Major General Mutaib and a number of our colleagues played a significant role in implementing a pragmatic developmental vision for the National Guard that reflected the Kingdom’s current realities. Under this vision, an initiative we proposed to the organization’s presidency was a study on improving the National Guard’s battalions, which have a special position in the Kingdom’s military f ramework: they are made up of the grandchildren and successors of those who fought alongside King Abdulaziz Al Saud in his unification army. Our recommendation was to develop the young recruits’ capabilities an d turn them into a reserve army. Each servicemember would undergo a month-long training and work as a guard for another month before they are sent back to their hometowns for the remainder of the year to work in a job of their choosing. While employed, the servicemembers would receive half of their National Guard salary. A survey carried out by the First Battalion led by Dr Abdulaziz bin Aboud indicated that the program, with its benefits and gains, had been positively received. Under the program for instance, six or seven battalions comprising 1,000 servicemembers each are to be formed, and each recruit would receive opportunities and training before they are stationed in their respective regions, particularly in areas with archaeological sites that need protection. The initiative was designed to create job opportunities for them within the nascent tourism sector while further developing the Kingdom’s different regions.
Another one of our initiatives was approaching South Africa in relation to its experience in riot control, which could be arguably comparable to how we deal with the large crowds of the Hajj season.
Our study of South African security apparatuses helped us understand the type of challenge our special forces were up against, preparing us for incidents that can be expected amid mass gatherings. The National Guard must, we soon realized, constantly be engaged with the public to handle these issues. As Mutaib would say: “It is better to keep recruits busy before they make you busy.” I certainly felt honor in serving Allah, king, and country in my capacity as a member of the security services charged with protecting the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah. I felt the immensity of this responsibility like no time before when Prince Abdul Majeed, who was appointed as the Governor of the Makkah region in 2000, relocated from Madinah to Makkah to assume his new role. As I received him in front of the Grand Mosque, he asked that, as a representative of the National Guard, I go to Madinah the next day to welcome its new Governor, Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz. I was overwhelmed with national pride, faith, and honor to be entrusted with such a noble duty.
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Developing Potential My involvement in the National Guard helped develop my capacity go build up and invest in the potential of the Saudi people. Through my own experience with the Montessori school system, I value the importance of early education and its foundational role in inculcating skills in children from a young age and teaching them to be self-reliant. This, I believe is the key to success, confirmed by the great skill sets of those who had gone through this system of learning, and who scored higher than their peers. With this in mind, t he National Guard’s training center launched a n initiative to attract outstanding high school students from Jeddah for a one-month training during their summer break. The students were put into a morning military training program that sought to instill in them the principles of commitment, discipline, and teamwork. This routine was followed by a series of educational, technological, and athletic courses instructed by specialists.
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