On September 16, in Thanh Ky commune (Thanh Hoa province), pregnant woman Luong Thi Luong in Tan Hung village went into labor, the roads from home to the hospital were deeply flooded, and family members could not take the pregnant woman out. Police officers and medical staff wore life jackets, followed the ditch, crossed the flooded area to enter the pregnant woman's house. A baby boy was later safely born at home with the support of police officers.
On the evening of September 17, in the area of the old Nga Thien Pumping Station (Ba Dinh commune, Thanh Hoa province), water overflowed strongly, threatening residential areas. Hundreds of officers and soldiers soaked in the rain, together with people carrying soil, packing bags, and reinforcing key points for many hours.
Previously, in many areas of Thanh Hoa, soldiers, police, and militia went to deeply flooded areas, evacuated the elderly and children, moved property, transported necessities, and reinforced dykes and embankments. More than 15,000 officers, soldiers, and militia and self-defense forces were mobilized to respond to floods.
Officers and soldiers do not hesitate to wade down to support the people. When the water is rising, when the flood is receding, soldiers are always present, going down to the fields, into schools, to each residential area. Together with the people, clear mud, clear roads, and harvest what can still be saved.
On normal days, the image of a soldier of the armed forces is associated with neatness, seriousness, and strength. But when natural disasters strike, officers and soldiers in those military uniforms can soak for many hours in floodwater, stand in the rain guarding the underground spillway, carrying the elderly, taking sick people to the emergency room, or going down to the fields to harvest each bundle of rice to help people.
Those seemingly small things have great significance in the context of natural disasters. Because soldiers also grew up from the countryside and fields. They understand that a few acres of rice can be the effort of an entire family throughout the harvest season; a sick person trapped behind the floodwaters can stand at the boundary of life and death; a broken dike section can push the entire residential area into danger.
At that time, saving a person is not just completing the task. Helping people keep the rice crop is not just another thing to do. That is when public service responsibility meets human affection and is also when the value of the two words "for the people" appears most clearly.
Because, for the people's army, the people's police, being close to the people, relying on the people, wholeheartedly for the people has been cultivated through many generations. What is happening in the rain and floods these days continues to fill that image with very specific actions because the ultimate goal of fighting against the enemy, fighting against crime or rushing into the water to save a citizen is still to protect peace, protect the lives and for the lives of the people.
