Law

The 'blue roses'of Nghe An Border Guard

Khanh Ly • DNUM_CAZBAZCACE 07:10

Despite being the weaker sex, regardless of their position or circumstances, female soldiers of the Nghe An Border Guard always complete all assigned tasks well. The mark of the “blue roses” is reflected in many emulation movements that highlight the image of intelligent and brave military women…

Nghe An Border Guard currently has 62 female soldiers, of which 21 are on duty at border posts on the province's two border lines (13 are working at the Tay Nghe border line).

Many women are the core "nucleus" in the cultural and artistic movement of the unit and are passionate and enthusiastic cultural propagandists, bringing songs and voices to serve the officers, soldiers and people in the border area.

A typical example is Professional Military Major Hoang Thi Kieu Vinh - an employee of the Mass Mobilization Team, Nhon Mai Border Post, who is affectionately called "the nightingale of the mountains and forests" by the locals because of her sweet voice singing folk songs.

Having a talent and passion for singing, graduating from the provincial School of Culture and Arts, she joined the army in 1995, was assigned to the Cultural Propaganda Team (Political Department of the Provincial Border Guard), regularly bringing her singing voice to remote areas to serve soldiers and people.

In July 2020, Major Hoang Thi Kieu Vinh transferred to Nhon Mai Border Guard Station, the unit assigned to manage two areas of Nhon Mai and Mai Son (Tuong Duong) - where there are 21 villages, 1,356 households, 6,534 people with 4 ethnic groups (Kinh, Thai, Kho Mu, Mong) living.

Overcoming homesickness, difficulties and confusion when first approaching and getting acquainted with the customs, habits and language of the people, she and her teammates carried out many activities to accompany the people in hunger eradication, poverty reduction and new rural construction.

In particular, promoting her singing talent, she participated in teaching music to students, training the mass art team of Nhon Mai commune to win high prizes such as Special prize, First prize "Sen Village Singing" in 2022, 2023 at the district level; Second prize in the provincial folk song singing contest...

Talking to us in a neat and tidy room at Nhon Mai Border Post, Major Hoang Thi Kieu Vinh happily shared: In the unit, only I and Lieutenant Colonel Vo Thi Ha are women. We are cared for and helped by our comrades, loved by the local people, and encouraged by our families, so we always feel warm and confident.

As a staff member of the Mass Mobilization Team, to bring propaganda work closer to the people, Major Hoang Thi Kieu Vinh has worked hard to create skits to propagate legal policies with content that is easy to remember, easy to understand, and suitable for reality.

For example, the sketch “Nostalgia of the Dieu Bong Leaves” inspired by the folk song Vi and Giam is a message to raise awareness among people, especially ethnic minority women, about early marriage, gender equality, family planning, and community health care.

After nearly 4 years of staying in the border area, the people have considered border guard O Vinh as "a man of the village"...

Similarly, Lieutenant Colonel Bui Thi Huong Giang is a rare woman working at Nam Can Border Post (Ky Son). She always strives to overcome all difficulties, stays in the area, actively propagates and mobilizes people, especially ethnic minority women, to improve their understanding and awareness of law compliance and border regulations, strives to develop the economy, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty.

In particular, during the complicated development of the Covid-19 epidemic, students in mountainous areas encountered difficulties in online learning. Lieutenant Colonel Bui Thi Huong Giang and her teammates went to the villages to enthusiastically guide and help students use the devices well for learning.

With the love of a mother, she also directly takes care of every meal, sleep, studies, teaches about lifestyle and behavior for Lau Ba Sao (14 years old), adopted by Nhon Mai Border Guard Station under the "Border Guard Adoption" Program.

Originally from the cultural propaganda team of the Political Department (Provincial Border Guard), upon returning to the base, Lieutenant Colonel Bui Thi Huong Giang became the "core" nucleus in building mass cultural and artistic movements; encouraging and helping ethnic minority women overcome inferiority, barriers, prejudices, and actively participate in local movements and activities.

We also had the opportunity to meet and talk with the first female soldier to volunteer to work in that mountainous area, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh.

Nearly 6 years ago, while working at the Political Department of the Nghe An Border Guard Command, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh surprised many people when she wrote an application to work at Mon Son Border Guard Station (Con Cuong) - an area with 36.5 km of border adjacent to Bolikhamxay province (Laos) with more than 80% of the population being Thai ethnic people, the rest being Dan Lai ethnic people and a few Kinh people.

