Reserve Forces
Backing up the Regular and Paramilitary Forces is a reserve [numbering about 500,000 personnel in 1987], designated the Tactical Rear Force. They would provide regular units with initial reinforcement strength during a full PAVN mobilisation. They were mostly armed with small arms and some heavier crew-served weapons such as mortars and recoilless rifles. Some Northern regiments are formed into Divisions and receive regular military training. This semi-mobilized body was composed mainly of veterans and overage males, who in time of emergency would replace personnel in the Militia Self-Defense Force. The latter would move up to the Regional Force, whose units might in turn be upgraded into the Regular Force.
The reserve force is composed of all home reservists chosen and classified as meeting the demands of the mobilization plan. In peacetime, the reserves are registered, administered, and organized into reserve units which are trained as stipulated according to program and fulfill other tasks in their localities. The reserves have the same components as those of the standing force, with officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers of various branches and services of the main force and local forces who have completed their active service obligations and a number of civilians listed also as reservists.
The Reserve, a component of the VPA, is strictly organized, disciplined and capable of fulfilling its task, ready to participate in the active force as required. The Reserve includes reserve military personnel and technical means of the national economy which have been selected and planned to readily supplement the active force of the VPA. The Reserve is organized on the basis of the same table of organization and equipment of the VPA with its components corresponding to those of the services and arms of the regular and Local Force.
Every year, the Government assigns quotas of training, exercises and examinations of mobilization readiness for ministries, branches and localities. The Ministry of National Defense instructs, directs, inspects and urges the localities and units in their building and mobilization of the Reserve in conformity with the laws, and directly administers the training arrangement of the reserve units. The ministries, branches, and provincial people’s committees coordinate with active units of the VPA to allocate military reservists and technical equipment to reserve units based on the mobilization quotas assigned by the Government.
Reservists are classified into two categories according to their military experience and into three groups according to their age. Service obligation for reservists continues until the age of 50. The reservists are selected from military personnel finishing their military service and civilians trained as regulated by the law. Annually, the reserve units are summoned for checking their mobilization readiness, with training and military exercises based on a common training program. Reservists are selectively appointed to command posts of the reserve units and get allowances as regulated. The Reserve has become an important force contributing to the building of the all-people defense and the consolidation of the strength of the people’s war posture to meet the requirements of construction and protection of the Homeland under new circumstances.
In 1996 a new military reservist law was passed, dealing with developing and mobilizing the reserve forces. Possibly the best that could be expected is that in a short war, the reserves would be mustered in platoons and companies to take over security duties from more seasoned troops who would be rushed to the front.
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