On November 20, 1973, in the southwest area of Kham Duc airport (Da Nang city), Group 733 was established, the predecessor of today's Economic - Defense Group 72 (Army Corps 15). One year later, the unit marched to take over the liberated area in the western border area of Gia Lai province, starting the task of building socio-economics associated with ensuring national defense and security.
At that time, this land was still desolate, crisscrossed with barbed wire, with many bombs, mines and toxic chemicals hidden underground. After more than 50 years, officers and soldiers of the 72nd Economic - Defense Group have turned this land into a large rubber and coffee growing area.
Lieutenant Colonel Pham Xuan Tri, Head of the 72nd Economic-Defense Group, said: Currently, the unit has production teams spread across 3 border communes including: Ia Pnôn, Ia Nan, Ia Dom and part of Duc Co commune. In addition, the unit's Cambodian branch is also stationed in 7 communes in 2 districts of Oyadav and Bo Keo (Ratanakiri province).
“Clearly aware of the political mission and with the slogan “From the battlefield to the construction site”, cadres, soldiers and workers did not spare sweat, even blood and bones to turn the poor land, full of war ruins, into a developed economic zone with green rubber trees and prosperous villages.
Currently, the unit has nearly 2,500 employees, of which more than 60% are ethnic minorities. Over the years, the unit has promoted the tradition of solidarity and creative working spirit, successfully completed assigned tasks, contributing to building a national defense associated with the people's security posture in border communes and ethnic minority areas," Colonel Tri added.
Along with production development, the unit focuses on building a "people's heart position", effectively implementing the movement "The Army joins hands to build new countryside". Determining that a stable life for the people will create favorable conditions for carrying out production and business tasks associated with ensuring national defense and security, in recent years, Economic - Defense Group 72 has implemented many meaningful tasks to support people to escape poverty. In particular, the unit has effectively promoted the models of "Connecting households", "Connecting rice jars", "Growing rice on the mountain" ... contributing to changing the backward awareness and habits of the people, strengthening the solidarity between the army and the people.
In addition, the unit coordinated with the locality to effectively implement 3 national target programs, together building 2 border communes of Ia Dom and Ia Nan to meet new rural standards. In the movement "Eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses by 2025", the unit built and repaired 38 houses with a total cost of more than 1.5 billion VND. The two models "Connected vegetable garden" and "Connected rice jar" continued to bring about clear results. Since the beginning of the year, "Connected rice jar" has collected more than 3.2 tons of rice, supporting 160 disadvantaged worker households.
In addition, the unit also organized visits and gave gifts to local Party committees, authorities, retired cadres, soldiers, and workers; and awarded bonuses for exceeding production and Tet with a total cost of more than 10 billion VND. The unit's infirmary examined, admitted, and treated 2,172 people with a cost of nearly 500 million VND.
Economic - Defense Group 72 also supported land and machinery for people to grow rice on a replanted rubber area of more than 500 hectares, helping to ensure food and increase income. In particular, implementing Project 3 - Sub-project 3 "Developing the socio-economic model of the army associated with the local people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas" in the period of 2022-2024, the unit's breeding cow model has supported 74 households with a total cost of more than 1.46 billion VND (state budget of more than 1.35 billion VND). In 2025, the unit continued to give 68 breeding cows (worth more than 16 million VND/cow) to 68 poor, near-poor households and ethnic minorities in Ia Pnôn, Ia Dom, Ia Nan communes.
Along with that, the program "Army officers and soldiers help children go to school" is maintained with 33 students who are children of ethnic minorities in difficult circumstances, with a total support budget of more than 220 million VND.
Mr. Nguyen Hue - Chairman of Ia Pnôn Commune People's Committee - said: The government and people of Ia Pnôn Commune always appreciate the contributions of Economic - Defense Group 72. The unit not only creates stable jobs for people but also deploys many meaningful models, contributing to changing the face of the border area.
Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/doan-kinh-te-quoc-phong-72-dem-am-no-len-vung-bien-gioi-post573752.html
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