Abu Dhabi: Through military discipline, recruits will gain physical strength, endurance, knowledge, and spirit. “Day by day, morning and night, they will be taught to live up to expectations. They have to stand tall and look sharp,” said Staff Major General Pilot Shaikh Ahmad Bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Chairman of the National Service, yesterday.
Stressing that protecting the nation and preserving its independence and sovereignty is a sacred national duty, Shaikh Ahmad said the national service is a way of giving back to the country that has given them so much.
“Our military organisation — a social construction imbued with the values, mores, expectations and hopes of all its members — will shape the behaviour of young men and women through discipline and acculturation into the military system,” Shaikh Ahmad said.
Part of the military service will require military training and exercises, as well as lectures on patriotism.
Shaikh Ahmad said the disciplined people will manage the environment that surrounds them. “They will have developed a habit of managing their surroundings and will do so no matter where they happen to be. They will exert that discipline whether they are. Bit by bit, they start to care about the military code. They stand tall because of the pride inside them. They will become fit and ready for the life ahead of them.”
Shaikh Ahmad argued this determination and spirit does not leave the soldiers when they leave the military. They will approach tasks in the civilian world with the same self-discipline that they acquired as young conscripts.
He said the recruits will learn that self-discipline is the first step towards leadership, and now they are ready to step to the front of groups and assign those tasks to others.
They will be ready to lead by example as this discipline becomes a major part of their life. It carries them through their time of military service and can also help tremendously in their civilian life.
The truly disciplined will establish good daily habits and work ethics which will serve to help them get ahead. They will exert that discipline wherever they are, Shaikh Ahmad said.