill has done a good job of propaganda, education, and dissemination of drill tasks to all levels, sectors and people in the area; at the same time, mobilized the participation of the entire political system, forces and the entire population in the preparation and practice of the drill; strengthened the leadership, direction, management and unified operation of Party committees and authorities at all levels; promoted the advisory role of agencies: Military, Police, Border Guard and departments, sectors and organizations in deploying and operating the mechanism, especially in leading, directing and operating combat preparation work and in handling specific situations.

Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy - Head of the Provincial Steering Committee for the exercise affirmed: Through the 2022 exercise, the province has drawn many experiences and lessons of important significance in both theory and practice in leading, directing, operating and practicing exercises in the province's defense and civil defense areas. Photo: Thanh Duy

The province always attaches importance to closely combining the implementation of drill contents with the consolidation of forces in line with a number of situations that may occur in the area; gradually building and perfecting the military posture in the defense area, as a basis for building a defense and security posture, especially building a solid "people's hearts posture" in the area, contributing significantly to the implementation of the "dual goal": both strengthening defense and security, building an increasingly solid defense area; and promoting socio-economic development in the new normal state. At the same time, promoting internal strength, proactiveness, and creativity of all levels, sectors, and forces and the close and meticulous coordination and cooperation of agencies and sectors, creating a combined strength from the preparation work to training and practice exercises;...

Mobile Police force's exercise to suppress crime. Photo: Thanh Cuong

At the recent summary conference, Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy - Head of the Provincial Steering Committee for the exercise affirmed: Through the 2022 exercise, the province has drawn many experiences and lessons of important significance in both theory and practice in leading, directing, operating and practicing exercises in the province's defense and civil defense areas. The results of the exercise are the basis for continuing to build, consolidate and strengthen the potentials and positions in the province's defense areas, build armed forces, mobilize the strength of the entire people; at the same time, build and supplement combat plans and technical infrastructure to be ready to respond to situations that arise.

It can be said that, with a deep awareness of the position and strategic role of the defense zone of Nghe An province in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland, the Party Committee, Government, People and armed forces of the province have comprehensively implemented the contents of building the defense zone, both in terms of potential and position in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 28-NQ/TW of the Politburo (10th tenure) and achieved many important results; one of the proofs is the results of the recent defense zone and civil defense exercise of the province.