Motorcycle escort team - 'Steel shield' protecting international delegations

(Dan Tri) - To be in the ranks of the motorcycle escort team, officers and soldiers must meet requirements such as having a bright and beautiful appearance; height (minimum 175cm), weight (minimum 70kg), good health...

"The officers and soldiers driving motorbikes as escorts are always a "steel shield", if necessary, ready to rush straight into the target intending to attack the convoy," Lieutenant Colonel Thai Binh An (Deputy Captain of Company 3, Regiment 375, Ministry of Public Security Guard Command) told Dan Tri reporter. Contrary to what many people think, in addition to performing the task of serving State ceremonies, the officers and soldiers driving motorbikes as escorts of the Motorcycle Escort Platoon, Company 3, Regiment 375, are also assigned the task of coordinating the protection of heads of state visiting and working in Vietnam; protecting high-ranking delegations, ambassadors presenting credentials... and taking on the responsibility of preserving the beautiful image of Vietnam before international friends.

With 27 years in the People's Public Security, Lieutenant Colonel An has worked for 24 years in the Motorcycle Escort Platoon. As one of the "veteran drivers" of the team, Lieutenant Colonel An has a collection of countless memories of his profession. Recalling the day he led a delegation for the head of state of an African country, Lieutenant Colonel An said that when the delegation was near Chuong Duong Bridge, a subject took advantage of the moment when the security forces were performing a salute as the convoy passed by to cut across the delegation. "During the performance of their duties, officers driving escort motorbikes must always proactively observe from a distance, and predict situations that may occur on the road that could threaten the security and safety of the convoy during the journey. Therefore, when I discovered a subject riding a motorbike on the other side of the road about to cut across the convoy, I immediately steered away from the vehicle formation, using my professional reflexes to both control the vehicle and approach, block, and control the subject from entering the convoy. After neutralizing the subject, I immediately returned to the formation and informed the authorities to coordinate the handling," said Lieutenant Colonel An. He said that from that moment on, the confidence of the escort convoy increased many times over.

Another memory that Lieutenant Colonel An cannot forget is when he escorted a group of Russian guests from the airport to the hotel. On the way, while the Vietnamese flag attached to the front of the group leader's car was fluttering in the wind, the Russian flag was blown by the wind to the pole, making it impossible to detect which country's flag it was. With his political courage, diplomatic acumen and the delicacy of an officer who has many years of directly participating in motorcycle escort convoys, Lieutenant Colonel An drove the motorbike while using his hands to remove the Russian flag back to its original state, flying parallel to the flag of the host country Vietnam. "After completing and returning to the motorcycle formation, the guard lowered the car window, making a gesture of satisfaction. I felt that my action, though small, had great meaning," Lieutenant Colonel An shared. Under the television lens, in the eyes of the people, the officers and soldiers driving the escort motorbikes were always in a state of neatness and dignity. However, few people know that, in order to maintain perfect demeanor in any weather conditions, the soldiers had to go through a difficult and arduous training process, "braving the sun and bathing in the rain". In reality, during the escort mission, when it rained, then it was sunny, the clothes were wet then dry, situations arose on the road, in any circumstance, the soldiers still had to ensure that the formation, speed of movement and uniform were maintained. After each time like that, many soldiers in the escort group caught a cold, some electronic devices malfunctioned, but they were always proud that they contributed to creating a good impression in the eyes of international guests, including the heads of state of the world's leading powers. "Sometimes we moved from point A when it was raining to point B when it was sunny. We had to wear raincoats until the end of the route. Or when it was sunny and then raining, we had to keep the same formation and move without raincoats. I remember around 2000-2001, a group of Moldovan tourists landed at 3am. We had to prepare 2 hours in advance. At that time, the temperature was only about 7-8 degrees Celsius, but the soldiers still deployed the escort formation as usual, still having to be neat and careful," Lieutenant Colonel An said.

