A decade of spreading the image of Vietnam's 'blue berets'

Over the past decade, more than 800 Vietnamese 'blue beret' officers and soldiers have set foot in remote areas, carrying out United Nations peacekeeping missions.

Colonel Mac Duc Trong - Deputy Director of Vietnam Peacekeeping Department - Photo: NAM TRAN

Colonel Mac Duc Trong - Deputy Director of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department - shared with Tuoi Tre Online about the outstanding achievements of the Vietnam Peacekeeping force on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its tradition (May 27, 2014 - May 27, 2024).

In 2014, Colonel Mac Duc Trong - Deputy Director of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department - was one of the first two Vietnamese officers to participate in the noble UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (Africa). Eight years later (2022), he continued to hold the position of commander of the Vietnam Engineering Team No. 1, which "paved the way to victory" with a successful term in Abyei.

Every 4 years to a new height

* What are the outstanding results of Vietnam during the 10 years of implementing the United Nations peacekeeping mission, sir? - In 10 years, Vietnam has deployed more than 800 officers and professional soldiers in the form of individuals and units, of which 114 officers were deployed in the form of individuals. There are three most prominent milestones. That is the sending of the first two officers to join the United Nations peacekeeping force in 2014. Four years later, in 2018, the first unit, Level 2 Field Hospital No. 1, was deployed. By 2022, the first Engineering Team was successfully deployed. Thus, every four years, we move up a step.

After 10 years, Vietnam has done well in pre-deployment training to participate in United Nations peacekeeping - Photo: NAM TRAN

In the form of individuals, among 114 cadres and officers, we have a rate of cadres completing their tasks exceptionally well (according to the highest criteria of the United Nations) reaching over 30%. This is a very high rate compared to the general level of countries participating in UN peacekeeping. Individuals have demonstrated professionalism, high expertise, enthusiasm in work, and high discipline of officers of the Vietnam People's Army before international friends, and have been recognized by the world. In the form of units, we have successfully deployed a Level 2 Field Hospital in a very difficult area (South Sudan - PV). A field hospital operating in a complex environment, with difficult infrastructure but requiring expertise and techniques that meet very high international standards, but Vietnam has met and successfully completed the tasks assigned by the United Nations. Since the Level 2 Field Hospital, Vietnam has deployed it to the UNMISS Mission (in South Sudan). Every year we receive 1,200 - 2,000 patients. It can be affirmed that with high capacity and very good service attitude, we can receive so many patients, achieving great reputation. After 4 years of deploying the field hospital, we have made a leap forward when deploying the Engineering Team with a large number of personnel (184 officers and employees), very large equipment (nearly 150 types of vehicles, machines, and different equipment) and a total of 2,200 tons of goods. At the UNISFA Mission (Abyei area), the Vietnamese Engineering Team has done very well, very quickly, meeting the requirements of the United Nations in difficult situations and conditions. At the same time, it has done a good job of humanitarian work with local people, building schools, sewers, wells, infrastructure, etc. These are actions that go beyond the United Nations' expectations and are considered to have changed the Mission's image with local people.

The journey to carry out the United Nations peacekeeping mission has been Vietnam's noble mission over the past 10 years - Photo: NAM TRAN

* In an international environment with many difficulties, what experiences have we drawn from the process of implementation and operation over the past decade, sir? - In 10 years of working, researching, learning, and overcoming difficulties, we have drawn a lot of experiences, especially experiences in selecting human resources to meet each task, each position, and each different type. Through evaluating and summarizing the activities of individuals and unit-level teams, everyone realizes the great benefits of having the opportunity to work and experience in an international operating environment, especially foreign language skills are significantly improved. After finishing the term at the mission, those experiences and knowledge continue to be applied very well, especially when working in coordination with international partners and friends.

Do a good job of creating resources and researching new types.

* Resource creation is one of the important steps. In the coming time, how can we do this work well to meet the requirements of the United Nations' missions? - The increasing expansion in quantity as well as the field of participation creates challenges for us in terms of resource creation in the Vietnam Peacekeeping Force. Currently, the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department is authorized by the leaders of the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff to recruit staff from the entire army. Thus, we have a large source of staff from military regions, army corps, military branches, academies and schools. However, the most difficult thing is still foreign languages. There are highly specialized staff but limited foreign languages, and vice versa, staff with foreign languages ​​have limited expertise. Therefore, we must find a way to recruit staff with both expertise and foreign languages. This has been a difficult task over the past 10 years, and we have always had to make efforts to find the most capable and suitable staff for each task and specific positions. In addition, we also encourage units to find foreign partners to open foreign language training courses in Vietnam. From there, we create a source of staff to select to carry out UN peacekeeping missions.

