Those are the heartfelt words of Captain Lường Văn Xuân, an Assistant for Civil Affairs at Regiment 82, Division 355, during his special mission in the flood zone.

Alongside over 1,200 personnel sent to support the hardest-hit communes from the floods during the night of July 31 to the morning of August 1, Regiment 82 contributed nearly 100 officers and soldiers. Captain Xuân was among them. Every memory, every emotion in the flood zone was etched into his mind and penned with the empathy of a “Soldier of Uncle Hồ.” Bare soles coated in mud, heartrending losses of fellow citizens and comrades, and the desolation of mountain settlements, all these weighed heavily on his heart, driving him and his team to work with intensified urgency and resolve.

In his reflections, Captain Xuân wrote: “On the first day of August, as soon as reports came in from the highland communes of Xa Dung, Mường Luân, Tìa Dình, ... the regiment commander issued the mobilization order. Without hesitation, nearly 100 officers and soldiers readied their gear and set out. The deeper we drove into the flood’s heart, the more we felt the truth in the command: ‘Nothing is more precious than human life,’ and ‘There’s no time when the people need the army more than now!’”

The first village we reached was Suối Lư in Xa Dung commune, a scene of utter devastation, everything mired in mud. I couldn’t imagine that this was once one of the most vibrant settlements in the commune!

According to Xa Dung commune’s authorities, 13 households were buried or deeply inundated in the area. Among them, the family of Đỗ Văn Định suffered immensely. One day after the flood, shock was still evident on his face. Gaze fixed on what was once his “home,” he choked with grief, saying, “The flood came too fast. The water rose past the roof. We only had time to save ourselves. All our possessions and belongings were swept away…”

After hours of digging and clearing his home and those nearby with shovels, our comrade, Captain Hà Văn Miền, Commander of the Company 7, Battalion 2, felt his arm go numb. In a brief break, he said: “Seeing the loss and suffering of the people, I was deeply pained. Nothing matters more now than our determination to lead and complete this mission.”

Leaving Suối Lư, I and my comrades moved on to the remote Tìa Mùng village in Tìa Dình commune, fully cut off after the rains. Nineteen households were heavily affected; nine had lost everything, and the area remained perilously unsafe.

In the midst of such heartbreak came a particularly striking story of comrade Giàng A Thanh, working in Administration-Technical Division at the Defensive Area Command Region 2-Na Sang. Thanh’s family of seven, living in poverty, was devastated. “Just as I received orders to deploy, I learned the flood had swept away our house. My mother was badly hurt, and it took all night to bring her out of the village due to impassable roads,” he shared, his voice trembling. His family’s losses reached nearly VND 120 million.

Upon hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Trần Công Quyết, Deputy Chief of the Staff of Regiment 82, organized a support team to visit and assist Thanh’s family. Standing where Thanh’s home once stood, now just a bare foundation, many officers held back tears. Thanh, fighting emotion, said to the commander, “I’ve lost everything... I don’t know what to do now.”

Without words, team members quietly stepped forward, helping retrieve belongings preserved under mud for two days. Medical officer Tòng Văn Nghiệp, almost overcome, simply said, “My heart aches so much... I cannot find the words.”

More gut-wrenching was seeing Thanh’s wife, Sùng Thị Máy, picking up soggy cassava tubers, now starting to rot from mud and water. That diligent woman was likely trying to secure emergency food for the days ahead...

Driven by a spirit of solidarity and compassion, we helped Thanh’s family and neighbors recover buried items and clean household essentials. With support from Party and government authorities and local organizations, we hope our community will soon rise from devastation and reclaim stability.

Our deployment is far from over, much more remains to be done. Amid the ruins of Xa Dung, Tìa Dình, Mường Luân, soldiers showed up not just with tools and mud-stained hands to rebuild homes, but with warm hearts, quietly wiping away tears and serving as a steadfast pillar for our people during their darkest hours!