At Muong Pon Border Guard Station, immediately after arriving at the unit, officers, teachers and students quickly settled down and began to carry out their duties. The training focused on training in the contents and situations of rescue in mud and water, landslides and collapsed structures in the area.

Officers and students of Border Guard Intermediate School 24 and officers and soldiers of Muong Pon Border Guard Station (Dien Bien Provincial Border Guard) help people harvest rice.

Officers and students of the 24th Border Mobile Intermediate School arrived at the scene to carry out search and rescue missions according to a simulated situation.
Students of Border Guard Intermediate School 24 brought service dogs to the scene to perform search and rescue missions in a simulated situation.

Watching the training session, we understood more about the efforts of the officers, teachers, students and their "special assistants" - the service dogs. In the hypothetical situation, a serious landslide occurred in Pa Cha village (Muong Pon commune, Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province), collapsing 3 houses, trapping 2 people in the rubble. Upon receiving the information, the commander of Muong Pon Border Guard Station assigned the task to the officers and staff (who were interns) to quickly move to the scene. The landslide was 5km from the station, the terrain was complex, the road was difficult, so the officers, teachers and students combined long-distance marching to train the endurance of the soldiers and service dogs.

Immediately after approaching the scene, assigning tasks to the TKCN organization units, just a few minutes later, the dog Opal scratched the ground and barked continuously at the left corner, about 4 meters from the road. "Report, the service dog detected a location with a source of vapor", Sergeant Phan Trung Hau shouted loudly. "Okay, comrade, put up the signal flag" - the team leader gave the order. After that, the students took turns bringing two other service dogs to cross-check, all with the same results. Not long after, the dog Polly also detected the location of the remaining buried source of vapor in an area a few dozen meters away.

Major Nguyen Van Nghia, Head of the TKCN Department (Border Guard Intermediate School 24), who is also the instructor of the trainees, said: “Teachers and commanders often change the simulated incident area as well as present different situations for the trainees to handle. However, the safety of soldiers and service dogs must still be put first.”

According to Colonel, Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuyen, Principal of Border Guard Intermediate School 24, to improve the quality of the internship, the school sends instructors with deep expertise, good professional skills, and rich experience to guide and mentor the students. Therefore, after 3 months of internship, the students are trained in both professional and physical skills, meeting the requirements and tasks well, and accumulating valuable experience for future work.

The terrain of Muong Pon Border Post area is densely forested, with high and rugged mountains, making transportation difficult. The climate here is also harsh. During the day, the weather can change suddenly. Understanding this characteristic, although the physical facilities are still difficult, the unit's officers and soldiers always create the best conditions for officers, students and service dogs to perform their tasks.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Dinh Thuan, Head of Muong Pon Border Guard Station, said: "To help students practice in a realistic way, the unit maintains a disciplined system, focuses on education, discipline and safety. The unit commander also coordinates with management staff to grasp the students' thoughts; strengthen solidarity, understanding and mutual assistance between the unit's officers and soldiers and officers, teachers and students."

In addition to implementing the internship content and program, cadres, teachers, students and "special assistants" also join officers and soldiers of the Border Guard Station in patrolling and protecting the border and national border markers; strengthening propaganda, dissemination and education of the law; helping people develop socio-economy, fighting forest fires, ensuring security and order at the grassroots level; helping families with meritorious services... leaving a deep impression on the local Party committees, authorities, people and officers and soldiers of the Muong Pon Border Guard Station.

Article and photos: PHAM HIEU-HA KHANH