By MD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: The Military Service Council (MSC) headed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has decided to pay SR500,000 compensation to any soldier who is seriously injured or killed while on duty.

The council’s decision covers all officers, privates and cadets in training, MSC Secretary-General Lt. Gen. Nasser Al-Arfaj said on Saturday.

The decision of the MSC also features the granting of four-year leave for a soldier to accompany his wife or legal dependent when she goes for studies abroad, banning of dual citizenship for soldiers and calculating the seniority of a military college graduate inside or outside the Kingdom based on the date of his graduation. The decisions also includes amendments to some service regulations.

Soldiers contacted by Arab News expressed their happiness at the decision.

“I was planning to resign because my wife has been selected to study in the United States and I will have to go with her. But the new order gives us four years’ leave so I can be there for my wife,” Eid Al-Otaibi, a soldier, told Arab News. “I can also study English language or do another useful program while I am in the US. I am thankful to the king.”

Fellow soldier Nasser Al-Harbi also expressed happiness at the new order as his unmarried daughter has won a scholarship to study abroad and he would be able to accompany her to the US.

Note: I have changed the headline as this is more ‘unusual’ than the old headline which read: SR 500’000 for soldier killed on duty.