The rear of border soldiers on the front line of Nghe An

"When the Fatherland needs them, they know how to live apart"

“This March, I left behind a lingering feeling/ When I missed my engagement date with you/ The border needs me to continue, together with my comrades to prevent the Covid pandemic/ After the pandemic, we will choose the wedding day/ I will give you orchids, mua, purple sim/ Give life, give the heart of a soldier/ Give my virtuous wife the beautiful months of March...", those are the touching verses of Lieutenant Colonel Trinh Van Que - Political Commissar of Nam Can International Border Gate Border Guard Station sent toLieutenant Le Dinh Thanh - a military officer, in the same unit and his fiancee, Ms. Nguyen Thi Giang - a teacher at Keng Du Kindergarten (Ky Son).

Lieutenant Le Dinh Thanh is on duty at a border checkpoint. Photo: Hai Thuong

Although the auspicious date had been chosen, the invitations had been printed, and the wedding photos had been taken, the young couple still decided to postpone the wedding so that Lieutenant Le Dinh Thanh could rest assured to be on duty at the anti-epidemic checkpoint. Teacher Giang's simple little house is nestled in a fairly large plot of land with a lush green garden in Hoa Son commune (Anh Son). Also from Anh Son, Lieutenant Thanh's house is in Duc Son commune, a few kilometers away from Teacher Giang's house, and they met through social media.

The place where Giang teaches is nearly 100 km away from Thanh's military unit, and is on two different routes, so even though they are both working in Ky Son, they rarely meet, but mainly talk on the phone. Giang said the first time they met was in Muong Xen town (Ky Son). Being from the same hometown, the feelings between the young teacher and the border guard soldier were nurtured and developed over time. After more than a year of getting to know each other, feeling their love was ripe, the young couple decided to get married. With similar circumstances, both parents were farmers, and they were from the same hometown, they were wholeheartedly supported by their families and relatives. On the occasion of the Lunar New Year of the Rat, Lieutenant Thanh asked for permission from the unit to go home to hold the engagement ceremony, and at the end of February 2020, he took advantage of 2 days off at the weekend to go home to take wedding photos and then returned to the unit.

However, due to the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, Nghe An Border Guard established more checkpoints on trails and openings on the border lines to inspect, control and prevent the epidemic. At the Nam Can International Border Guard Station, officers and soldiers of the unit have to stay at the checkpoints 24/7 every day. Therefore, just 2 days after taking wedding photos, Lieutenant Le Dinh Thanh discussed with his fiancée to ask for permission for the two families to postpone the wedding to join hands with their teammates to prevent and fight the Covid-19 epidemic.

They temporarily put aside their personal joys to serve the work of preventing and fighting the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: NVCC

The young teacher said that at first, when her husband talked about postponing the wedding, she felt a bit sad and disappointed, but having spent 5 years working in remote areas, as a teacher in the village, Giang understood the difficulties and hardships of border guards. Therefore, she encouraged herself and both families to share and sympathize so that Lieutenant Thanh could feel secure in his duty. They could only encourage each other through intermittent phone calls, sometimes yes, sometimes no, because Lieutenant Thanh often had to stay at the post, patrolling the trails and openings.

Thanh and Giang's story has become an example of the spirit of putting aside personal feelings for the common good. Although they had to postpone the most important day of their lives, they believe that after the pandemic is over, they will have a wedding full of joy and happiness with the blessings of their teammates and relatives...

Husband acts as rear guard for wife in fight against Covid-19 epidemic

When talking about the rear of soldiers, people often think of the image of wives and mothers in the family, however, in the Nghe An Border Guard force, there are currently 6 female officers, divided into 3 pairs, working at the mountain border posts in the districts of Ky Son, Que Phong, Con Cuong. Among them is Major Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh - an officer of the Mass Mobilization Team of Mon Son Border Post (Con Cuong). For nearly 2 years, Major Thanh wrote an application to go to the mountain line, which is the same amount of time her husband, Mr. Pham Van Dao - working at Vinh Urban Infrastructure Management and Development Joint Stock Company, stayed at home to be the rear. When we visited, Mr. Dao was picking vegetables to prepare for lunch, while his son and daughter were still engrossed in the computer to study online.

Mr. Pham Van Dao takes care of the housework so his wife can work with peace of mind. Photo: HT

Mr. Dao said that going to the market and cooking are his daily chores when his wife is away from home. Looking at the neat and tidy house and the clean kitchen, no one would think that there is no woman's hand. Normally, his eldest daughter is studying at university in Hanoi, so it is only him and his son, who is in grade 10, at home, but the two still encourage each other to cook 3 meals a day.

Since working at Mon Son Border Guard Station, the number of times Ms. Thanh has returned home to visit can be counted on the fingers, and since the Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control period until now, she has not returned home to visit her husband and children. All communication is through the phone. Pitying his wife's hard work, Mr. Dao always tries to take care of the housework so that Ms. Thanh can work with peace of mind, even though he admits that "his work in the street lighting system management team is like a baby, if there is a problem, even late at night, he has to go out to fix it".

As a former soldier of the 3rd Army Corps, Pham Van Dao understood the hardships of soldiers, especially women. To encourage his wife, he visited her unit and traveled with her to the Dan Lai ethnic minority villages upstream of Khe Khang. After such trips, he loved and shared with his wife even more.

