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Saudi Arabia
Personnel and Conditions of Service
Saudi Arabia, a large country with a small population, has felt
the strains of modernization, particularly since the mid1960s
. The military, because of the increasing complexity of its arms
and equipment, has faced an ever-expanding requirement for technical
skills within its ranks. As in many other countries-- developing
or developed--competition for technicians has been very high among
all sectors of the rapidly modernizing economy, and, for the military,
retaining trained specialists has been difficult.
Since the establishment of the kingdom, the Saudis have relied
on volunteers to fill the ranks of the services. On several occasions,
Saudi officials have indicated that a system of conscription would
be introduced. A military draft has, however, never been instituted,
presumably because it would be bitterly unpopular, difficult to
enforce, and liable to introduce unreliable elements into the
military. The intended radical increases in the size of the army
and the national guard would seem to necessitate some form of
compulsory service. Nevertheless, in June 1991, the minister of
defense and aviation declared that no conscription was needed
because the rush of volunteers sometimes exceeded the capacity
of training centers to absorb them.
The government conducted regular advertising campaigns to inform
young Saudi males of the benefits available to them in the armed
forces. Recruiting stations existed throughout the country; the
government tried to strike a geographic balance by attracting
a representative cross section of the population to the enlisted
ranks. The officer corps was still predominantly composed of members
of the Najd aristocracy. The national guard continued to rely
on an old system of tribal levies to fill its ranks, yielding
a composition much less representative of the nation as a whole.
Guardsmen were recruited mainly from a few of the important camel-rearing
tribes of Najd, reputedly the most trustworthy in the kingdom.
The kingdom's population of 16.9 million according to the 1992
census, of whom 12.3 million were Saudi nationals, would be sufficient
to maintain the desired strength levels of the regular armed services,
assuming the needed education and skill levels were available.
(Population statistics for Saudi Arabia, however, were regarded
by some Western sources as unreliable.) According to the United
States Government, an estimated 159,000 males reached the military
age of eighteen each year. The United States Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency (ACDA) reported that Saudi Arabia had 5.4 persons
in the armed forces per 1,000 of population. This was far lower
than the average for the Middle East as a whole (18.3 per 1,000
of population).
The conservative Muslim attitude that strongly discouraged Saudi
women from seeking jobs outside the home has eased only slightly.
Some women worked in human services and medical occupations, but
generally social and religious barriers precluded women from working
in positions that would place them in public contact with men.
Thus, the military services remained closed to female applicants.
The military enlistment period was three years; cash and other
rewards were offered as inducements to reenlist. Pay scales were
set at levels higher than that for other government service, and
the military have been spared salary cuts that applied to civil
servants. Allowances and fringe benefits were generous. The government
spent huge sums of money to improve the amenities and comfort
for personnel in order to increase the attractiveness of military
careers. The military cities included excellent family housing
for married officers and NCOs, as well as modern barracks for
unmarried personnel. The military cities also offered excellent
schools and hospitals as well as convenient shopping centers and
recreational facilities.
To attract applicants to the military profession, the Ministry
of Defense and Aviation founded its own technical high schools
and colleges, which offered subsidized education and granted degrees.
Anyone seeking a commission by attending a military academy had
to be eighteen years old and a citizen by birth or a naturalized
citizen for at least five years. The candidate also had to be
of good reputation, having neither been subjected to a sharia
penalty nor imprisoned for a felony within five years of the date
of his application. Officers were not free to resign. However,
they enjoyed extensive benefits, including hardship pay for service
in remote areas such as Ash Sharawrah in the southwestern desert.
They were entitled to buy land and housing for themselves or as
an income-producing investment with generously subsidized loans.
Although officers were promoted on a regular basis, they were
often frustrated by the lack of opportunity to assume increasing
responsibility, owing to the small size of the services.
Because of the advanced technology inherent in the military modernization
programs, large numbers of expatriate military and civilian personnel
have been required to service and maintain weapons systems and
to train Saudi personnel in their use. Although precise data were
not available, it was estimated that in the late 1980s, about
5,000 United States civilian and 500 military technicians and
trainers and perhaps 5,000 British, French, and other Europeans
provided this support. In addition, a considerable number of officers
from Muslim countries--including Pakistanis, Jordanians, Syrians,
Palestinians, and Egyptians-- were contracted on an individual
basis, mostly in training and logistics assignments. As many as
11,000 to 15,000 Pakistani troops and advisers had been recruited
to bring the two armored brigades to full strength, as well as
to serve in engineering units and the air force. The 10,000 troops
in the armored service left the country beginning in late 1987,
reportedly because Pakistan was unwilling to screen the Shia element
from the force at a time when conflict with Iran seemed a possibility.
Data as of December 1992
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