A particularly large and important event recently was the 2nd US-North Korea Summit held in Hanoi in 2019. The North Korean leader arrived in Vietnam by train. The 375th Regiment's motorcycle escort team was assigned to coordinate with other forces to escort the convoy carrying President Kim Jong Un from Dong Dang International Station (Lang Son) to Hanoi. Given the special importance of the event, in order to successfully complete the task, the unit sent officers to directly join the advance team of the Command. The advance and survey were so thorough and careful that the officers and soldiers knew the location of each gas station; which road was narrow and bad; which bridge was over... to develop a plan and protection plan to ensure that it was close to the actual situation. At the same time, the best "drivers" were selected and sent to join the motorcycle escort team. Although he has spent 24 years working and directly participated in thousands of missions and protection missions, Lieutenant Colonel An cannot forget the feeling of the first time he joined a motorcycle escort convoy. "That was an escort mission around 2001. My feelings were mixed, both excited and nervous, but also proud and eager. I couldn't even sleep the night before. But then when I completed the first escort mission, then the second, third, and now, I feel familiar and confident," Lieutenant Colonel An said, not forgetting to mention the glory of the mission, along with the heavy responsibility.

"Glory and responsibility", it is not easy for any soldier to be able to stand in the motorcycle escort squad. The selection and "input" work for officers and soldiers of the motorcycle team must always ensure the core and most important criteria, which are steadfast political will and pure moral qualities, absolute loyalty... In addition, due to the specific nature and requirements of the mission, officers and soldiers of the motorcycle escort squad must also meet other requirements such as: bright and beautiful appearance; height (minimum 175cm), weight (minimum 70kg), good health... Lieutenant Colonel Tran Duc Trung (Captain of Company 3) said that every 3-5 years, the Company will have a selection round for officers to drive motorcycle escorts, based on the above standards. After that, training is carried out to ensure that there is always enough force to carry out the mission and the next generation.

Proudly sharing, Lieutenant Colonel Trung said that many officers and soldiers of Company 3 through the periods have been trusted, highly appreciated and promoted to leadership positions of the Guard Command and the Ministry of Public Security. When sharing about training, Lieutenant Colonel Trung humorously told about the year 2000, when he and Lieutenant Colonel Thai Binh An started working at the Motorcycle Escort Team. "At that time, many comrades did not know how to ride a motorbike, some had never even been exposed to motorbikes or manual motorbikes," the Lieutenant Colonel shared. After being selected, the officers and soldiers will start with the A2 driving license exam, then be trained from the basics such as the features and functions of the vehicle; how to set up the kickstand, push the bike, start the engine, cut the clutch - shift gears... This training process requires all soldiers, whether they know how to drive or not, to practice. "It must be like that, when the brothers master the bike, understand the bike, then when performing the task, they can complete the task well", Lieutenant Colonel Tran Duc Trung said. Sharing more about the training, Lieutenant Colonel Thai Binh An said that to meet the requirements of the task, the soldiers must practice motorcycle control exercises with a very high level of difficulty. "The first exercise, the simplest one, is to go in parallel formation, slow/fast speed but must be synchronized, to form a formation, meeting the requirements of ceremony. 10 people must be like one person, one person is like 10 people", according to Lieutenant Colonel An. Next are the exercises of controlling the motorbike moving at different fast and slow speeds; handling situations on the road, overcoming obstacles, crossing the road... "The skill of driving on narrow roads, slow speed combined with hairpin turns is extremely difficult when driving a large displacement motorbike. The vehicle is very heavy, and the Vietnamese body shape is small, the difference is very large, so when cornering and going slowly, it is very easy to fall", Lieutenant Colonel An shared. After about 2-3 months of training to master the techniques, the new "drivers" are assigned to the backup squads. During the running process, the new soldiers will be accompanied by experienced officers. Thus, the "dropping" of soldiers during the training period is inevitable. Sometimes an initial training class has a few dozen officers but by the end, only a few people meet the requirements. According to Lieutenant Colonel An, in the past, the "teachers", the predecessors, trained him with experience. When he had his own experiences, he passed them on to the next classes. The lesson plan is then built, combined with selection and learning from foreign experts.

