Vietnamese citizens can now serve their country by fighting not on the battlefield, but in cyberspace.

Colonel General Nguyen Trong Nghia said on Dec. 25 that Vietnam has set up a special task force to combat "wrongful information" and "anti-state propaganda" online, according to Vietnam's Tuoi Tre News.

It is called Force 47, and numbers more than 10,000.

It is named after Directive No. 47 that governs its foundation.

Internet brigade

The deputy chairman of the General Political Department of the People’s Army of Vietnam was speaking at a conference on “propaganda activities” attended by Communist party officials.

He said that members of Force 47 are “red and competent,” implying that they have both technology expertise and good political ideals in addition to personality.

He believes that there is no reason why Vietnam should keep this special force secret to the world.

Said Nguyen:

"The Central Military Commission is very interested in building up a standing force to counter the wrong viewpoints.

I see other countries declaring that there is a real cyber war. Therefore in every hour, minute, and second we must be ready to fight proactively against the wrong views."

The Central Party Committee of the People's Army of Vietnam even considers the task force to be the equivalent of their conventional forces, just that they operate online.

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Everybody was online fighting

As the Vietnamese economy grows, more of its citizens are getting connected.

According to Nguyen, about 63 per cent of Vietnam's 90-million-strong population have access to the Internet in 2017, which happens to be the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the Internet in Vietnam.

But Nguyen warned:

"However, such a strong growth rate does both good and harm to the country."

Hence the need, in Vietnam's eyes, for a task force that is both technologically savvy and committed to the party's ideals.

There's no indication on how these keyboard warriors will be deployed, whether as commenters on international news articles or something more intense, like cyber-espionage.

But it goes to show that the next stage of modern warfare will likely be fought with computers, not guns.

Top image from YouTube.