Visiting Vietnam's Dearest Southwest Sea and Islands

In the last days of the Year of the Cat 2023, Vietnam Times writer joined the working group of the Navy Region 5 Command to visit, encourage and send the New Year best wishes to officers, soldiers, and people in the Southwest Sea of the Fatherland. The simple, loving atmosphere here became more exciting when holding hands of solidarity from the mainland.

Tracy Dao

February 11, 2024 | 13:57

The garden of Radar Station 615, Regiment 551, Naval Region 5 Command (stationed on Hon Chuoi island, Song Doc town, Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province) is about more than 50m2 wide but is also skillfully designed and taken care of with many types of seedlings.

Visiting Vietnam's Dearest Southwest Sea and Islands

Corporal Phan Quoc Dat, Radar Station 615, Regiment 551, Navy Region 5 Command is harvesting melons at the station's garden.

Hon Chuoi Island belongs to Song Doc town (Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province), located nearly 32km west of the mainland with the total area of about 7km². On the island, in addition to the armed forces such as Radar Station 615 (Regiment 551, under the Naval Region 5 Command), Border Guard Station 704 under the Border Guard of Ca Mau province, an engineering unit and a lighthouse station belonging to the transportation sector, there are also about 70 households with more than 200 people. Most households make a living mainly by raising cobia in cages at sea, catching seafood, and doing small business.

Living scene of a household on Hon Chuoi island (Tran Van Thoi district, Ca Mau province).

Previously, Hon Chuoi was known as the "No 5" island: no electricity, no roads, no school, no station, and no clean water. Now, the island has solar power and a rainwater storage system for daily use...

Hon Chuoi Island does not have a medical center or national school system. The only class on the island teaches students from grades 1 to grade 7 together. The teacher is Major Tran Binh Phuc, who is also Deputy Head of Mass Mobilization Team (Hon Chuoi Border Guard Station).

Temporary houses of residents on Hon Chuoi island.

In each grade, a few students sit facing each direction. The classroom has 3 large boards mounted in different directions. Each board is divided into 2 or 3 parts, each part conveys a different content of knowledge, depending on each class group. The teacher always hopes that in the future, their students will have a better life and will be the next people in the cause of building and protecting the sea and islands of the Fatherland.

Teacher Tran Binh Phuc, Deputy Team Leader of Mass Mobilization at Hon Chuoi Border Guard Station, guides students in reading practice.

Huynh Van Ha (from Tien Hai, Thai Binh province) has worked for three tenures at Hon Khoai Lighthouse Station. He expressed his joy and pride with the development of the Station when there are roads, electricity, clean water, and solid housing.

Huynh Van Ha, a worker at Hon Khoai Lighthouse Station (Ngoc Hien district, Ca Mau province), is playing with two dogs, Vang and Ki, in the station grounds after his shift.

Radar Station 610 soldiers are receiving gifts from the mainland.

The southwest coast of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has an area of about 150,000 square kilometers. On the sea surface, there are more than 150 islands, of which 46 inhabited islands belong to 05 archipelagos: An Thoi, Hai Tac, Ba Lua, Nam Du, and Tho Chu.

This is a sea area with a favorable geo-economic and geo-political location for the population to live and socio-economic development, especially in tourism, service, fishing and aquaculture industries; building all-people national defense and security at sea, combining economics development with national defense and security.

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