Having attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Acland was commissioned into the Scots Guards as a second lieutenant on 22 December 1948, with seniority from that date. He was given the service number 397794. He was promoted to lieutenant on 22 December 1950. He fought in the Malayan Emergency. He was promoted to captain on 22 December 1954. With his regiment, he was involved in the Cyprus Emergency of 1957. Subsequently, he was nominated equerry to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, a post he held for the next two years.