Retaking the university entrance exam, a boy from Hung Yen became the valedictorian of the special forces of the country.

Vu Xuan Cuong (born 2002), from Hung Yen , graduated as valedictorian of the Special Forces Officer School in mid-August this year. Less than 10 days later, Cuong received a new assignment at the Special Forces Battalion, General Staff of Military Region 3, as a platoon leader managing soldiers. This is the result of Cuong's continuous efforts, although the first steps were not as expected.

Vu Xuan Cuong graduated as valedictorian of the Special Forces Officer School. *Photo: NVCC*

Since childhood, Cuong lived with his grandmother while his parents went to the South to work. Understanding the difficulties of his family, since high school, Cuong always hoped to pass the entrance exam to the military school to be exempted from tuition fees, have a stable job, and support his parents.

In 2020, Cuong took the university entrance exam for the first time to enter the Army Command and Staff Department, Army Officer School 1 but was 0.3 points short.

Failing the military school entrance exam, Cuong decided to enroll in Hanoi University of Construction. After studying for nearly a semester, the male student realized that this was not the path he wanted to pursue, so he decided to reserve his results and review for the Special Forces Officer School entrance exam.

During the half year of studying for the exam, both parents worked far away, so Cuong lived alone in his hometown and focused entirely on his studies. “Many people saw me staying at home all the time and thought I was playing around, skipping school, and refusing to work,” Cuong recalled.

Overcoming psychological barriers, Cuong tried hard to study on his own and took some online classes. Thanks to that, in 2021, Cuong was admitted to his desired university.

Cuong is introducing the innovation to the students. *Photo: NVCC*

Passing the entrance exam to the Special Forces Officer School, Cuong always cherished the time he spent training and studying at the school. Due to the nature of the industry, in addition to learning theory in class, students must participate in rigorous training such as physical training or marching with heavy loads through different types of terrain.

In addition, students are taught swimming from basic to advanced. Only knowing the basic freestyle while the swimming and diving contents of the special forces require high, Cuong had to concentrate highly during training sessions. After that period of time, the young man from Hung Yen also mastered the techniques of breaststroke, centipede-shaped swimming, and secret drop swimming.

By the fourth year, the school began to take each student's wishes into consideration to assign them to majors, including: Special Forces, Special Forces, and Water Forces. Cuong chose Water Forces because he realized he had good swimming skills and physical strength.

But the more important reason is that Cuong wants to have the opportunity to work near home in the future to conveniently take care of his mother when she is sick after the family experienced a tragedy: his father passed away in an accident when he was in his second year of study.

Xuan Cuong and his mother. *Photo: NVCC*

When choosing the water commando major, most students already know how to swim at an advanced level, but still need to participate in specialized training in subjects such as freestyle swimming, breaststroke to approach long targets, secret freestyle swimming, surface diving, frogman commando, etc.

“At the end of each school year, students will have to participate in about 10 days of drills, in which they will conduct battles such as island attacks and port attacks. The battles will only take place at night, from about 7 p.m.,” Cuong said.

Cuong recalls that time, the winter weather was freezing at about 7-8 degrees Celsius, the students only wore shorts and were shirtless. Many students lost their will after the first practice. However, with the encouragement of the teachers and the steering committee, and instructions on how to warm up before getting into the water, even giving them fish sauce and ginger water to keep their bodies warm, they all managed to swim to the target.

At the end of year 4, students continue to participate in intensive training and have 2 months of practice in the sea of Ninh Thuan . That was also the first time Cuong was trained at sea, with the most difficult content being drifting for about 24 hours.

“During the 24 hours at sea, the whole team just held onto the buoy and drifted 10-15km, with a ship following to ensure safety. This was a harsh training exercise to hone the endurance of the special forces soldiers,” Cuong said.

Cuong recalls that during those 24 hours, the commandos only ate pre-cooked, thin porridge in water bottles tied to lifebuoys. Each person was given a short break of about 30-35 minutes to rest and eat right at sea.

Despite the harsh weather, sunburn and peeling, burning skin for days afterward, the team still tried to complete the mission well.

Cuong and his teammates before a diving training session. *Photo: NVCC*

Due to his busy training and duty schedule, Cuong only gets to visit home once a year.

In June 2025, Cuong received the news that he had become the valedictorian of the Special Forces Officer School, based on his four-year training and study scores. Cuong felt very proud because it was the most special gift he could give his parents.

“When I first entered school, I didn't set a goal of becoming valedictorian, I just wanted to complete my tasks well and strive to develop myself,” Cuong said.

With a series of high achievements in studying and training such as 2 consecutive years of achieving the title of Advanced Soldier, certificate of merit for outstanding young face, 2 consecutive years of achieving the title of Emulation Soldier at the grassroots level, Cuong aims to continue to maintain this title to be considered for an early promotion in the near future.

The valedictorian of the 10X generation was retained as a lecturer at Ta Quang Cong Police School. The valedictorian of the People's Security Academy was retained as a lecturer at the same school he attended, thanks to his excellent achievements in studying and research.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thi-lai-dai-hoc-chang-trai-que-hung-yen-thanh-thu-khoa-dac-cong-nuoc-2462153.html