Kou Voravong
Kou Voravong grew up in Savannakhet and pursued a primary education there. He obtained the « certificat d'études primaires complémentaire indochinois » - Certificate of Indochinese Additional Primary Studies - (CEPCI) in 1930, went afterward to Vientiane and began his first-secondary-school year at the Collège Auguste Pavie. But because of a conflict which opposed him to French Colonial administration, his adopted father was sentenced to prison that same year. As reaction to this situation, Kou Voravong left school and returned to Savannakhet. As an out-of-school teenager, he practiced sports, especially soccer.
Kou Tie
Kou Tie was born in Anda, Heilongjiang, in April 1950. He graduated from PLA National Defence University. He enlisted in the People's Liberation Army in March 1968 by age 18, during the dawn of Cultural Revolution. He was successively as soldier, platoon leader, section chief, and division commander before serving as chief of staff of the 40th Army in December 1996. He was promoted to major general in July 1998. He was deputy army commander of the 40th Army in December 2001, and held that office until January 2002, when he was promoted to become commander of the 23rd Army. He was the 14th and the last army commander of the 23rd Army, due to the Army was revoked in November 2003. Then he was transferred to another post as commander of Heilongjiang Military District, serving in the post until he retirement in September 2010. He has come under investigation for "serious legal violations" in November 2004 and was transferred to the military judicial organ in May 2015.