Spreading reading culture in the Navy

Officers and soldiers of An Bang island read books on their day off.

Books on remote islands

On Truong Sa archipelago, where living conditions are still difficult, modern means of communication are lacking, access to the Internet and digital technology is limited, books have become the main tool in acquiring knowledge and nurturing the spiritual life of officers and soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Luong Tu Da - Political Commissar of Sinh Ton Dong island said that despite performing many intertwined tasks, the island commander always focuses on taking care of the spiritual life of officers and soldiers through reading. These days, in response to Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day (April 21) in 2025, the island has carried out many meaningful activities such as: Establishing a reading group; synthesizing good and meaningful books to display in the common room for officers and soldiers to learn and refer to; organizing the introduction of good and meaningful books; arranging book models with creative and unique ideas, creating an attractive cultural space for soldiers to learn and study.

Sergeant Thai Huu Phuoc - Combat Group 2, Phan Vinh Island shared: "Taking advantage of breaks and days off, we turn to books, considering books as friends to forget the stress and fatigue after a day of training. In particular, there are many books that train me in life skills, communication skills, and behavior with comrades and teammates to complete the mission well together".

Officers and soldiers of Sinh Ton Dong island at the book introduction contest.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duy Ba - Political Commissar of Brigade 146, the unit always maintains the habit of reading for officers and soldiers on the islands. Every year, many activities in response to Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day are vividly and effectively integrated into emulation movements in the unit. This year, the brigade organized a variety of activities in response to Book and Reading Culture Day, such as: Group reading, book discussions, editing and introducing books via the internal radio system, arranging creative book models... The content of this year's books was disseminated and propagated to officers and soldiers in association with the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Truong Sa archipelago (April 29, 1975 - April 29, 2025), 50 years of the Liberation of the South, National Reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2025); the history of construction, fighting, and growth of Truong Sa archipelago, the Navy...

Reading books in the "heart of the sea"

Unlike the open space on the island, on modern submarines, officers and sailors of Submarine Brigade 189 nurture their spiritual life with the habit of reading in a closed and unique environment.

Submarines are a special combat force, operating in a special environment and requiring high discipline and precision. The living space here is cramped, lacking natural light, no Internet connection, phone signal, TV... so submarine sailors look for suitable forms of entertainment after stressful working hours. "After stressful training and shifts, we maintain many forms of entertainment for officers and sailors, such as: Watching movies at the club, organizing chess and Chinese chess exchanges, organizing birthday parties in the "heart of the sea", reporting on journeys in the "heart of the sea"... Among these forms, reading books is the form most loved by officers and sailors", said Lieutenant Colonel Le Trung Hieu - Political Commissar of Submarine 182 - Hanoi.

Officers and sailors of Brigade 189 read books at the submarine club.

According to submarine officers and sailors, reading is not only for relaxation and entertainment, but also an effective method for self-study, research, and improvement of professional qualifications and situation handling skills during the performance of tasks. Therefore, each submarine has a small bookcase located in the ship's club. Although there is not much space, the bookcase contains many carefully selected books, newspapers and magazines with different contents. Senior Lieutenant Le Manh Hoang - signal operator, submarine crew No. 8 shared: "I spend at least 30 minutes reading every day. When performing tasks at sea, the time for reading will be longer. Before each trip to sea to perform tasks, I often choose and borrow books from the unit's library to read."

Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Van Dong - Party Committee Secretary, in charge of the Political Commissar of Brigade 189, said that in order to maintain the reading culture in the unit, contributing to enriching the spiritual life of officers and soldiers, in recent times, the brigade has effectively deployed and maintained many models and activities such as: Law bookcase; one book per week; reading books in the "heart of the sea"; 10 pages of books per day; weekly making clips to introduce books and showing them to soldiers... From there, it helps to maintain a good reading culture for officers and sailors of the unit in a practical and effective way.

With many different approaches, at Brigade 146 and Brigade 189, the reading culture has been well maintained, becoming a daily routine. In special conditions, maintaining the habit of reading books not only helps officers and soldiers improve their awareness and professional qualifications, but also contributes to building political capacity, strengthening will and sense of responsibility in carrying out the task of protecting the sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland.

ETERNAL

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/202504/lan-toa-van-hoa-doctrong-luc-luonghai-quan-b2e5e65/