Starting Point
Having been aware of UN peacekeeping activities since her university days, Captain Minh Ngoc immediately joined the army after graduating with a bachelor's degree in international business and management in Malaysia. Fortunately, in May 2014, the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center (VPC)—now known as the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department—was established, and she applied to join the Centre.
She recalled that at that time, the concept of peacekeeping and the nature of UN peacekeeping activities were still very new to the majority of Vietnamese people. When she decided to join the UN peacekeeping force, many people asked her what peacekeeping was. Being a woman who chose this field, many doubted her and persuaded her to lead a life that was more acceptable according to societal standards.
Peace Journey
She stated that the hardships and difficulties faced by the Vietnamese "blue beret" force during their participation in the peacekeeping mission are common for all officers. Still, for female soldiers, the situation is compounded. For example, she recounted that the day she received her assignment to go to Ho Chi Minh City to join the field hospital formation was exactly three months before her wedding day.
In October 2018, Vietnam's first level-two field hospital was officially and successfully deployed to the UN peacekeeping mission in Bentiu, South Sudan. It was the peak of the dry season, and the entire base was short of water. Each person in the unit was only given 5 litres of water per day for daily use. Sympathising with the women, many of their male teammates had to give up most of their daily water to the women, keeping only a small amount to wipe their bodies. The women also used water very sparingly, reusing it multiple times for tasks such as bathing, cleaning, and watering vegetables.
During her deployment, she recalled times when she and her teammates had to deploy to places where there was nothing but dust, soil, and dry trees. At another time, they had to deploy to locations where, due to fighting, communication lines and food supplies were cut off. During the rainy season, they had to face all kinds of epidemics, especially malaria. Every day, they had to take malaria prevention medicine, which is very harmful to women. In such difficult circumstances, the Vietnamese officers made efforts and united to complete the mission assigned by the Fatherland.
Success stories
Captain Minh Ngoc said that she and her teammates were motivated to overcome difficulties and hardships thanks to the support from the home front, from teammates in the country, and the warm affection of the local people for Vietnam. At the end of 2019, Captain Minh Ngoc and his teammates completed the mission, creating a favourable premise for Vietnam's level-two field hospital No. 2 to replace them and continue to carry out the noble international mission in South Sudan