A Day with Naval Commando Soldiers

Having gone through 59 years of construction, combat, and growth, with a spirit of courage, boldness, resourcefulness, and creativity, generations of officers and soldiers of the 126th Naval Commando Brigade have overcome countless challenges and sacrifices, achieving outstanding and exceptionally outstanding feats on the river and sea battlefields. Together, they have built a glorious tradition: “Heroic and resourceful – Overcoming difficulties – United in making merits – Continuous victories”.
Naval Special Forces in a Training Session
Naval Special Forces in a Training Session

The force is worthy of being the particularly elite and combat-ready force of the Viet Nam People’s Navy. Visiting the 126th Naval Commando Brigade in the historic month of April, the atmosphere here is truly vibrant as the entire unit is enthusiastically competing to achieve many accomplishments in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Viet Nam People’s Navy (May 7, 1955 – 2025) and the 59th anniversary of the 126th Brigade’s establishment (April 13, 1966 – 2025).

From proficiency in commando skills and tactics

From the brigade headquarters, we accompanied Senior Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Van Vinh, Deputy Brigade Commander and Chief of Staff, to the unit’s training grounds. Following a winding concrete road, the brigade’s units appeared picturesque. Above was the Huong Mountain range with the vast green of acacia trees, and below was the gentle Gia River, like a soft silk ribbon embracing the young rice fields.

At the dry land commando training ground, soldiers of the 2nd Platoon, 3rd Company, 1st Battalion were practicing movement techniques across various terrains, such as barbed wire fences, dry leaves, and dense grass. Some training manoeuvres made me feel nervous with my heart pounding. Watching a team of three people follow each other, crawling through a tangled barbed wire fence tightly woven together, with rocks and simulated enemy mines underneath, was intense.

Their skilful and precise crawling and slithering movements, so quiet that you could not hear a sound standing next to them, combined with camouflage smeared on their bodies and camouflaged uniforms blending into the vegetation, meant that the simulated enemy mines were quickly disarmed, and the combat team approached the target, completing the exercise.

About 100 metres away from the 2nd Platoon, the 3rd Platoon, 3rd Company, 1st Battalion was practicing wall-climbing techniques to approach a target. Another team of three people lightly approached a steep over-2-meters-high slippery wall. The first person crouched down for the second person to stand on their shoulders, and then they supported each other to climb up. In just a moment, the second soldier was safely on top of the wall, carrying their weapon and other essential equipment.

Saying goodbye to the soldiers of the 3rd Company, we went down to the 4th Frogman Commando Company, 2nd Battalion. This is a force that is quite carefully selected from units within the Viet Nam People’s Navy, as well as from the 126th Brigade. We went straight to the water training ground, where the soldiers of the 4th Company were performing warm-up exercises for the open-circuit diving apparatus target acquisition training.

Frogman Commandos in Training

Frogman Commandos in Training

We observed 18 frogman commandos, divided into 6 teams (3 people per team) linked together by a 20-meter-long rope, carrying a 200kg explosive charge. The target was to destroy an “enemy” ship 400 metres away from the formation. Each soldier wore diving gear, and the formation swam in a V-shape. Approaching the target also involved several stages and close coordination using secret hand signals. Only when the float on the water’s surface reached the target did the frogman commando team complete the exercise. Eighteen people were submerged in the river, leaving the water surface calm, with only clusters of water hyacinths drifting gently. Witnessing such training sessions truly makes one understand the daily hardships and difficulties of the naval commando soldiers.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Van Vinh stated: “We focus on improving the quality of comprehensive strong unit building in conjunction with building a clean and strong party organisation, maintaining genuine combat readiness; and prioritising training according to sea and island management and protection plans. We train according to scenarios, battles, and simulated combat, and enhance practical training. We take the task of managing and protecting sea and island sovereignty as the training objective, and the battlefield as the training ground to train closely with the combat targets and the combat methods of the Naval Commandos, in accordance with the weapons and equipment in the unit's inventory and those that are reinforced. At the same time, the unit has trained troops to survive drifting at sea for many days. This is an important task that the Party Committee and the Brigade Command are determined to lead and direct towards effective completion.”

