ABSTRACT
The country east of the Jordan was part of OETA/East, with Damascus as its capital and an Arab administration headed by the Sharif Fayjal; this arrangement was a continuation of Ottoman practice when Transjordan had been part of the vilayet of "Syria," al-Sham. It is generally accepted that the Arab Legion of Transjordan grew out of the Reserve Force, formed towards the end of 1920 by Lt.-Colonel F. G. Peake, then newly appointed inspector of gendarmerie in Transjordan. As early as 11 September 1920, Capt. Brunton submitted to the civil secretary his first draft for the establishment of "a Reserve Force which would be kept ready as a small striking force to reinforce the ordinary gendarmerie when necessary," with Amman as headquarters. Clearly there would be no dearth of Arab volunteers of military experience, since hundreds of officers and men of Faysal's Syrian army were left stranded in Amman—a brigade headquarters—with the disintegration of the Damascus administration.
