“A soldier in Arabia” is the story of a remarkable destiny which begins and ends in Arabia. David Neild went to the Arabian Peninsula only just in time to witness the historic events which led to the foundation of the United Arab Emirates.
He certainly never envisioned the role he would play nor the people he would meet. He realized from an early age that he was not meant for academic studies; he wanted a military career and fate was on his side. When he signed on for three years instead of the two compulsory two years’ National Service, he was told that this gave him the advantage to select the regiment in which he wished to serve. When a vacancy came up in the Trucial Omani Scouts, he readily applied for it:“Call it fate, luck or being in the right place at the right time, but early in 1959, at the tender age of 20, I was about to become the youngest British officer ever to serve with the Trucial Omani Scouts … I was about to embark on an Arabian journey which would change my life forever.”
These last words and Neild’s first encounter with the scorching heat as he steps out from the plane, remind me of Wilfred Thesiger’s classic “Arabian Sands” which was published to critical acclaim the same year the author left for the Trucial States. In his powerful and inimitable style, Thesiger warns that anyone who carries the “imprint of the desert…will have with him the yearning to return, weak or insistent according to his nature.”
David Neild joined the Trucial Oman Scouts (TOS) which had originally been created in 1951 as the Trucial Oman Levies and renamed the Trucial Oman Scouts in March 1956. The force’s initial task was to maintain peace within the Trucial States namely: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Al-Quwain and Ras Al-Khaimah. For twenty years, this unique force not only established a calm and stable climate but it played a vital role in ensuring a smooth and peaceful transition during the formation of the United Arab Emirates.
Neild enjoys recalling the many colorful incidents which happened during his “Arabian Journey”. On one occasion, a funny scene brought together HH Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al-Nuaimi, the ruler of Ajman, Richard Dinnin, the Training Squadron commander and a donkey! Donkeys were allowed to wander freely across the camp. Occasionally, stones would be thrown at them to dissuade them from approaching too close to the soldiers barracks. One day, a particularly old and irascible donkey refused to cooperate and a visibly short tempered Richard Dinnin shot the unfortunate animal with his gun. He thought the matter was closed but soon after, it was discovered that the donkey belonged to the Ruler of Ajman. HH Sheikh Rashid came over to meet the man who had killed the unlucky animal. Richard Dinnin welcomed Sheikh Rashid with the traditional greeting: “My home is your home.” After a coffee and a pleasant conversation, Sheikh Rashid told Richard that he had been informed that he had shot one of his donkeys and he would like to see the weapon which killed the poor animal. As soon as Richard handed over his precious firearm, the ruler took it from his hands and announced with a twinkle in his eye, “your shotgun is my shotgun”. He left immediately and the firearm was never to be seen again. In the meanwhile, David Neild’s lucky star never left his side. He was handed over the command of the regiment and was promoted to major. He was still only 29 years old.
“In those days life was more relaxed and it was possible to call on a ruler or anyone else in high authority relatively easily,” says Neild who had the chance to meet Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan and King Hussein. His Majesty, King Hussein knew a lot about the Trucial Oman Scouts. Aware that TOS was sending off to Jordan young Arab officers for training, the King invited Neild to Jordan where he monitored their progress and did some sightseeing. A strange coincidence occurred a few years later when his niece Frances went to work in Jordan as the personal assistant to the King’s wife, Queen Noor.
In 1968, Neild recalls that for the first time in the history of the TOS, HH Sheikh Saqr bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, the ruler of Ras Al-Khaimah, gave his permission for a rifle squadron to be based in Ras Al-Khaimah. The Foreign Office took this as a positive sign that Sheikh Saqr would adopt a more cooperative approach to the creation of the United Arab Emirates.
No one expected what happened next. Sheikh Sakr took the decision to form a small independent mobile force that would be loyal to him. He had also chosen Neild to set up and command this Ras Al-Khaimah Mobile Force. Sheikh Sakr had selected Neild because he handled successfully tribal rebellion. Furthermore, the personnel serving in the TOS believed that despite his young age, he was the best suited for the task.
Sheikh Sakr like the other rulers of the Trucial States was taken aback by the British government’s sudden decision in January 1968 to hand over the security and foreign affairs of the States to the seven rulers themselves with the belief of setting up a country no later than December 1971. This decision left the rulers wondering who would guarantee their countries security and looking for a solution.
Julian Bullard, the Political Agent was at first furious with Sakr’s decision but he later changed his mind and said in a report:
“Neild is a man who could serve Sakr without losing sight of HMG’s interest.” David Neild realized that there was a considerable amount of resentment and jealousy from the senior, longer-serving TOS officers who believed they were far more experienced and qualified.
