In January 1984, Abdul Aziz
enlisted into the
Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF). Following his
initial officer training at the
Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in the United Kingdom, he graduated as a
midshipman in 1985, and selected the
Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) as his operational service branch. Abdul Aziz was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant junior grade in 1986, and later
lieutenant in 1990. He was further promoted to
lieutenant commander and
commander, in 1994 and 2002 respectively. During his service with the RBN, Commander Abdul Aziz held several positions; including
gunnery officer,
navigation officer, and executive officer of several ships; , , and . Not long after his appointment, the RBN would reach another milestone by joining the Multilateral Maritime Exercise (MMEx) and International Fleet Review (IFR) for the first time.The exercise, hosted by the
People's Liberation Army Navy, would be joined by in
Qingdao, China from 20 to 24 April 2014. Later that year on 9 September, him alongside
Commander Mohammad Tawih and
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah attended the
commissioning ceremony of the newly acquired at the
Muara Naval Base. Another Navy milestone was achieved during
RIMPAC's
SINKEX on 18 July 2014, when and successfully launched their
Exocet MM40 missiles. On 13 March 2015, the handover ceremony of the command of the Royal Brunei Navy was held between Abdul Aziz and
Norazmi Muhammad.
Military education Throughout his career, Abdul Aziz attended several institutes and training overseas: the
Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in the United Kingdom in 1985; the International Sub Lieutenant, International Communication and Electronic Warfare, International Principal Warfare Officer Courses in United Kingdom; the Naval Junior Staff Course in Australia; the Naval Staff Course at
Naval War College,
Newport, United States in 1999; the National Security Staff Course at
Canadian Forces College, Toronto, Canada in 2006; the Executive Development Programme at
Universiti Brunei Darussalam in 2002; the Negotiation Programme at
Said Business School,
University of Oxford, England in 2007; and the Senior Executives in National and International Security at
Harvard Kennedy School,
Cambridge, United States in 2013. ==Political career==