In a speech on the occasion of the UAE Armed Forces 37th Unification Day, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum addressed the UAE Armed Forces in Diraa Al Watan (Nation Shield) magazine.

The following is an edited transcript of Sheikh Mohammed’s speech:

Officers and soldiers of the UAE Armed Forces,
Dear sons and daughters of UAE,

We meet again today to celebrate 37 years of the UAE Armed Forces Unification since the 6th May 1976. I am very happy to see this qualitative leap in our armed forces capabilities and the development accumulating year after year to keep up with the comprehensive development pace of the nation adding more successes and achievements in all fields.

We thank Allah for his countless blessings and for guiding us unto the path upright and for filling our hearts with faith and guidance to serve our homeland and fellow citizens as He pleases.

Dear brothers and sisters, as we celebrate our Armed Forces 37th Unification Day, we are celebrating a national achievement that has lived with us and grew inside us. With this unification, the process of building our armed forces capabilities became a fundamental pillar of progress for our country. The unification and development of our armed forces contributed to enhancing our competencies and experiences and helped define our prime objectives towards sustainable development, a collaboration that unleashed our national capabilities to assume leadership positions worldwide.

Today, our country is proudly celebrating their armed forces, assured of their capabilities and loyalty to the country and its leadership. I call on our youth to review the history of our armed forces so as to learn from their experiences that mirror our country’s progress.

I would like for our children to be aware that our path was not of ease, as we encountered many hardships and challenges, and that success would never have been accomplished, hadn’t we confronted these challenges. With hard work and perseverance we could realize our dreams, nothing to testify to this more than our Armed Forces which is an ideal manifestation of the wise leadership and its solid vision.

Unifying our Armed Forces was the second challenge facing our founding fathers, which many considered “impossible” to achieve. Yet, our founding fathers achieved the impossible when they established the United Arab Emirates and unified its armed forces. Thirty seven years ago, they agreed to unity the army, and it was a significant achievement considering the circumstances during the early years of the birth of our country.

The unification decision is but a first step in the long journey of this country. My brother, UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and I were fortunate enough to share with our founding fathers this path at the early stages. We lived the development stages of our armed forces and we learnt from our supreme commanders valuable lessons in leadership and perseverance.

In 22nd of May 1976, during the first meeting of the Armed Forces Supreme Commander which saw the attendance of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, I remember when Sheikh Zayed told us, only two weeks after the unification decision, that unifying the armed forces is the easy part. During that meeting, our Supreme Commander shared with us his vision to build a national and advanced army. He emphasized the importance of diversifying our arm resources and his wish to develop our national weapon industry to fill the gap in our military requirements and supplies, ordering us to prepare the national military cadres and urging tribes to send their sons to military schools.

Right after that meeting, we realized the challenge ahead of us, building armed forces based on national cadres in a short time. Our resources were scarce and our needs were huge. We understood from the very beginning that installing our weapon systems and military facilities could be accomplished in few years, but building our human capacity require much longer time. Accordingly, we focused on developing inclusive training programs to produce well equipped officers and leaders to fulfill our military requirements.

Today, we see the fruits of our work leading all branches of our armed forces will high competency. Those are the sons and daughters of Sheikh Zayed and the core of his vision.

The unification of the UAE Armed Forces exemplifies our believe that the national cadre is the core of our nation; and through developing our armed forces, equipping it with the most advanced arm systems and honing the skills of its leaders, we were able to achieve Emiratization of the armed forces personnel of all ranks and specialties. Similarly, we were able to attain Emiratization at all posts of police, other institutions and entities to follow.

Officers and soldiers,

You were honored by joining the forces and have proved by your devotion and good merits your loyalty to the country, obedience and readiness to perform any given tasks with high efficiency. I want you to live up to our expectations, be loyal to our legion and trustworthy. I also want you to keep pace with the latest development in artillery systems and armament training systems, for learning is an ongoing process and a source of power and distinction.

Always be fit, armed and geared up for anything as we are living in a world swayed by turmoil and unrests, a world where friendships do not exist but interests. We are confident with our policies and methods, based on establishing bilateral and friendly ties with the rest of the world, but at the same time we need to stay focused and alert to preserve our peace and stability. God orders us to sustain our strength and prepare ourselves to confront any danger.

Our dear soldiers and officers...  Our citizens,

Today, we can feel proud about our armed forces; they shouldered responsibilities to protect our homeland, preserving its security and stability. On this occasion, we must thank every man and woman who partook in making the epic of our military and security branches. We also must remember our father, teacher and the founder of our modern nation; the first Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, his comrade His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum and their brothers the founding fathers.

I also would like to take the opportunity to thank UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for his wise leadership and the crucial role he played in building our armed forces in the beginning. His role shall always be remembered throughout the history of this nation.

Also I would like to thank His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces. A man no stranger to the army and a true leader who played significant role in developing this institution.

My brothers and sisters in the UAE Armed Forces,

On this occasion, I would like to thank you and congratulate you for all your efforts.

I wish you all the best.