“The more I thought about the offer, the more excited I became. I realized that this was a unique, once-in a-lifetime opportunity, and that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I did not take it. I was young, and keen to continue my military service in the region, but the future of the TOS was not looking good and in all probability it would be incorporated into the new proposed Union Defense Force. Besides, who needed the boring security of a pension anyway?”
Within two years, the first big military parade took place and in less than three years a force of 300 men was trained. Satisfied that he had achieved all that had been asked of him, Neild concluded albeit reluctantly, that his time in Ras Al-Khaimah was coming to an end.
He had neither the wish “to become an expensive and unnecessary embarrassment” nor the desire to “become part of the Union Defense Force” which was about to be established.
While he was on a skiing holiday in Lebanon, thinking what to do next, he received a telegram asking him to return immediately to the United Arab Emirates. The Ruler of Sharjah had just been assassinated and Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed had been given the responsibility of restoring law and order. His immediate task was to create the Sharjah National Guard with David Neild’s help.
Within a year a military unit consisting of 300 well trained men was established and Neild knew that the time had come, once again, to leave and start a new life.
At 35 and still a bachelor, he decided to become a professional hunter but the Kenyan government banned hunting just before he was about to set up his own safari company. He became a tobacco farmer in Zimbabwe and finally settled in South Africa.
In one of the most moving parts of the book, the author describes the two reunions of the Trucial Oman Scouts organized by the UAE Ministry of Defense. In 2002, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan during a Passing Out parade paid tribute to the “old gentlemen sitting over there” the veterans who enabled the peaceful creation of the United Arab Emirates.
Ten years later, the second TOS reunion took place in Ras Al-Khaimah. David Neild met with Sheikh Saud, the son of his old friend Sheikh Sakr who asked him to write a book about his early memories and also invited him to live permanently in Ras Al-Khaimah.
As Wilfred Thesiger had predicted, the lure of the desert was too strong. Neild could not refuse “this generous invitation” which gave him the opportunity to live again in a place that meant so much to him.
” I felt that I was coming home.”
During the years David Neild was in the Arabian Peninsula, he never thought of writing a book about his life. Now, that it is finished we are grateful to him, for his efforts have brought back to life a period in the history of the Gulf countries few are aware of. And behind those words, I feel the spirit of a country and the breath of the desert close by… The winds have swept away the years but not the memories of a man who found all he wanted in Arabia.
—
Email: [email protected]
He certainly never envisioned the role he would play nor the people he would meet. He realized from an early age that he was not meant for academic studies; he wanted a military career and fate was on his side. When he signed on for three years instead of the two compulsory two years’ National Service, he was told that this gave him the advantage to select the regiment in which he wished to serve. When a vacancy came up in the Trucial Omani Scouts, he readily applied for it:“Call it fate, luck or being in the right place at the right time, but early in 1959, at the tender age of 20, I was about to become the youngest British officer ever to serve with the Trucial Omani Scouts … I was about to embark on an Arabian journey which would change my life forever.”
These last words and Neild’s first encounter with the scorching heat as he steps out from the plane, remind me of Wilfred Thesiger’s classic “Arabian Sands” which was published to critical acclaim the same year the author left for the Trucial States. In his powerful and inimitable style, Thesiger warns that anyone who carries the “imprint of the desert…will have with him the yearning to return, weak or insistent according to his nature.”
David Neild joined the Trucial Oman Scouts (TOS) which had originally been created in 1951 as the Trucial Oman Levies and renamed the Trucial Oman Scouts in March 1956. The force’s initial task was to maintain peace within the Trucial States namely: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Al-Quwain and Ras Al-Khaimah. For twenty years, this unique force not only established a calm and stable climate but it played a vital role in ensuring a smooth and peaceful transition during the formation of the United Arab Emirates.
Neild enjoys recalling the many colorful incidents which happened during his “Arabian Journey”. On one occasion, a funny scene brought together HH Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al-Nuaimi, the ruler of Ajman, Richard Dinnin, the Training Squadron commander and a donkey! Donkeys were allowed to wander freely across the camp. Occasionally, stones would be thrown at them to dissuade them from approaching too close to the soldiers barracks. One day, a particularly old and irascible donkey refused to cooperate and a visibly short tempered Richard Dinnin shot the unfortunate animal with his gun. He thought the matter was closed but soon after, it was discovered that the donkey belonged to the Ruler of Ajman. HH Sheikh Rashid came over to meet the man who had killed the unlucky animal. Richard Dinnin welcomed Sheikh Rashid with the traditional greeting: “My home is your home.” After a coffee and a pleasant conversation, Sheikh Rashid told Richard that he had been informed that he had shot one of his donkeys and he would like to see the weapon which killed the poor animal. As soon as Richard handed over his precious firearm, the ruler took it from his hands and announced with a twinkle in his eye, “your shotgun is my shotgun”. He left immediately and the firearm was never to be seen again. In the meanwhile, David Neild’s lucky star never left his side. He was handed over the command of the regiment and was promoted to major. He was still only 29 years old.
