At the training ground of Battalion 9 (Regiment 98) in the morning, mid-April, the summer weather had begun to be hot, the sun spread golden on the treetops and grass. Even so, the young soldiers were still diligently practicing, sweat rolling down their faces, only eighteen or twenty years old but already darkened by the sun and wind of the training ground.

In the AK submachine gun shooting practice area, exercise 1, the target appeared and disappeared during the day. Following the commander's command, the soldiers quickly maneuvered, performed the positions, lying, kneeling and standing shooting. At each shooting position, the unit arranged a sandbag made of canvas for the soldiers to hang on the barrel of the gun during shooting practice. The commander maintained and asked the soldiers to take and hold the basic aiming line for about 1 to 3 minutes before pulling the trigger and ending the shot.

New soldiers of Battalion 9, Regiment 98 practice shooting with sandbags hanging from the muzzle.

According to Captain Do Khac Trinh, Battalion Commander of Battalion 9, Regiment 98: For new soldiers, the first time they get acquainted with weapons and equipment, their mentality, physical strength and movement skills are limited. Some soldiers cannot maintain a stable basic aiming line, lack patience and have the habit of pulling the trigger when shooting, especially when kneeling and standing to shoot, causing the gun barrel to collapse, leading to incorrect bullet paths and bullets not hitting the target. Understanding that characteristic, in recent years the unit has deployed advanced exercises to hang sandbags on the barrel of the gun so that soldiers can practice improving their physical strength, holding the gun firmly and practicing patience when aiming.

The initiative has a fairly simple structure. The sandbag is sewn from canvas, including a hanging strap and 2 sand bags, the bag mouth has a snap button sewn on to facilitate changing the amount of sand in the bag from 1kg to 2kg (depending on the training phase). According to Captain Do Khac Trinh, the unit has currently deployed synchronous production and assigned each soldier to practice; the cost of making a sandbag hanging at the end of the gun barrel is only 10,000 VND. The initiative is cheap, easy to produce but brings clear results, helping to improve the shooting results of new soldiers.

One of the "difficult" training contents for new soldiers is the breaststroke. This is because this is a content that requires soldiers to have good physical strength and a firm grasp of movement techniques, and the ability to coordinate arms, legs and breathing while swimming. Previously, this content was trained using conventional methods, the training movements on land were not exactly the same as when swimming underwater. Therefore, it was difficult for new soldiers to visualize the standard movements to practice. When practicing underwater, training officers also had difficulty detecting soldiers' mistakes in order to correct them promptly.

Faced with that situation, the unit has researched and created an innovative device to support frog swimming training. The innovation consists of two main parts: a support and a lying platform that can change length according to the height of the practitioner. When training, the device will lift the entire body horizontally, the practitioner's legs and arms can move freely; a basin of water is arranged at the head of the practitioner so that the practitioner can combine arm, leg and breathing movements at the same time. Thus, when training, the staff can demonstrate the movements on land according to the swimming movements underwater, convenient for new soldiers to observe. When new soldiers practice, the training staff can easily observe each movement, promptly detect errors to correct the practice. The cost of manufacturing a device is only about 150,000 VND. Applying it to practical training has brought about clear results, helping new soldiers to be confident and achieve higher results when testing frog swimming.

In addition to the two initiatives mentioned above, every year, officers and soldiers of Regiment 98 also "give birth" to dozens of initiatives and technical improvements in various fields. Among them, many initiatives and technical improvements have been applied to training new soldiers such as: Resistance bands to support grenade throwing training; mobile AK submachine gun firing platform; visualeducation application on the tradition and history of the unit... The common points of these initiatives are simple structure, low production cost, readily available or easy-to-find manufacturing materials on the market, the ability to produce large quantities, replicate throughout the unit and all bring practical results in training.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Bui Cuong Son, Party Secretary and Political Commissar of Regiment 98, in addition to the attention and investment from above, promoting the internal strength of the unit to promote research, create new products with high application value, close to the practical conditions in the unit's training is extremely important. This is the content that the Party Committee and the Regiment's commanders pay attention to, lead and direct throughout. For the movement to develop comprehensively, the Regiment focuses on promoting the exemplary spirit of the cadres, especially the cadres in charge at all levels, always taking the lead in research, participation, promoting initiatives, and technical improvements.

With the spirit of “working together from above and below”, every year, the Regiment guides and supports in terms of working days, human resources, technology and funding so that the unit’s officers and soldiers can be passionate about creativity. Through the movement, the unit promptly rewards and commends groups and individuals with good ideas, effective methods and products. Replicating innovative models of teaching aids that are easy to manufacture, low cost, easy to apply and highly effective in training.

Article and photos: HOANG TRUNG

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/quoc-phong-an-ninh/tin-tuc/trung-doan-98-phat-huy-sang-kien-vao-huan-luyen-chien-si-moi-826293