Gurkha Selection - A Canadian Soldier Reacts 

The U.K. doesn’t have influence in Nepal. We have permission from the Nepalese government to recruit there, that’s all. In spite of a recruiting downturn in the U.K. we can only recruit so many each year. The tests are what the recruits are used to doing. Once in U.K. they get the same level of training as the British army. We’ve been recruiting for 200 years. I think we’ve got things about right.

Here in the UK we are so proud of the Ghurkas. If you ever see a mixed parade go past it is always they who get the biggest cheer. 🙂 Subscribed. 👍

As a Royal Engineer I’ve trained with them on a few occasions,they have my utmost respect,and that’s an understatement 🤝👏🏻

In respect of limiting the number of recruits in a recruitment crisis, you should remember this is Britain recruiting in a foreign country. How large a proportion of the British Army is it reasonable for the Ghurkas to be?

In rifle regiments, rank is only displayed on the right arm so whilst skirmishing and in a fire position it was only visible to fellow Riflemen (most soldiers were right handed) so the enemy didn't pick off those of rank first. Soldiers of line regiments wore rank on both arms.

My Father was orphaned at the age of 7, both of his parents died due to illness. He got into the British Army at 18 and finished as the Champion Recruit. He's still serving, about 28 years in now.

You keep asking why? Why? Because they are Gurkhas, that's why.

I have a mate whose dad was a Sergeant in the Gurkha Rifles back in the 1980's and 1990's. His Dad was from Nepal but my mate was born here in London, his mum is English. I love our UK Armed Forces and I support them 100% also our Veterans as I had family that served in all 3 branches of our Armed Forces. My heroes are those who gave there lives for our freedom, our democracy and for the UK. The Regiment's that I have a very soft spot for are the Royal Marine Commando's, the Parachute Regiment, the Royal Anglian Regiment ( my local Regiment), the SAS, the SBS, SRR, the London Irish Regiment and lastly but not least the Gurkhas. The Gurkhas are the toughest, the most loyal, the bravest and the most polite, plus they are the most loved here in the UK. I absolutely love them and they are the best Warriors on the planet and I am so pleased that they are part of the British Army. They are very popular among the Armed Forces of the UK but most of all from British civilians. I am so glad that we have a special relationship and a bond with Nepal. 💂‍♂️💂‍♂️💂‍♂️💂‍♂️🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤝🤝🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵💙💛🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

The Warrant Officer’s badge you noted was for a Warrant Officer Second Class, looking at his Stable Belt he’s Ghurka Engineers so he would be a Squadron Sergeant Major.

The army can't do anything about corruption in Nepalese society, it's a sovereign nation, and Britain has no say in how the country functions.

Mate we don’t own the people

Ex-Royal Navy here. I worked with many Gurkha's over the years and many also retired from service and several who joined the Royal Navy in a role washing the ships companies clothes. We are treated them like anyone else in our service and they would come drinking with us and I personally got to know a few's families. When I left I also ended up knowing a few Gurkha's in my professional career. They are all incredible ambassadors to the British military and the Nepolise people, some of the most wonderful folk I've encountered in my life. The only downside is until 2004 Gurkhas were not granted permission to settle in the UK after their service career, which is a shameful blot on British history after they spent a career in service of the British military.

The Gurkhas have not fought in every major conflict that the British Army has fought in. They did not serve in Northern Ireland. The Gurkha Engineers on my trade course desperately wanted to join me in Northern Ireland after the course ended, but quite rightly were not allowed.

A number of years ago a campaign was launched fronted by actress Joanna Lumley to allow Ghurkas to live in Britain 🇬🇧 it was successful, there is the Ghurka Welfare Trust looks after retired Ghurkas those in Britain but the majority live in Nepal.

The Brit Army only has a percentage of spaces allocated. Gurkhas join the Gurkha Regt of which there will only be a certain amount of vacancies. As for age, they want younger in order to get as many years as possible, remember until recently you had to leave at 42, so joining at 18 guarantees a possible 22 year career which is required for a full pension

There is very little British presence in Nepal nor ever has been. The country was never colonised, never part of the Empire or commonwealth. Just a small military recruitment presence. I've worked in Nepal, which is a very poor, landlocked country. No ports, no railway and grossly inefficient roads in a country of steep hills and valleys. Even sending home a fraction of his wage will make a massive difference to a soldiers familiy's lifestyle.

RGR stands for ROYAL GURKHA RIFLES. 💂‍♂️💂‍♂️💂‍♂️💂‍♂️🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤝🤝🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵💙💛🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

There are 17 year olds serving in various regiments in Britain, including the Paras. The army college at Harrogate takes recruits from 15.