In addition, the lesson plan also presents situations where there are obstacles, even those who intend to attack the group. From there, the soldiers will be trained and taught how to handle them and become natural reflexes. The Deputy Captain of Company 3 believes that the officers and soldiers of the Motorcycle Escort Team must "love the industry, be passionate about the job" and especially have a talent for driving motorcycles. "Many people meet all the requirements of moral qualities and military strength but lack talent and the ability to handle situations when encountering incidents on the road. They can practice very well on the training ground, but when in a real environment, they are nervous, stressed, and lose their composure," said Lieutenant Colonel An. From practical work, although there are many situations that have never happened before, with many years of experience in the profession, Lieutenant Colonel An has researched and sought new training methods and content to add to the curriculum for training and educating motorcycle escort drivers. That is, driving an escort motorbike while performing gun operations such as aiming, shooting, etc. According to Mr. An, this is an unprecedented move in Vietnam, even in the world. This move requires soldiers to have a firm grasp of driving skills and to be a bit "reckless" and before officially putting it into the training curriculum, he was the one who directly "tested" this move many times. "We of course hope that we will never need to use guns when escorting a delegation. However, in case it is necessary to use guns, officers and soldiers driving escort motorbikes will skillfully use weapons to quickly destroy the attackers to ensure absolute safety for the Head of the delegation and the delegation", Lieutenant Colonel An shared. The training exercises are built to be as close as possible to the actual terrain, environment, and traffic infrastructure of Vietnam. However, training and "books" are only a part, the situations that occur during the performance of the mission are "multi-faceted". This, according to Lieutenant Colonel Thai Binh An, requires soldiers to have special qualities, to be sharp, have outstanding vision, and be calm... to complete the two tasks of performing diplomatic ceremonies and ensuring security and safety for the delegation. As the person who directly teaches many generations of officers and soldiers who drive motorbikes as escorts, Lieutenant Colonel An could not hide his joy and happiness when he said that many "students" after training are even better than their "teachers". During the training process, the Deputy Captain of Company 3 said that the soldiers, and he himself, could not avoid bloodshed. "During training, we fell a lot, it was normal for our legs to swell and our hands to be scratched. But, "sweat on the training ground, bleed less on the battlefield". We always try our best", Lieutenant Colonel An said.

Yamaha FJR 1300 is the motorcycle model currently used by Company 3 to carry out missions. Talking about this model, Lieutenant Colonel An said that when receiving the vehicle, Yamaha sent teachers and experts from Japan to introduce the features and functions of the vehicle and provide instructions on how to use and operate it. In particular, to guide on how to "tame" this motorcycle, the company also brought to Vietnam a former professional motorcycle racer to directly instruct the officers and soldiers of the Company.

Previously, Company 3 used motorcycle models from BMW, Honda... but Lieutenant Colonel An rated the Yamaha FJR1300 model the highest. According to Lieutenant Colonel An, this model is suitable for the environment and weather in Vietnam, so it rarely breaks down and ensures all the necessary features. Currently, Regiment 375 has 35 Yamaha FJR1300s. Each one is assigned to a soldier to manage, care for, and use. This is to help soldiers understand and master the "rein" of the "war horse". The preservation and maintenance of these motorcycles, according to Lieutenant Colonel An, must follow the requirements and instructions of the manufacturer, such as maintenance twice a week: Running the vehicle, cleaning the oil...; Any vehicle that does not escort for a whole month must be put into "operational operation"... Since its establishment, the Motorcycle Escort Platoon has always completed its tasks excellently, being a reliable shield to absolutely protect the safety of international delegations visiting and working in Vietnam.

Content: Hainan, Hai Duong

Design: Duc Binh

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