Green beret soldiers spread the image of Uncle Ho's soldiers to international friends.

Over the past 10 years, the Vietnam Peacekeeping Force has made many marks in UN peacekeeping activities. The blue beret soldiers always thoroughly grasp the Party's foreign policy, uphold the spirit of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, contributing to the propaganda and promotion of the traditional image and noble qualities of "Uncle Ho's soldiers" to international friends.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a smart barracks for the Vietnam Engineering Team at the Highway base of the UNISFA mission took place on April 5, 2024. Photo: Vietnam Engineering Team in South Sudan

10-year journey of implementing the United Nations peacekeeping mission Exactly 10 years ago, on May 27, 2014, a special event marking Vietnam's official participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations took place in Hanoi. That was the launch of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center (now the Department of Peacekeeping Operations) and the farewell ceremony for the first two Vietnamese officers to depart for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. This event marked a new step of development for Vietnam in the United Nations. The two officers honored to receive the assignment as liaison officers at the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in this African country were Lieutenant Colonel Mac Duc Trong and Lieutenant Colonel Tran Nam Ngan, officers of the Ministry of National Defense . The past 10 years have been a difficult, arduous but glorious journey, with many generations of officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) participating in this noble mission. Most recently, in early April 2024, the Ministry of National Defense continued to organize a ceremony to present the President's decision and the Minister of National Defense's decision to 3 officers performing UN peacekeeping missions at the following missions: MINUSCA (Central African Republic), UNMISS (Republic of South Sudan) and UNISFA (Abyei region). At the ceremony in April 2024, on behalf of the officers preparing to leave for duty, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Sy Hieu - former lecturer of the Department of Aviation Weapons, Faculty of Aviation Engineering, Air Defense - Air Force Academy, assigned to serve as a Military Observer at the MINUSCA mission (Central African Republic) - affirmed that the officers will always be united, proactively cooperate with colleagues, determined to excellently complete the tasks assigned by the United Nations and the Central Military Commission, and the Head of the Ministry of National Defense. At the mission site, the soldiers will strictly comply with military discipline, security and safety regulations of the United Nations as well as the laws and culture of the host country; strengthen communication work, actively participate in humanitarian activities, contributing to spreading the image of the country and people of Vietnam as friendly, humane, peace-loving and the noble qualities of "Uncle Ho's soldiers" to international friends. At this ceremony, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien - Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Central Military Commission, Deputy Minister of National Defense, Head of the Inter-agency Working Group, Head of the Ministry of National Defense's Steering Committee on participation in UN peacekeeping activities - assessed that during the 10 years of Vietnam's participation in this special humanitarian activity, the officers on duty in individual positions have affirmed the mettle, will, qualifications and capacity of officers of the Vietnam People's Army in the eyes of international colleagues and friends. Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien requested the officers to thoroughly grasp and strictly implement the viewpoints and foreign policies of the Party, State and Army; strictly comply with the discipline of the Vietnam People's Army, regulations of the United Nations, laws of the host country, regulations on ensuring security and safety of people, weapons and equipment; always ensure military style in the process of performing tasks. Spreading the image of the country and people of Vietnam Spreading the image of the country and people of Vietnam as friendly, humane, peace-loving and with the noble qualities of "Uncle Ho's soldiers" to international friends is also the way that generations of officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People's Army have worked hard to build over the past 10 years when participating in UN peacekeeping activities. According to the report of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department, up to now, after 10 years of participating in UN peacekeeping activities, the Vietnam People's Army has sent 804 professional officers and soldiers to deploy individually and in units, including 5 squads of the Level 2 Field Hospital deployed to the South Sudan Mission, 2 squads of the Engineering Team deployed to the Abyei Region and 114 officers deployed individually. The units and officers of the Vietnam People's Army have successfully and excellently completed the tasks assigned by the Mission Commander and the United Nations; Many officers, upon completing their term, were assessed by the United Nations as having excellently fulfilled their duties and were awarded Certificates of Merit and Letters of Appreciation. In particular, 100% of officers of the Vietnam People's Army were awarded the Medal for the Cause of United Nations Peacekeeping by the Commanders of the Missions on behalf of the United Nations Security Council. The Department of Peacekeeping said that the number of officers who have excellently fulfilled their duties in Vietnam is much higher than the average of the United Nations and other sending countries. According to the assessment of the Commanders of the Missions and United Nations agencies, the peacekeeping forces of the Vietnam People's Army have made great efforts in performing their assigned tasks, demonstrating professionalism, creativity, high discipline and leaving many good impressions on the Commanders of the Missions as well as international friends and colleagues.

In 2024, in the 20th Vietnam Glory program organized by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and Lao Dong Newspaper, the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department (General Staff, Vietnam People's Army) was one of 10 collectives nominated for honor.

Laodong.vn

Source: https://laodong.vn/xa-hoi/nhung-nguoi-linh-mu-noi-xanh-lan-toa-hinh-anh-bo-doi-cu-ho-toi-ban-be-quoc-te-1338455.ldo