Hai Duong Veterans Association: A bright spot in the patriotic emulation movement "Exemplary Veterans"

Leading by example

Veterans are a steadfast revolutionary force, absolutely loyal to the Party, the State and the people. Entering the new era, promoting the tradition and qualities of Uncle Ho's soldiers, fighting and growing up in hardship, Hai Duong veterans and veterans nationwide have made great contributions to the cause of national liberation, building and defending the Fatherland, contributing with the local Party Committee, government and people to maintain political security, social order and safety, develop the economy - society, improve the material and spiritual life of members and people.

In recent times, with the attention, leadership and direction of the Provincial Party Committee, the facilitation of the Provincial People's Council and People's Committee, the coordination with the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, socio-political organizations and departments and branches of the province, the guidance and direction of the Central Vietnam Veterans Association, the emulation movement "Exemplary Veterans" of the Provincial Veterans Association has been actively deployed and implemented by all levels of the association, closely linked with other local emulation movements and has become the main movement of the association. The results of the movement have been recognized and highly appreciated by the Party Committees, authorities and people in the province.

The outstanding results of the emulation movement “Exemplary Veterans” are that the Association at all levels have regularly taken care of education and propaganda, helping members to deeply understand and raise awareness of the Party’s viewpoints, guidelines, policies, and the State’s policies and laws; training cadres and members to have a strong political stance, be steadfast in Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s thought, maintain and promote the traditional qualities of Uncle Ho’s soldiers. Proactively and actively fight to prevent and repel degradation in political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within the Association, fight against the plot of “peaceful evolution” and the wrong, reactionary views of hostile forces.

According to reports from the associations at all levels, at the Party Congresses at all levels for the 2020-2025 term, cadres and members of the veteran association in the province contributed thousands of opinions to the political documents of the congress. Thousands of members were elected to the Party Committees at all levels. The whole province has 1,852 veterans elected as People's Council delegates for the 2021-2026 term. This shows the exemplary role, dedication, and willingness to take on social work of veterans despite their old age.

During the 2019-2024 term, the association at all levels has continuously focused on building strong organizations and exemplary members. To date, the provincial Veterans Association has nearly 114,000 members in 316 grassroots associations, an increase of 15,811 members compared to the previous term. Through annual emulation reviews, 98.48% of grassroots associations have completed their tasks well, of which 20% have completed their tasks excellently. 98.5% of veteran members have achieved the title of exemplary members and over 98% of member families have achieved the title of cultural families.

With their roles and responsibilities, the veterans in the province are always the leading force in propaganda work, mobilizing people to participate in implementing movements launched by the locality. Typical examples are the movements of the People Unite to Build a Cultural Life, Build New Rural Areas, Build Civilized Urban Lifestyles, etc. Through these movements, each cadre and member has constantly promoted their mettle, intelligence, and the spirit of daring to think and dare to do, overcoming difficulties in age and health to excellently complete assigned tasks. This is a shining testament to the revolutionary qualities and traditions of Uncle Ho's soldiers.

Enthusiastic about working and producing

One of the outstanding results in the emulation movement "Exemplary Veterans" is helping each other to do business, reduce poverty, improve living standards, and care for and protect the legitimate and legal interests of members. Associations at all levels actively encourage members to promote the spirit of self-reliance, self-improvement, not accepting poverty, daring to think, daring to do, having many good and creative ways of doing things; mobilizing all resources and support from Party committees and authorities to develop the economy, improve living standards, and sustainably reduce poverty. Actively encourage members to promote the spirit of solidarity with the movement "Veterans help each other to reduce poverty, do business well"; build "Comradely love" houses for members in difficult circumstances and support the construction of "great solidarity" houses for poor households.

I understand that in the period of 2019-2024, the Veterans Association at all levels in the province mobilized 810.64 billion VND to help and support 10,482 members facing production difficulties; creating regular jobs for over 20,000 workers. Repairing and building 271 new houses for poor members. Up to now, the percentage of veteran families in poverty is 0.35%, down nearly 1% compared to 2019. In the construction of new rural areas, cadres, members, and veterans' families have donated 97,932 m² of land, 24,967 working days, planted 408,000 trees, and contributed over 28 billion VND to complete the new rural criteria. Veterans Association members joined hands with local authorities and people to renovate and upgrade 153.7 km of roads and 634 km of irrigation. These are very specific and practical contributions to the socio-economic development of Hai Duong.

The positive contributions of the Veterans Associations at all levels in the province have contributed to the overall achievement of Hai Duong being recognized as meeting new rural standards in 2020. More specifically, Hai Duong is the first locality in the country to establish the Veterans - Former Soldiers Entrepreneurs Association at all 3 levels. Over the years, these organizations have created regular jobs for about 20,000 local workers with an income of 6-15 million VND/person/month, contributing 230 billion VND to the state budget each year.

In the work of preventing the Covid-19 epidemic, the association has sent thousands of officials and members to participate in working groups and checkpoints; mobilized support of over 5.5 billion VND for the Covid-19 vaccine fund and hundreds of tons of food and necessities to support localities in fighting the epidemic... In the prevention of the consequences of the recent storm No. 3 (Yagi), the association at all levels actively coordinated with local authorities and people to participate in recovery activities to limit the damage caused by the storm.

It can be said that the contributions of veterans and the emulation movement "Exemplary Veterans" are regular; in difficult places, veterans are present.

Promoting the qualities of Uncle Ho's soldiers

With the achievements, in 2021 and 2023, the Provincial Veterans Association was awarded the emulation flag by the Central Association; in 2019, 2020 and 2022, the Central Association awarded certificates of merit; in 2022, the Provincial People's Committee awarded the emulation flag and many other certificates of merit. In the period of 2019-2024, the Provincial Veterans Association was considered by the Provincial People's Committee for the proposal of the superior to award the Second Class Labor Medal; the Central Association awarded the excellent emulation flag. This is a worthy result of the continuous and persistent efforts of the Association at all levels in the patriotic emulation movement "Exemplary Veterans".

In the coming time, promoting the spirit of "old but not old", the Veterans Association of Hai Duong province will continue to effectively carry out the emulation movement "Exemplary Veterans" for the period 2024-2029. Associations at all levels will perform well the task of participating in building and protecting the Party, government, socialist regime and people. Actively participate in effectively implementing the goals of economic, cultural - social development, national defense - security, building new rural areas, civilized urban areas; help each other do business, improve living standards, and sustainably reduce poverty. The emulation movement "Exemplary Veterans" must be closely linked with local movements and campaigns.

Associations at all levels and each member should perform well the work of repaying gratitude, helping comrades and teammates in difficulty and adversity; strengthen the education of patriotism and revolutionary traditions for the younger generation. Build a strong association in terms of politics, ideology and organization; promote the role of the Veterans Association in the new situation; closely coordinate with the Vietnam Fatherland Front and other organizations in the work of building the grassroots political system; maintain the core role in the movement to maintain political security - social order and safety; perform well the function of social supervision and criticism. All levels of the association promote studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle in conjunction with implementing Resolution 4 of the Central Committee (term XI, XII), Conclusion 21-KL/TW on strengthening Party building and rectification, the political system, excellently completing all tasks, contributing to the successful implementation of the Resolution of the Provincial Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term, building a rich and civilized homeland of Hai Duong.