Its main task was to guard Jordanian borders with neighboring Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria as well as to provide protection for oil pipelines of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC).
The Desert Patrol was formed as a semi-independent part of the Arab Legion in February 1931 by Glubb Pasha to secure Transjordan's desert region of the country, effectively everything east of the cultivated area that formed Trans-Jordan's western border with Mandatory Palestine.
Additional men were located in small forts throughout the region and relied on camels for mobility.
The remaining four-fifths of the Arab Legion at this time were police and gendarmerie serving in the cultivated area.
Between 1936 and 1939, forces were expanded in response to threats posed by the Arab Revolt in Palestine and civil disturbances in Syria.