Page 47 - CONTENTS

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 Retention. Our soldiers serve on for far longer than the
average British soldier. This makes them cost-effective over
the long term in-service.
 Operational Effectiveness. It is openly acknowledged that
all our units have operated or fought superbly since we left
Hong Kong in 1997. To date, units and sub-units, at platoon
level and above, have deployed 104 times over the last 14
years. This includes the two RGR battalions who have 13
deployments between them, and 18 deployments for the
initially three, and then two Gurkha Reinforcement (GRC)
companies.
5. The Modern Gurkha Soldier. The modern Gurkha soldiers
are extremely robust and capable of sustained endurance. They are
every bit as good as their forebears but better educated with much
more initiative. Approx 90% of the present soldiers coming into the
brigade are now recruited from Non Hillmen. This is mostly due to the
higher education standards and the requirements of the modern British
Army. We have had a dip in recruit applications engineered by the
Brigade to keep recruit numbers manageable. This was achieved by
insisting that all recruits have a machine readable passport on arrival
and a high educational standard in order to qualify for a chance to be
recruited. This accounts for the fact that the number applying is down
to some 7,500 rather than the 15,000 that there used to be. If we
lowered the standard the numbers would shoot up.
6. Ex-Gurkhas Soldiers in UK. It is of interest that it is the wives
and children who in the main are keen to settle in UK permanently
whilst the men still wish to keep in touch with Nepal. There are some
400 groups or Associations of Gurkhas in UK. HQBG is keen to
improve its mapping of these groups to better assist with welfare and
after service support.
7. Redundancy. The bottom line is that, contrary to the angle
that some media are trying to play, a) these cuts in strength were not
unexpected and b) the Brigade of Gurkhas (BG) is 800 personnel over
strength against our establishment of 2926. 146 of these have already
been selected for redundancy in Tranche 1 and depart from the Army