“In those days life was more relaxed and it was possible to call on a ruler or anyone else in high authority relatively easily,” says Neild who had the chance to meet Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan and King Hussein. His Majesty, King Hussein knew a lot about the Trucial Oman Scouts. Aware that TOS was sending off to Jordan young Arab officers for training, the King invited Neild to Jordan where he monitored their progress and did some sightseeing. A strange coincidence occurred a few years later when his niece Frances went to work in Jordan as the personal assistant to the King’s wife, Queen Noor.
In 1968, Neild recalls that for the first time in the history of the TOS, HH Sheikh Saqr bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, the ruler of Ras Al-Khaimah, gave his permission for a rifle squadron to be based in Ras Al-Khaimah. The Foreign Office took this as a positive sign that Sheikh Saqr would adopt a more cooperative approach to the creation of the United Arab Emirates.
No one expected what happened next. Sheikh Sakr took the decision to form a small independent mobile force that would be loyal to him. He had also chosen Neild to set up and command this Ras Al-Khaimah Mobile Force. Sheikh Sakr had selected Neild because he handled successfully tribal rebellion. Furthermore, the personnel serving in the TOS believed that despite his young age, he was the best suited for the task.
Sheikh Sakr like the other rulers of the Trucial States was taken aback by the British government’s sudden decision in January 1968 to hand over the security and foreign affairs of the States to the seven rulers themselves with the belief of setting up a country no later than December 1971. This decision left the rulers wondering who would guarantee their countries security and looking for a solution.
Julian Bullard, the Political Agent was at first furious with Sakr’s decision but he later changed his mind and said in a report:
“Neild is a man who could serve Sakr without losing sight of HMG’s interest.” David Neild realized that there was a considerable amount of resentment and jealousy from the senior, longer-serving TOS officers who believed they were far more experienced and qualified.
“The more I thought about the offer, the more excited I became. I realized that this was a unique, once-in a-lifetime opportunity, and that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I did not take it. I was young, and keen to continue my military service in the region, but the future of the TOS was not looking good and in all probability it would be incorporated into the new proposed Union Defense Force. Besides, who needed the boring security of a pension anyway?”
Within two years, the first big military parade took place and in less than three years a force of 300 men was trained. Satisfied that he had achieved all that had been asked of him, Neild concluded albeit reluctantly, that his time in Ras Al-Khaimah was coming to an end.
He had neither the wish “to become an expensive and unnecessary embarrassment” nor the desire to “become part of the Union Defense Force” which was about to be established.
While he was on a skiing holiday in Lebanon, thinking what to do next, he received a telegram asking him to return immediately to the United Arab Emirates. The Ruler of Sharjah had just been assassinated and Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed had been given the responsibility of restoring law and order. His immediate task was to create the Sharjah National Guard with David Neild’s help.
Within a year a military unit consisting of 300 well trained men was established and Neild knew that the time had come, once again, to leave and start a new life.
At 35 and still a bachelor, he decided to become a professional hunter but the Kenyan government banned hunting just before he was about to set up his own safari company. He became a tobacco farmer in Zimbabwe and finally settled in South Africa.
In one of the most moving parts of the book, the author describes the two reunions of the Trucial Oman Scouts organized by the UAE Ministry of Defense. In 2002, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan during a Passing Out parade paid tribute to the “old gentlemen sitting over there” the veterans who enabled the peaceful creation of the United Arab Emirates.
Ten years later, the second TOS reunion took place in Ras Al-Khaimah. David Neild met with Sheikh Saud, the son of his old friend Sheikh Sakr who asked him to write a book about his early memories and also invited him to live permanently in Ras Al-Khaimah.
As Wilfred Thesiger had predicted, the lure of the desert was too strong. Neild could not refuse “this generous invitation” which gave him the opportunity to live again in a place that meant so much to him.
” I felt that I was coming home.”
During the years David Neild was in the Arabian Peninsula, he never thought of writing a book about his life. Now, that it is finished we are grateful to him, for his efforts have brought back to life a period in the history of the Gulf countries few are aware of. And behind those words, I feel the spirit of a country and the breath of the desert close by… The winds have swept away the years but not the memories of a man who found all he wanted in Arabia.
—
Email: [email protected]