As a member of the Mass Mobilization Team, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh proactively advised the Party Committee and the Command Board of the station to deploy many solutions to help people develop the economy and stabilize their lives; at the same time, she was a "bridge" to call on charitable organizations and individuals to help households in difficult circumstances in the area.

She personally helped 7 households, including 4 Dan Lai households in Mon Son commune, to develop their household economy through supporting plants and breeds, providing guidance on livestock and crop farming techniques... to build a long-term livelihood model.

In early 2024, when she transferred to Tam Hop commune (Tuong Duong) - which has a 25.724 km border with Vieng Thoong district, Bolikhamxay province (Laos), Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh paid special attention to the work of consolidating the grassroots political system. She regularly consulted and discussed Party work with the village and hamlet Party cells assigned to her.

At the same time, the unit command staff coordinated with local women's associations to establish and maintain effective operations of 3 "Women participating in protecting territorial sovereignty and national border security" clubs in Bac Son, Nam Son and Yen villages, Mon Son commune (Con Cuong) and "Women with the law" club in Huoi Son village, Tam Hop commune (Tuong Duong).

Up to now, she has been stationed at the border for nearly 6 years. Despite many hardships and pressures, for Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh, "being close to the people and staying in the village is also a time that leaves her with many unforgettable memories of comradeship, the close and loyal relationship between the army and the people at the border."

Overcoming the female characteristics of "weakness", female soldiers of Nghe An Border Guard always persevere, strive to train and compete with their male comrades to complete their tasks well, contributing to the cause of protecting territorial sovereignty and national border security..

During the annual training ceremonies of Nghe An province's armed forces, many "beautiful women" of the border guards made a strong impression in martial arts combat performances with decisive, skillful, and flexible movements.

Typical examples include the performance of Qigong lying on spikes and breaking rocks by Senior Lieutenant Hoang Hoa Mai; the performance of nunchaku by Senior Lieutenant Nguyen Thi Ha, the sword dance by Senior Lieutenant Dang Thi Minh Khue...

Female soldiers of Nghe An Border Guard also achieved many outstanding results in military sports competitions. Typically, Lieutenant Nguyen Thi Tra My (born in 1999) - a talented female shooter, won the second prize in the individual shooting event with 4 female K54 pistols at the 2024 Border Guard Military Shooting Competition, Region I.

Although this is a sport that requires both physical and mental endurance, Tra My has proven her outstanding ability despite only being in the army for 2 years.

After that, Tra My was also the only female representative of the Border Guard force selected to participate in the All-Army Military Shooting Competition (including border guards, navy, army, air defense - air force, coast guard...) in 2024 and excellently won third prize.

Major Dang Thi Minh Khue - President of the Provincial Border Guard Women's Union said: Implementing the unit's Emulation Movement to Win, female border guards always strive to train and strive to meet the criteria of women in the new era of the army "Intelligence, courage, discipline, humanity", and successfully complete assigned tasks.

In 2024, many women had outstanding achievements in participating in national defense sports competitions at all levels. Particularly at the Border Guard Command level, in addition to the second prize in military shooting by Lieutenant Nguyen Thi Tra My, Lieutenant Le Thanh Huyen won the first prize, and Lieutenant Le Thi Hanh Trang won the second prize in unarmed combat.

Besides, at the Competition for excellent female officers and members organized by the Border Guard Command, the Women's Union of Nghe An province Border Guard excellently won the A prize.

Commenting on the "blue roses" in the force, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Cam - Deputy Chief of Politics of Nghe An Border Guard said: In recent times, the Women's Union of Nghe An Border Guard has effectively implemented the emulation movements "Intelligent and brave Border Guard Women, completing tasks well, building happy families" associated with the implementation of the Campaign "Promoting tradition, dedicating talent, worthy of Uncle Ho's soldiers" in the new period and the models "Excellent female cultural propaganda soldiers", "Women participating in protecting territorial sovereignty and national border security", "Healthy women to protect the Fatherland"; "Accompanying women in the border areas"...

Thereby, contributing to brightening the image of female border soldiers "Good at national affairs, good at housework".