Vietnamese female "blue beret" soldiers leave an impression in the hearts of international friends - Photo: Engineering Team

* Do we have any plans to expand the types and positions participating in peacekeeping operations, sir? - For individual positions, we continue to look for new missions. But the goal is to deploy three officers at a time, at a mission to create a collective ready to support and help each other and especially establish a Party cell so that officers have conditions for Party activities. With the expansion of unit types, we are researching types that are suitable for the policies and guidelines of the Party, State and Army. Currently, we are researching new types such as military control, command post protection... However, the deployment is very difficult because the competition between countries is very high. Currently, in the United Nations registration system for unit-level positions, there are always dozens of countries. Therefore, to be selected and deployed, we must prepare very long-term and thoroughly. When expanding a new type, the preparation step must be very solid to achieve results. * Currently, Vietnam aims to strive to develop the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department into a leading peacekeeping training center in the region and internationally. What is the key direction to achieve this goal in the coming time, sir? - In 2014, when deploying the first two officers, we had to invite a number of foreign military attaches who were Vietnam's partners to share experiences in peacekeeping activities. At that time, Vietnam had just started participating, could not train itself, and had to rely on international friends. But within just 10 years, we have trained individual courses from the source of officers who have completed their term of service excellently, depending on each position to train the next officers. We also successfully applied pre-deployment training at the unit level. It must be said that this is very difficult because it must follow the United Nations' system of programs, training, and curriculum. When the United Nations comes to inspect the unit, they check each lecture in detail, even the daily student registration book... But we have done it very systematically, seriously, fully meeting the United Nations' requirements for training programs, and have been fully proactive in pre-deployment training at the unit level. This is a very important step forward in our training work. For international training, from having no experience, we had to ask teachers and lecturers from other countries to come and teach, then combine international and domestic lecturers and teachers. Up to now, Vietnam has organized very high-level professional training courses, coordinated between international and Vietnamese, organized in Vietnam to train Vietnamese students, students from countries in the region and internationally. It can be said that the path to becoming a regional and international peacekeeping training center of Vietnam is taking shape and achieving good results. This is the right path and we believe that this goal will be achieved in a short time.

Over the past decade, more than 800 Vietnamese 'blue beret' officers and soldiers have set foot in remote areas to carry out UN peacekeeping missions - Photo: NAM TRAN

Peace must be kept at all costs

* As a "special" character of the Vietnamese "blue beret" force who has set foot in many remote places to carry out noble international missions, after 10 years, do you still remember your first feelings when you arrived in these lands? - Actually, I don't think I'm special. When the conditions and opportunities come to me at the right time, I volunteer and go ahead to learn. I still remember clearly the first activities when participating in peacekeeping, setting the first footprints at the mission (in South Sudan). When I review the first images and films, I feel very emotional because they all have their mark on those places. At that time, the United Nations proposed to create the best conditions for the two Vietnamese officers participating for the first time, such as arranging good accommodation (in terms of living conditions, markets, food). But we decided to ask to go to the farthest places to learn the essence, learn as much as possible about UN peacekeeping operations, so that we could pass on our experience to the next officer. That is why we stayed in the capital Juba (South Sudan) for a very short time, then moved to two different divisions. I was on duty in Malaka, and comrade Ngan (Tran Nam Ngan) was in Bor. Those are the most typical places for peacekeeping operations, especially the issue of protecting civilians and living conditions that are completely different from the capital. Only by going to such lands can we appreciate and maintain the achievements Vietnam has achieved today, and must maintain peace at all costs.

Over the past 10 years, Vietnam has sent officers and professional soldiers to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations as individuals and units at missions in South Sudan (UNMISS), the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), the Abyei region (UNISFA) and the United Nations headquarters. Of these, there are 5 squads of the Level 2 Field Hospital deployed at the South Sudan Mission, and 2 squads of the Engineering Team deployed in the Abyei region.

Ha Thanh - Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/mot-thap-ky-lan-toa-hinh-anh-mu-noi-xanh-viet-nam-20240526145704862.htm