Major Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh's husband and children always encourage their wife and mother to work with peace of mind. Photo: KL

Thanks to a strong rear, Major Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh is always confident in completing her mission. Wherever she goes, she is loved by the local people. During the campaign to prevent and fight the Covid-19 epidemic, Major Thanh and her teammates and local officials went to each house, checked each door to propagate to the people how to prevent and fight the epidemic. From the formula transferred by the Border Guard's military medics, Major Thanh coordinated with local health workers to instruct people to mix hand sanitizer for each household. Although she is busy and has not been home for a long time, as she confided, it is thanks to the sharing and encouragement of her husband and children - a strong rear - that she is confident to join hands with her teammates to fight the epidemic.

Major Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh guides local people in preparing antiseptic solution. Photo: Hai Thuong

Crossing streams and forests to encourage her husband to work

Nestled in a small alley in Ha Huy Tap ward (Vinh city), the house of Major Nguyen Van Dung and his wife - officers of Muong Ai Border Guard Station (Ky Son) is always filled with the laughter of their two well-behaved sons and their responsible wife - teacher Hoang Thi Minh Thang (teacher at Vinh University High School for the Gifted).

Sharing about her husband - Border Major Nguyen Van Dung, teacher Thang happily and proudly said: "He is rarely at home, so the three of us are used to it. Although it is far, it is not far, because when Dung came to work at Ai Khe Border Station under Muong Ai Border Station, I went there and witnessed the harsh and deprived living conditions of the border soldiers at the station, so the couple decided to "invest" in a wifi transmitter for convenient communication, now almost every day the whole family contacts each other via phone and video calls."

Teacher Hoang Thi Minh Thang and her children always encourage Major Nguyen Van Dung to work with peace of mind. Photo: NVCC

We (PV) have been to the Border Guard Station located in Ai Khe village of Muong Ai commune, Ky Son district. From the center of Muong Ai commune to reach Ai Khe village, you have to ride a motorbike and walk nearly 30 km along the border patrol road. The station is located halfway up the mountain, the terrain is narrow and quite steep.

The climate is particularly harsh, with frost and thick fog in the winter and scorching sun in the summer. The journey from Vinh city to Ai Khe Station is very difficult, but Ms. Hoang Thi Minh Thang, with spinal pain and motion sickness, has traveled that distance many times in the more than 2 years that Major Dung has been working in Muong Ai to visit and encourage her husband. Each time she visits, she brings along all kinds of utensils and foods that she cooked herself, along with some medicines that her husband is used to use to help him and his teammates improve their health and work with peace of mind. Even when she arrived at the station, Ms. Thang encouraged her husband and his teammates to renovate the facilities, build spacious toilets, level the ground to grow vegetables, and raise poultry to improve their lives.

At this point, teacher Thang smiled and explained further: “Up there, seeing my husband and the soldiers living in hardship, I felt very sorry for them. I couldn’t help them any further, but I encouraged them to work hard to improve. My wife and children supported me wholeheartedly, especially mentally. When he was away on business, I always tried to take care of the family and children so that my husband could focus on his duty.”

Teacher Thang said that following her husband has become an indispensable habit for the three of them. Before that, when Mr. Dung volunteered to work in Dak Nong, Central Highlands, Ms. Thang and her children also traveled hundreds of kilometers to visit. “The journey was long, all three of us got carsick, first by plane, then by bus, then by motorbike taxi more than 40 kilometers through the forest to reach where her husband was stationed, the hardship was indescribable. Along the way, she had an allergic reaction and her limbs were swollen and she could not walk due to insect bites. After returning home, she had to be treated for a long time to recover,” Ms. Thang said.

Through her sometimes happy and sometimes sad stories, we feel the love and pride she has had for her husband, the father of her children, over the years.

Teacher Hoang Thi Minh Thang. Photo: HT

Understanding the difficulties and hardships of border guards at the border, Ms. Thang and her children always encouraged Major Dung to work with peace of mind. Although she was at home, there were times when she fell into extremely difficult situations, such as when she had just given birth to her first child 5 months ago, her father-in-law had an accident and died, her mother-in-law was in the hospital, and her husband was far away.

As the eldest daughter-in-law, she took care of everything for her husband to fulfill her filial piety to her parents. When her child was sick and had to go to the emergency room, she was the only one who took care of everything. When everything was done and her child was stable, she called her husband to inform him, "because she knew he was a worrier, so if she told him, he wouldn't be able to come back, and he would be even more worried, it would be a pity", Ms. Thang confided. Not only always accompanying her husband on every border road, teacher Hoang Thi Minh Thang also "spread" the spirit of sharing with the border to her colleagues and students. Especially during the time of fighting the Covid-19 epidemic, she connected many volunteer trips of former colleagues and students to the border to give masks, hand sanitizer... to encourage the soldiers in green uniforms stationed at the trails and openings.

Due to patrolling and blocking duties at trails and openings, many border guards have not been able to return home for months. Photo: Document

Meeting and listening to the thoughts of the soldiers at the rear, we admire their sacrifice and steadfastness. Due to the requirements of the epidemic prevention and control mission, officers and soldiers in green uniforms are stationed at trails, openings, and border gates.for many months nowNot yet home to visit, even when their relatives are sick, they have to hold back, relying on the rear to take care of and shoulder the burden. Only when the rear is strong can the front line be strong. Perhaps that is why the “other half” of the border soldiers has always been resilient and strong. It seems that, for them, “at two ends of longing, love and affection are deeper”...