On November 5, continuing the 8th Session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Officers of the Vietnam People's Army.
After the delegates spoke, General Phan Van Giang - Minister of National Defense explained and clarified a number of issues raised by the National Assembly delegates. He said he would fully absorb the opinions expressed by the delegates at the meeting.
Explaining the delegates' opinions on the retirement age for the rank of lieutenant increasing from 46 to 50 years old, Minister Phan Van Giang said that military officers graduating from school usually have to reach the rank of captain after about 10 to 12 years.
"We have stipulated that the rank of deputy company commander and below is the rank of captain. If one reaches the age of 50, meaning that one has worked in the military for more than 30 years and is just promoted to captain, then one's ability must also be reviewed," the Minister cited.
According to the Minister, the efforts of officers also need to be more drastic. The retirement age for the rank of captain is not high, even non-existent. However, the draft law still needs to stipulate so that if there are cases, they can be handled.
General Phan Van Giang said that the army in peacetime has forces with special labor intensity but can increase their age to meet the demand.
Emphasizing that this Law is common to all officers, General Phan Van Giang said that in specific cases, there will be decrees and circulars to apply appropriately. However, it is very difficult to have a law regulating certain types of officers or a certain type of officer.
Because there are many types of officers such as command officers, political officers, logistics officers, technical officers and some other types of officers such as peacekeeping forces.
"Our point of view is that we must still raise an army for 3 years and use it for 1 hour. Therefore, in peacetime, we must also train our army so that when a situation arises, we can handle it. If we are lax and when a situation arises that we cannot handle, it will be very difficult. The intensity must be increasingly high. If the intensity does not increase, it is clearly not meeting the requirements," the Minister stated.
According to the Minister, recent wars show that we need to be more demanding, especially in terms of expertise and technology.
Regarding the opinion of the delegate requesting the drafting committee to study and consider the general rank between the army and the police in key provinces and cities, General Phan Van Giang said that this is difficult to implement. Because the provincial police director has only one major general, but the commander of the provincial military command is related to the political commissar. Along with the commander of the provincial military command, there is also the commander of the provincial border guard and the political commissar.
"These four titles are equivalent to each other, but choosing to promote one person is difficult to balance. Today promoting one to the military, tomorrow promoting one to the border will be difficult. So we ask to resign, still at the rank of colonel" - General Phan Van Giang clearly stated.
Regarding the proposal to increase the retirement age of military generals to 62 years old, Minister Phan Van Giang shared that due to the specific characteristics of the organization and command work in the military, he hopes the National Assembly will allow the retirement age for generals to remain the same as in the draft proposal of 60 years old.
