Honor Guard, Regiment 275: "Overcoming the sun", ready for mission A80

At 8am, the uniform of soldier Ta Cong Hoan, Squad 7, Division 2, Honor Guard was soaked with sweat. Training under the hot sun quickly depleted the body's energy, but Ta Cong Hoan and his teammates always completed the exercises excellently: Standing at attention, crossing their legs, crossing their arms, walking steadily... for hours.

A80 Honor Guard.

Every day, Hoan and his teammates practice in 2 sessions: Morning from 7:30 to 10:30, afternoon from 14:30 to 16:00. The weather in Hanoi this season is hot and dry, so practicing outdoors is a challenge that requires soldiers to have a strong spirit and will to overcome. “I am very honored and proud to participate in the mission at the great national festival. At first, we practiced crossing our legs and arms with ropes, gradually moving on to practicing walking at 80 steps/minute and practicing standing at attention. For me, practicing standing at attention is the most difficult. When I joined the army, I was lucky to join the Honor Guard, trained through 3 months of honor guard training, and had a ready foundation. After each practice hour, the squad organized physical exercise for the brothers, organized running sessions to improve their physical strength,” Ta Cong Hoan added.

For soldier Vy Van Long, Squad 3, Division 1, Honor Guard, training for mission A80 is a big challenge for new recruits like him. Long said it took him about 2 to 3 weeks to be able to perform the leg-crossing exercise well. To ensure physical strength to complete the assigned tasks, Long and his teammates always work hard to train their physical strength every day. “Every day I jog, do push-ups, and do abdominal muscle-crossing to strengthen my physical strength. At the A80 event, I joined the fire guard team, which was a great honor. To complete the exercise well, after the main training sessions, my teammates and I gave each other advice to improve together,” Vy Van Long shared.

In addition to coordinating with agencies and units to ensure good logistics and technical support for the A80 event, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Command has 56 non-commissioned officers and soldiers from the Honor Guard, Group 275, participating in the task of guarding the ceremonial platform (44 comrades) and guarding the fire platform (12 comrades).

Sharing with reporters of the People's Army Newspaper, Captain Nguyen Van Dong, Political Commissar of the Honor Guard, said that in parallel with implementing the training program for the honor guard force participating in A80, the non-commissioned officers and soldiers also performed the political tasks of the unit such as: Performing the flag-raising and lowering ceremony at the historic Ba Dinh Square; performing the honor guard guard at the main gate of the Mausoleum 24/7 under any weather conditions; performing the flower offering ceremony to serve delegations visiting the Mausoleum to pay their respects to President Ho Chi Minh; performing the honor guard guarding President Ho Chi Minh's body during the ceremony to pay their respects to him; deploying the honor guard in front of the Mausoleum and the Monument to the Heroes and Martyrs to welcome high-ranking delegations, Party and State leaders, and heads of state who come to visit Vietnam officially, lay flowers at the Mausoleum to pay their respects to President Ho Chi Minh and commemorate the Heroes and Martyrs.

“To simultaneously complete well and excellently the above tasks, the officers and soldiers of the Honor Guard always closely follow, thoroughly grasp and strictly implement the resolutions, directives and instructions of the superiors to ensure the quality and requirements set forth. With the spirit of “The unit is home, officers and soldiers are all brothers”, the officers and soldiers of the Honor Guard are always united, determined to excellently complete regular political tasks, sudden tasks and A80 tasks”, said Captain Nguyen Van Dong.

Among the 56 comrades of the Honor Guard participating in the A80 mission, many comrades are new soldiers who joined the army in 2025. For the second-year soldiers, the A80 training brings great challenges, and for the new recruits, the difficulties are even more increased. What impressed us was that the soldiers in the Honor Guard always showed courage, will and steadfastness, worthy of being the face of Group 275, the image of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Command.