October 18, 2006: The UAE (United Arab Emirates) are establishing military reserves. This is new for the Arab states in the Persian Gulf. So far, only Kuwait has a reserve, and that's only because they were scared into it by the 1990 Iraq invasion. Saudi Arabia, instead of having a reserve, has a parallel force composed of tribesmen, loyal to the king, organized into part time paramilitary units (the National Guard.) But the UAE organization would be a traditional military reserve, using former active service personnel and new recruits looking for a part time job. The reason for the reserve is to send a message to Iran, which the Arab states on the west side of the Gulf, fear.
