Focusing on Excelling in Combat Readiness Missions

(DTO) The Infantry Division 8, established on October 22, 1974, is a standing-frame unit with one full-strength regiment under Military Region 9, tasked with combat-readiness training and carrying out unscheduled missions assigned by higher command.

With more than 50 years of building, fighting, growing, and developing, the Division has consistently identified its key political tasks, maintained unity, and implemented comprehensive and innovative solutions to improve the quality of combat-readiness training in the new period.

Stationed across a wide area in Dong Thap Province, the Division has focused its leadership and direction on ensuring that its agencies and units strictly maintain command duty, watch duty, and combat-readiness duty. The Division regularly consolidates and updates combat-readiness documents, while strengthening exercises of operational plans, as well as for disaster prevention, incident response, and search-and-rescue missions across the area.

In 2025, the Division focused on guiding and directing units to successfully fulfill the established goals and targets, strictly implementing combat-readiness duties to ensure the safety of the unit and localities, and organizing training, exercises, contests, and competitions according to plan with high quality and absolute safety for all participants. 

At the same time, the Division carried out inspections and implemented comprehensive measures to build a comprehensively strong unit, a flagship model in all aspects. It effectively disseminated and implemented resolutions and directives, conducted strong Party and political work activities, and strengthened the leadership capacity and combat strength of Party organizations. In particular, officers and Party members fulfilled their responsibilities well. Logistics, technical, and financial support were ensured in a timely manner, contributing to the successful completion of all assigned tasks.

The development and implementation of combat-readiness training plans were conducted in a methodical manner, ensuring cohesiveness and scientific rigor. Training content and methods saw many innovations and improvements, closely aligned with local operational conditions and combat scenarios. The Division also ensured the effective integration of military training with political education, logistics-technical work, and physical conditioning.

Senior Colonel Nguyen Van Len, Deputy Division Commander and Chief of Staff of Division 8, Military Region 9, noted: “In addition to training, maintaining combat readiness, issuing alerts, and practicing transitioning between combat readiness levels, the Division regularly conducts combat-readiness inspections during national holidays, traditional celebrations, and major national events. This helps promptly address shortcomings and limitations.

From these inspections, we orient and resolve issues. Moreover, we guide officers and soldiers to uphold the motto ‘Emulation drives excellence in training,’ organizing competitions for each subject and module. Models such as ‘Each Platoon Excels in One Training Model’ and ‘One Weekly Highlight’ are implemented, with public weekly evaluations. These practices foster responsibility, discipline, and adherence to regulations among officers and soldiers. As a result, training outcomes have consistently reached good and excellent levels.”

“Notably, in 2025, the Division successfully completed its mission as a model unit in all aspects for the Military Region. Responding to the ‘Digital Literacy for All’ movement and the military-wide digital transformation initiative, the Division enhanced the application of science and technology, implemented digital transformation measures decisively and synchronously, organized thematic sessions such as ‘Party Members Taking the Lead in Learning Digital Skills,’ and promoted the ‘Digital Literacy for All’ movement. The Division has strongly promoted the role of its officers as the core force, focusing on education, communication, and the organization of multiple training courses to improve IT skills, proficiency in management software, and the use of digital applications in training, record systems, reporting, and data administration. Clerical work and confidentiality are strictly enforced. All incoming and outgoing documents are registered and managed in accordance with regulations,” Senior Colonel Nguyen Van Len added.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Be Hai, Commander of Regiment 1, Division 8, Military Region 9, noted that to effectively carry out combat-readiness directives at all levels, the unit, besides personnel preparation, consistently ensured complete documentation systems for training statistics, lesson plans, training models and materials, training grounds, and drill areas. It also encouraged initiatives and technical innovations by officers and soldiers to reduce costs and save manpower. In addition, it conducted inspections of weapons, equipment, and assigned materiel, particularly those used in training, to ensure high training quality and combat readiness in all situations.

As a result, in recent years, 100% of officers, staff, and soldiers of Division 8 have continued to inherit and uphold the proud tradition of the Heroic People’s Armed Forces unit.

They have strived to achieve outstanding results, continuing the tradition of “Overcoming hardships and advancing with courage.” They continue to study and train to strengthen political will, professional competence, and operational skills, improve the quality of combat-readiness training, overall strength, and combat capability, and remain ready to take on and excellently fulfill every assigned task in service of national construction and defense in the new period.

By HUYNH PHONG
Translated by ANH DUC