UAE: First conscripts

The UAE’s first batch of conscripts arrived for boot camp on 30 August, with training due to begin the next day. The federation issued a law enforcing national military service on 7 June, following the example of Qatar whose first recruits completed their service later that month. In a statement, chairman of the National and Reserve Service Authority Staff Major General Pilot Sheikh Ahmed Bin Tahnoun Al-Nahyan noted the goal was not just to increase military numbers, but also to inculcate a sense of national pride and responsibility into the citizenry.