That line creates an image or two in my mind...
Posted on 08/29/2010 7:54:36 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
LONDON: The world-famous Gurkha Regiment, part of the British army for almost 200 years, may be among those axed unless the ministry of defence's demands for more money to fund the replacement of Trident nuclear missile submarines are answered.
Last night, hopes for extra funding were fading as chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander rejected demands for extra money from Tory defence secretary Liam Fox and insisted the £20 billion cost of replacing Trident had to be met fully by the MoD, The Observer reported.
Quoting an expert, the report said the increasing costs of running the regiment following actress Joanna Lumley's high-profile campaign last year to improve their rights, added to the sense that the "writing is on the wall" for the Brigade of Gurkhas, which has 3,640 members.
The Gurkhas have been an integral part of the army since 1815, when the British East India Company signed a peace deal allowing it to recruit Nepalese soldiers.
“Quoting an expert, the report said the increasing costs of running the regiment following actress Joanna Lumley’s high-profile campaign last year to improve their rights...”
As I understand it, the point of the GJC was/is to give all Gurkha vets the right to settle in the UK, instead of just the ones who served after 1997. It’s an immigration issue to be sure, but I don’t see how that would affect the operating costs of the regiment. Maybe something to do with retirement pay levels?
Last I heard, we're broke, too.
Years ago, I worked with a man who had served as an NCO in the british Army. He did a tour with a Ghurka Battalion in Mayalasia in the early fifties. He said that,, for both officers and noncoms, it was considered a privelege to serve with the Ghurkas and that the British Army considered the ghurkas to be the finest low-tech infantry in the world.
One thing the article doesn’t mention is that the new Nepalese government (they recently abolished their Monarchy to become a Republic) has elements that are opposed to the continued existence of British Gurkha units. They may ban the recruitment of Nepalese as soldiers in foreign forces.
Even without financial considerations, these units may not survive.
True, and there’s also a demand for statehood in a small Himalayan portion of India - Gorkhaland or something like that. I don’t know what happened of it, but the last time I had read, the Indian government was considering partitioning one of the border states to carve out this homeland.
That line creates an image or two in my mind...
Those are beautiful!
“Let’s cut ties to people who’ve actually contributed through the years so we can continue to provide for the useless moochers.” Ahhh, the genius of the UK. It’s sickening to see what has become of the place.
I think this is probably Whitehall politics at play. The coalition gov’t is refusing to give the MoD any more money to fund the Trident replacement, so Whitehall is offering the Gurkhas as a high-profile sacrifice in order to try and force the the Government to grant the funds neccessary to cover their costs in replacing Trident. I doubt when it comes down to it, the Gurkhas will be axed. Not only are they a much loved and prestigious unit, but it would be sheer madness to do so. Not only are they probably the best infantry in the world, bar none, but they are exactly the sort of asset that is needed in the kind of counterinsurgency warfare that is being waged now and is expected to be important in future conflicts. Even the Guardianistas, not the world’s biggest fans of military expenditure are up in arms about the proposal to scrap the Gurkhas, which is probably a demonstration of just how universal the opposition to scrapping them would be...
(( ping ))
They’re total psychopaths! Good people to have on your side.
Now, if the Corps took them, and formed them up as a Gorkhali Translation and Combat Recon Regiment...
Make native fluency with the lingo and native fluency with the culture/customs a req and there you go. A Gurka Reg without having a reg named Gurka to get the pissy pants, weak sucks, numbnuts, limp d**ks and assorted C4 all mouth breeding and snot gobbling.
Works for me! They would be a better fit for the Corps than the Army anyhow.
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