Reaching mastery and refinement in martial arts

As the frogman commandos finished their exercise, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Van Vinh jokingly said to us, “It would be a real oversight not to take the journalists to visit the unit’s 12th Counter-Terrorism Special Operations Company.”

As if a weight had been lifted from our hearts, I followed Senior Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Van Vinh to observe the counter-terrorism special operations soldiers training. At the 126th Brigade’s stadium, we witnessed spectacular martial arts performances by the commandos, high jumps to break targets, and soft and flexible yet powerful forms that left viewers in awe and admiration.

Entering martial arts training, the commando soldiers performed warm-up exercises such as rolling over their backs, jumping over shoulders, somersaulting in the air, and jumping through rings of fire. These are difficult warm-up movements that require willpower and time to transition the body from a static to a dynamic state, which is a fundamental principle in martial arts training to adapt the body to high-intensity activity.

We watched Lieutenant Bui Quang Trung, a professional non-commissioned officer from the 126th Brigade's 12th Counter-Terrorism Special Operations Company, perform the “Old Plum Blossom Fist” form. With close-range defence techniques, flowing hand movements, the striking arm rarely extends fully to protect the body, and the striking hands always have a bend at the elbow for easy shielding of the flanks and timely deployment in defence and close-range attacks on the opponent's weak points. Watching Trung perform the form with flexible, decisive, and light movements evoked a sense of suspense in the viewers that erupted into emotion when the exercise ended.

I was extremely impressed watching Lieutenant Bui Van Sang, from the 12th Company, practice a combined demolition scenario. The scenario: the opponent attacks with hard objects such as wooden sticks, bricks, and iron bars. Alone and unarmed, he faces four “enemies” wielding weapons aimed directly at him. The first enemy jumps in to grab him while the second enemy swings a stick forcefully at his arm. Sang uses internal strength to withstand the blow, and two consecutive strikes break the stick in half.

The enemies continue to attack Sang's legs and back with sticks, but all the sticks break. Suddenly, one enemy grabbed two red bricks and rushed from a distance to smash them directly at Lieutenant Sang’s head. It was a heart-stopping moment, but both bricks shattered. Most dangerously, the fallen enemy quickly pulled out a pre-prepared iron bar and thrust it with all his might at Sang's neck, but the iron bar bent into a U-shape. All four enemies were subdued by Sang... The training scenario ended to the astonishment of the witnesses.

Practicing jumping through rings of fire

Practicing jumping through rings of fire

The female soldiers of the 126th Brigade are known as the “Steel Roses” because they also practice martial arts with no less skill than their male counterparts.

Captain Pham Thi Ha, a cook in the Logistics-Technical Department, regularly trains diligently in unarmed combat techniques with her comrades. Observing Ha’s quick movements and powerful strikes, we saw in her a burning passion for martial arts, concealing an invisible strength and an iron will. These qualities have helped Ha and her sisters to overcome difficulties, challenges, fears, and painful falls that commando martial arts practitioners must endure. Since 2014, the unit’s female unarmed combat team has consistently won high prizes at the Navy level competitions, and when selected to compete at the national level, they have achieved many admirable results.

During our day at the 126th Brigade, we also heard stories about the “Yet Kieu of the Ho Chi Minh Era” (referring to legendary Vietnamese naval heroes), camaraderie, close bonds with the local people in the areas where the unit is stationed, as well as the “5 Excellences, 2 Solid Bonds” model (excellent in swimming, diving; excellent in martial arts; excellent in shooting; excellent in combat; excellent in enduring hardship; solid bonds of comradeship and military-civilian ties) and the “Naval Commando Comrades’ Day” model, which bears the strong imprint of the unit’s officers and soldiers.

We bid farewell to the Naval Commando soldiers and left in the early summer sunshine, with everyone in the unit busy with their tasks in the rapid pace of time. On the brigade’s loudspeaker, the lyric of the song “The Sea Will Forever Be Blue, Your Example Will Forever Shine; Worthy of the Title Uncle Ho’s Soldiers – Naval Commando Soldiers” echoed. May the officers and soldiers of the 126th Brigade even greater achievements to practically celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the heroic Viet Nam People’s Navy.

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