Born and raised in Au Lau commune, Yen Bai city, Yen Bai province, Do Van Son was drafted into the 168th Brigade in February 2001. After basic training, he was sent to study to become a squad leader at the Military School of Military Region 2. After graduating, he was sent to study at the Vocational School for Motorcycle Technology a year later. Upon graduation, he was transferred to professional military service and returned to his old unit. In October 2009, Do Van Son was transferred to Warehouse K5 as a warehouse manager and has been there ever since. In 2013, seeing Do Van Son's meticulous and careful work, the unit commander assigned him to the position of statistics officer.

Statistical officer - Captain Do Van Son introduces his initiative to his commander and colleagues.  

Although he worked in an office job, Do Van Son was always passionate about doing something useful for the unit to reduce costs and effort for the soldiers in repairing and maintaining weapons, equipment, and vehicles. Coming from a background as a soldier-mechanic, he understood the hardships and difficulties faced by his comrades; moreover, throughout his work, Son always wanted to change things and do things his own way to achieve better results, rather than following established methods and experience. Therefore, in addition to his professional work and improving the system of records and forms, he dedicated much of his time during breaks and days off to researching and developing innovative technical solutions.

Every day, Do Van Son witnessed soldiers maintaining and repairing various types of machinery and equipment such as cars, generators, starters, water pumps, and driveshaft bearings. However, they mostly worked manually, using hand clamps for disassembly and assembly, which was time-consuming and laborious. When encountering rusted, seized, or oxidized bearings, they were very difficult to remove, sometimes requiring hammering or tapping, causing deformation and damage to the bearings, wasting resources and time. Faced with this situation, Do Van Son pondered and researched, writing a draft for his project and creating the "Bearing Removal and Assembly Device." This innovation was successfully applied by the soldiers at Warehouse K5, and was selected by the commander to participate in the 7th Military Region Technical Innovation Competition, winning the B prize.

In addition, Do Van Son has had initiatives and projects recognized and rewarded by superiors, such as: "Equipment for pumping oil in axles and gearboxes of automobiles"; "Equipment for pumping and sucking oil using compressed air for storing TTG vehicles and motorcycles"; "Equipment for testing the main brake system of URAL-375 and GAZ-66 vehicles"... With outstanding achievements in work and technical innovations and improvements, from 2018 to the present, Do Van Son has been elected as an outstanding soldier at the grassroots level four times, and once as an outstanding soldier of the entire army; he has received the Young Innovators Award in the Army and many certificates of merit and advanced soldier awards.

Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Van Chung, Secretary of the Party Committee and Political Commissar of Warehouse K5, commented: “Captain Do Van Son is an exemplary soldier and trade union member, working responsibly, enthusiastically, and creatively, always being a key figure in the unit's emulation movements. No matter how difficult or complex the task, Comrade Son always completes it well and excellently; he is trusted by the Party Committee and commanders, and respected by his comrades.”

Text and photos: DUY TUAN - THUY QUYNH

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