Every time Brig. Gen Ahmad Al-Asiri, spokesman for the coalition and adviser at the office of the Minister of Defense, delivers a daily briefing on operations in Yemen, I am glued to the TV. I watch the military operations the Saudi jet fighters carry out and take great pride in what our pilots are doing because I belong to this country. However, when I browse social media, walk on the streets and in malls, or see and hear our young Saudi men and women on TV and radio, I feel ashamed of being a Saudi. Young men and women account for a third of our population, which means we are heading for a real disaster if we fail to tap into and direct the energies and capabilities of our young generations in the right direction. Anyone who has a good knowledge of Saudi youth will realize that we have failed a great deal over the past few years in finding programs that could absorb our youth and meet their needs. The reasons for this failure vary. There might be bureaucratic obstacles or there might be social or financial ones. It is no surprise that the majority of our youth are either out dancing in clubs, drunk inside bars in nearby countries, or blowing themselves up in world conflicts. Many of them feel lost and do not know what they want from life. One thing is sure and that is that although there are official efforts being made to absorb them, the problem is too complicated to be resolved. However, we need a national program overseen directly by the government, not a ministry. I had a remarkable experience in 1991 during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. I enlisted in the army and enrolled in military courses. I am not exaggerating when I say that I continue to reap the benefits from enrolling in those courses until this very day and I am extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to take part in them. Our youth have a lot of free time and do not know what to do with it. The only solution to this problem is to draft them into the military, which will help us confront the demographic and geopolitical changes in the region.
