Military-civilian relationship through floods

(Baonghean.vn) -The flood that lasted from September 3 to 9, 2012 caused quite serious consequences. According to information from the provincial Flood and Storm Prevention Command, 5 people died, 7 others were injured, and over 6,000 houses collapsed, collapsed, or were submerged in water, dozens of roads were eroded, and 20,797 hectares of rice were flooded. Hung Nguyen district was also a locality that suffered great damage to property and crops. To share the losses of the people, 130 officers and soldiers of the provincial Military Command went to the heavily flooded areas in the two communes of Hung Phuc and Hung Thong to help people harvest rice.

Since the days of flooding, the Provincial Military Command has arranged a standing force to be ready to help people harvest crops, considering it the most urgent task. At 5:00 p.m. on September 10, the units began to deploy their tasks. On the morning of September 11, we followed them, went close to the flooded areas, witnessed the days when the soldiers helped the people and the touching military-civilian relationship right next to the rice fields that were still submerged in water. Lieutenant Colonel Phan Van Sy - Deputy Head of the Political Department of the Provincial Military Command said: After the rain temporarily stopped, the Command leaders surveyed the flooded areas in Hung Nguyen, and urgently mobilized mobile forces to help the people. This time, 60 officers and soldiers of the 764th Regiment and 70 people of the Martyrs' Gathering Team returned to the area of ​​Hung Phu and Hung Thong communes, expected to stay for about 2-3 days.

Preparing to deploy tasks in Hung Thong commune

At the landing points in Hung Thong commune, from 6:30 a.m., specialized vehicles of Regiment 764 had already brought the soldiers to their fields. After Lieutenant Colonel Pham Van Minh - Chief of Staff of the Regiment assigned the task and instructed the officers and soldiers to help the people with the highest spirit, they must truly love each other. All forces were divided into 2 hamlets, 30 people went to hamlet 8 and the remaining half went to hamlet 6, these were the 2 hamlets most heavily flooded out of 8/11 flooded hamlets of the commune. Also right at the landing point, many people heard the news of the soldiers' return and came to the place, pulling the soldiers back to their fields. The rice plants after days of being submerged in flood water had begun to sprout. If they were not harvested in time, they would be empty-handed in the summer-autumn crop. The soldiers had become the people's trust and support in times of extreme hardship. Meeting Mr. Hoang Xuan Soa - Vice Chairman of the commune who was also busy with the military unit's officers to divide people to appropriate locations, he only had time to briefly discuss: "This time, the whole commune was flooded 120 hectares, of which 80 hectares of 8 hamlets were the most severely affected. But the military force is limited, so we only assigned comrades to help single-parent families, families with difficulties, and families with preferential policies. This is truly a special concern of the Provincial Military Command for the commune".

Images of soldiers from the Provincial Military Command and people harvesting rice to escape the flood in Hung Phuc commune

From the central point, we waded into the flooded hamlets. On the way, both sides of the road were flooded to the far reaches of hamlets 6 and 8. The rice fields were only slightly submerged, limp on the water surface. Mr. Nguyen Dang Sau, a resident of hamlet 6, pointed out the vast water and lamented: “Every day, the water is completely submerged, now it has only receded a little so we can harvest quickly. But like this, it will be almost completely flooded and rotten.” In the fields, on all sides, people were hurriedly immersing themselves in flood water to try to harvest what they could. Above the road, threshing machines and straw were everywhere, the sound of the machines running fast and hurriedly. Because of the flooding, people had to use small boats and corrugated iron boats to store the harvested rice and bring it to dry right on the edge of the field. At Mr. Nguyen Ba Hoan’s field, a group of four young soldiers were lined up horizontally, scythes in hand. This family is in a rather pitiful situation because they have two grandchildren who are orphans. Their mother left them to marry someone else, so they have to live with their elderly grandparents who are no longer able to work. This year, thanks to help from others, the family was able to plant 1.5 sao of rice, and thanks to the army, they have almost finished harvesting. Mrs. Hao, Mr. Hoan's wife, sighed: "Luckily, you guys came in time, otherwise I wouldn't have known how to manage. I don't know how to repay this favor."

Wheelbarrows were also used to move rice ashore.

Temporarily leaving Hung Thong, we headed to Hung Phuc. Right at the commune headquarters, a very happy and touching scene was taking place. Because even though the 70 officers and soldiers of the Martyr Gathering Team had just gotten off the bus and were preparing to gather, the people were already standing around, pointing and pointing, "My nuns", "Two nuns, come to my house, uncle?", making all the soldiers confused because they didn't know who to listen to. According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Dau - Deputy Military Team Leader, since receiving the order from the superiors, the Martyr Gathering Team urgently disseminated and was present in the area from 6:00 a.m. on September 11. The team divided into 9 hamlets to carry out the task. All meals were cooked from the unit and transported to the commune for the soldiers to eat on the spot to ensure time. During the harvesting process, the most heavily flooded areas will be focused on first. We learned another touching thing, that is, the whole team was in the training period, stabilizing everything to prepare to go on a mission in Laos, but following the order of the Executive Committee, they were ready to return to the people immediately. The footsteps of the soldiers before going into the deep forests and high mountains of the distant land of Laos had to temporarily stop, bare their backs, and soak in the deep fields to help people save rice from the flood. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Sam - Chairman of the commune, said: this crop, the whole commune planted 243 hectares of summer-autumn rice, the recent rain caused severe flooding of 137 hectares, before the soldiers arrived, the people had harvested about 1/3. The commune was also very happy to have the direct help of the soldiers, because the remaining 100 hectares, if not quickly, would be lost. Next, Hung Phuc commune will let secondary school students take a day off to help harvest rice. Like Hung Thong, the commune also "prioritizes" soldiers returning to families with preferential policies, single-parent families, and families with members in the army.

Soldiers of Regiment 764 harvest rice to help Mr. Nguyen Ba Hoan's family.
(Hamlet 6 - Hung Thong)

In hamlets 2, 6, and 7, which were the most heavily flooded areas, soldiers were still submerged in water along with the people. Because Hung Phuc had to spread out the troops to many hamlets, every 2 people went to each family. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thom (hamlet 6) had lost her husband so she was the only one working. She and 2 soldiers were pushing a boat full of wet rice bundles to the shore. She said: "For the past few days, I looked at the sky and the ground, not knowing what to do, but now it's better. Indeed, with her 5 sao of rice fields, if there weren't more people, she would probably have to... let the rice rot. At a acre of rice field owned by Mr. Nguyen Trong Hung's family in hamlet 8, looking at the area that had been harvested more than half, he boasted: "My son Nguyen Trong Dung just joined the army, and was worried about not having enough people, but luckily, the soldiers came to help. “It’s really lucky,” Captain Nguyen Van Canh, who was helping Mr. Hung’s family, confided to us right next to the field: “The army also comes from the people, and so do I, so we understand and sympathize with them when they suffer from natural disasters like this. So when we are ordered to help the people, we are always ready and do our best.”

According to the plan, the officers and soldiers will continue to share and help people in the two communes for about 3 days, until the rice runs out, then continue to the other communes.

The fields of Hung Nguyen are still flooded with white water, but we can see the smiles of the people when the rice grains have been brought ashore by the soldiers, and we can see the warmth of the military-civilian relationship in difficult times.

Tran Hai