It was past 10am, the sun was gradually rising, the sun was shining brightly, but at the stadium of Lap Thach town, Captain Nguyen Manh Quan, Assistant Staff of Lap Thach District Military Command, was still attentively training the first-year militia soldiers in the exercise "Shooting movements lying down - kneeling - standing with AK submachine gun". After focusing on introducing and demonstrating the movements, the militia soldiers, both male and female, were rotated to practice. The instructor and squad leader observed and corrected each individual technical movement for the soldiers.

First-year militia soldier Nguyen Tien Anh shared that he had just been assigned to the militia force of Van Truc commune. After 6 days of initial training, he was familiarized with the team regulations, learned some political lessons, and improved his understanding of the task of protecting the Fatherland in the current situation; the features and structure of some types of weapons; basic combat postures; groups and individuals of the militia and self-defense force (DQTV) to capture and protect targets...

Lap Thach town militia training in shooting.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Pham Van Chi, Deputy Commander - Chief of Staff of Lap Thach District Military Command, training militia and self-defense forces is a particularly important political task, one of the resolutions of the Party Committee to implement three breakthroughs: training, discipline enforcement and ensuring weapons, equipment, technology and traffic safety. Therefore, the Party Committee and the command have proactively developed a plan for training militia and self-defense forces in 2023 and it has been approved by the Chairman of the District People's Committee.

Accordingly, the whole district has 20 militia units, 15 self-defense units; of which, the rate of women is 19%, party members is 32%, and demobilized soldiers is 17.3%. Before entering training, they are consolidated, improved, and procedures are completed for admission and transfer of qualified comrades; cadres are sent to participate in training organized by the province and district, ensuring training according to decentralization; advising local Party committees and authorities to pay attention to investment, ensuring facilities and training grounds; organizing training division for each subject. During the training process, the principles, combinations, and emulation movements are effectively applied to create a vibrant competitive atmosphere so that each militia soldier is ready to put aside his/her home affairs to go to the training ground.

The District Military Command is responsible for training the following subjects: First-year militia soldiers; Mobile militia soldiers; Specialized militia soldiers and military branches. The Military Commands of communes and towns organize training for mobile militia and local militia.

First-year militia soldiers of Van Truc commune (Lap Thach district) practice tactics.

Accordingly, the District Military Command trains militia soldiers in the first year, divided into 6 clusters, communes concentrate troops, the district military agency sends officers to monitor and directly train. The training content includes politics, military, logistics, techniques and 1 day of mass mobilization work. After completing the training, all militia officers and soldiers are paid a training allowance, ensuring 315,000 VND/person/day (According to Resolution 02/2022 of the Vinh Phuc Provincial People's Council, the support is 250,000 VND/person/day) and according to Decree 72 of the Government, the support is 65,000 VND/person/day. Thereby, it has promptly encouraged and attracted a large number of militia soldiers to participate in training and perform tasks. The average number of troops participating in training is 95%. At the end of each subject, there are sports competitions, inspections and specific assessments. This year's training results are higher than last year's, the good rate is 82.5%, reaching 17.5%.

According to comrade Nguyen The Manh, Commander of the Military Command of Tu Du commune (Lap Thach district), the whole commune has 11 villages, a population of 7,557 people, the militia force of the commune has 148 comrades. Of which, there is 1 mobile militia platoon at the district level, 1 commune-level platoon and the district's military squads, the remaining local and mobile forces are trained by the commune. Before entering the training, the Military Command of the commune promptly advised the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee to complete the transfer, admit new militia; send a team of cadres to participate in training organized by the province and district, ensuring that the platoon cadres are trained according to the hierarchy; on the other hand, carefully prepare the training ground and materials, and plaques. This year, there are new and very practical contents such as: Militia and Self-Defense Forces in charge of evacuating people; shock teams to prevent and overcome the consequences of natural disasters at the commune level...

Talking to us, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duy Hung, Commander of the Military Command of Lap Thach district, said: “The militia is the core force in carrying out military and defense tasks in the locality, ready to mobilize and handle any situation that may arise. Therefore, the work of consolidating and perfecting the organization and practicing regular training has received close attention and direction from the local Party Committee and government. Families with militia soldiers are very supportive, doing housework for the soldiers so that they can confidently participate in training and fulfill their duties as militia soldiers.”

Article and photos: DAO DUY TUAN