Much of South Sudan's regular Army deserted to Machar's side, but within days they were stopped in their tracks by the sudden intervention of the Army of Uganda, South Sudan's southern neighbor.
Many of the units were sent to Saudi Arabia to provide support for the regular army in Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
So poor is morale that Saddam ordered the deployment of Iraqi special forces officers in some areas in order to prevent regular officers from deserting.
A tow-truck driver told The San Diego Union-Tribune that on Saturday he helped Mr. Westerfield, a regular visitor to the desert, extract the motor home from sand where, the tow man said, it had been stuck more than a mile from the nearest road.
Most of his mounted troops were not British regular cavalry, but the Desert Mounted Corps, consisting of a combination of Australian, New Zealand, Indian units and English Yeomanry regiments from the Territorial Force, largely equipped as mounted infantry rather than cavalry.
He's delighting in the paradox that Christ is "the eternal Word" and yet comes to us in silence, a silence that marked not only the nativity, but other key points throughout his life: the forty days in the desert, the regular retreats to mountaintops and other desolate places to pray, and the final vigil in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before his crucifixion.
He deserted the regular army in 2012.
Citizens from various Gulf states make regular trips to the Samawa desert around this time of year for falconry and hunting festivals, with gazelles as their prey.
My wife and I like riding in the Sonora desert, and are regular visitors to the Tanque Verde ranch, which sprawls over the foothills of the Rincon Mountains east of town.
Thrashings were rare, shock results were a regular occurrence and trophies were deserting the traditional powerhouses in favour of the distant provinces.
