SAF Association Talk - East of Suez

The British Omani Society is pleased to announce a Sultan's Armed Forces (SAF) Association event scheduled for September 23. The SAF-Association is hosting Colonel (Retired) David Bennett for a talk entitled 'East of Suez - The UK's Defence Hub at Duqm'.

The talk will focus on strategic drivers behind the creation of the Defence Hub as an integrated joint enabling facility. He will describe his experiences of being launched by the UK MOD to Oman to conduct liaison with several Government Ministries, the Sultan's Armed Forces as well as civilian entities and commercial companies. As the UK's latest manifestation of its strategic commitment to Oman and the Gulf region, he will outline how Exercise SAIF SAREEA 3 was used as a proof of concept to confirm that Duqm could be the plinth on which strategic presence could be based. 

We do have limited numbers, but if you are interested please email the British Omani Society at RSVP@ao-soc.org

About the speaker

Colonel (Retired) David Bennett was commissioned into the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s) in 1984, serving in Germany, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Canada. In 2003 he conducted the In Theatre Training for 1st Armoured Division in Kuwait and entered Iraq with the GOC’s Tactical HQ. After command of the Armoured Fighting Vehicle Gunnery School in Lulworth he deployed to Afghanistan as Chief Operations in HQ ISAF. On promotion to Colonel in 2009 he deployed again to HQ ISAF as Executive Officer to DCOS Operations, a US 2* General. The last 9 years of his military career were spent in Defence Engagement roles in the Middle East, firstly as Director of Studies at the Staff College in Kuwait and then Chief Directing Staff responsible for establishing a new Staff College in Qatar. In 2016 he was selected as the Defence Hub Duqm Liaison Officer, charged with creating a permanent UK presence in Oman centred on the Port of Duqm from which to conduct training, operations and logistic support. He left the Army in 2019 and is now the Director of the Stansted Park Foundation, a charitable Estate in West Sussex.