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Bahrain Personnel, Training, and Recruitment
Unlike other Persian Gulf states, Kuwait has a
conscription
system that obligates young men to serve for two years
beginning
at the age of eighteen. Educational deferments are
granted, and
university graduates serve for only one year. In practice,
exemptions are liberally granted, and most young Kuwaitis
are
able to avoid military duty. Estimates are that only 20 to
30
percent of the prewar military ranks were filled by
Kuwaiti
nationals. Military and security forces had been purged of
Shia
personnel during the 1980s. At the outbreak of the gulf
war,
Palestinians filled many technical positions, supported by
thousands of Pakistanis, Indians, and Filipinos in
maintenance
and logistic functions. Officers on detail from Britain,
Pakistan, Egypt, and Jordan provided military expertise.
Lower
ranks in the army and security forces were occupied
predominantly
by bidun who had taken reasonably well to military
life
but were poorly prepared to absorb training in operating
and
servicing modern equipment. In spite of reports that many
bidun fought well against the Iraqis, many were
expelled
from the army in 1991 for alleged collaboration. Because
of their
removal and the removal of Palestinians and other
non-Kuwaitis,
the ranks of the services became seriously depleted. Few
Kuwaitis
volunteer for military service, and conscription is not
regarded
as an acceptable option. Under the circumstances, Kuwait
will be
hard pressed to meet its goal of a postwar armed strength
of
30,000. A relaxation of the policy toward bidun was
hinted
at by the statement of the minister of defense that people
of
"unspecified nationality" may be retained after screening
for
loyalty and may even be given Kuwaiti citizenship. With
respect
to conscription, the minister of defense in July 1991 said
that
the system was being reviewed to make it more effective.
Most Kuwaiti officers are members of the ruling family
or
related tribal groups. Education standards are high--many
are
graduates of Sandhurst--and living conditions, pay, and
benefits
are excellent. The Kuwaiti Military College accepts
secondary
school graduates for eighteen months of cadet training in
army,
air force, and navy programs. The United States provides
pilot
training and assistance in developing a flight training
facility
within Kuwait. United States, British, and French military
missions and civilian contractors provide training for
more
technologically advanced systems. A small Soviet advisory
group
provided training in the use of Soviet missile systems
before the
Persian Gulf War.
Traditionally, the officer corps--with its close links
to the
ruling family--was considered to be a loyal and
trustworthy
defender of the regime. In the aftermath of the Persian
Gulf War,
however, there were displays of discontent among officers
arising
from the inadequate response of the armed forces to the
Iraqi
invasion and the failure to launch postwar reforms. Many
of the
6,000 officers and men taken prisoner by the Iraqis were
prevented from rejoining the armed forces and were angered
at
their treatment by senior officers who fled to Saudi
Arabia. In
June 1991, some officers of the resistance group known as
the
Second of August Movement petitioned the amir to dismiss
the
former ministers of defense and interior from their
cabinet posts
and to investigate the reason the Kuwaiti army was not
mobilized
or on the alert when the Iraqis attacked. The petition
also
called for removal of the army chief of staff and his
immediate
staff and as many as twenty generals and seventy-five
colonels.
In July fourteen senior officers were forced into
retirement.
The amir reportedly met with disaffected officers to tell
them
that their calls for reform would be considered. Officers
threatened with dismissal for signing the petition were
reinstated, and other reform-minded officers were
reportedly
promoted.
Data as of January 1993
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