You should watch the tv series SAS Rouge Heroes taken from the archives.Last survivor of original SAS squad that fought the Nazis relives his time in the desert died today Mike Sadler

BTW Canadian army rituals are from the British Army

These men are one of the worlds best infantrymen in the world. Honestly this process is very highly selective to give the mystique of the unit itself. For a hypothetical situation? If a Nepalese was fortunate to learn British English and immigrate to the UK and later enlist into the British Army? He would kick ass to be above a normal British recruit physically and obey all orders with no hesitation, yet to be paid equally as a regular British Army recruit. Later as the Nepalese soldier learns his trade in the British Army and speaks British English very well to become a senior NCO. The British Army has gained a very valuable asset as a leader.

Hyperextending elbows is something you're usually born with. There are some cases such as gymnasts or ballerinas that can over time train their body to have greater range of movement where it would be classed as hyperextending. But people that are born with it are more prown to elbow/arm injuries. It goes without saying you can't exactly be a great soldier with bad arms and you defiantly can't be a soldier if you're injured all the time. With the amount of time and money spent on each soldier you don't want them to get into the army and then be out because of injury. I'm assuming maybe they have encountered alot of hyperextending Nepalese recruits and it's been an issue down the line so they are now stopping further training early rather than later on when they arrive in Great Britain. You said "why" would their whole familys live change if they were recruited into the British Army. That is because the wages in Nepal are very bad and alot of these recruits come from the hills where they would be considered poor, they'd probably be working on the families land getting very little money for agriculture produce. Average wage for Nepal is around $600 a month, but this is in the city not in the hill tops. So if they make it to being a Gurkha they are paid the same as any British army recruit, which is from day 1 training £18,687. After training is completed 9 months it rises to basic £23,496 (depending on role, you could get more). If the Ghurkas are in the British Army long enough, they will also be paid a pension even if they return to Nepal. So the point is if they make it into the British Army, they are able to send money back home to help their family.

The dokos are selected by the Gurkhas them selves you have to remember it is traditional not a soft back pack, and they are at altitude which most men from western country's couldn't handle, plus you dont need many Gurkhas they are worth more than double other soldiers. My father fraught with them in North Africa during world war 2.

Have you seen the video of thr Gurka,one man Army,where a Gurka took on 15 Talaban in Afghanistan his Grandfather was a Gurka in WW2 and won the VC taking on the Jape single handed while badly wounded.

Pretty sure Gurkhas are required to serve a minimum 15 years, so 21 would bring them to 36 and reaching the end of active service given their role.

Ideally, I'm sure we'd love to have every recruit that wanted to join... but then we'd encounter a whole different issue. A severe supply crisis.

The standard of fitness and suitability is much more stringent, since the Ghurkhas are classed as an elite force, on a par with the Paras and Royal Marines. They can afford to take the best, since there are thousands of applicants each year for a very few places!

The Indian army also has Gurkha regiments, inherited from the days of the British Raj. Singapore has a special contingent of Gurkhas in the police force, recruited by the Brits. Britain is not influential in Nepal, at all and has no presence in the country at all, apart from recruitment and welfare services.

a lot of respect for this famous regiment,as i do our allies the Canadians,maybe Canada should recruit a regiment,you are a famous part of our war history,like Aussies and Kiwis etc,i mean you have quasi Scots regiments,these guys are an asset,like yourselves,we Brits are proud of them.

The gurkha units are elite units and elite unites have harder selection and training

Britain does not control Nepal. It is an independent country with its own rules & systems. The corruption & bribery etc to get boys into the Gurkhas is because of the great lift in a families fortunes when they succeed, because they will earn a lot of money, by Nepal standards, to improve the families standard of living, as well as much prestige. The basket carry style is local, so those in the rural population will be used to it, & the city kids have to compete with them. There are many thousands under 21 each year trying to join, & some cut off point has to be made. This was the largest group recruitment for many years, so 400 was as many as they could manage at one time, they couldn't take many more hundreds all together, they have to take into account the logistics, accommodation etc in Britain when they get there. Catterick, in North Yorkshire is the main centre in Britain for all basic training in the British Army, not just the Gurkhas.

I agree the kit bags being prefilled with various size kit does seem to be inefficient but i think the kits are prepacked in the UK and sent out to the barracks in Nepal so they won't know the sizes of the recruit receiving them, the barracks in Nepal doesn't have the space to store stillages full of various size kit so they swap it amongst themselves when they try it on.

Their training is brutal, we don’t need to standardise them

That is the standard in the British Army

Why do you find it hard to fathom out the process of recruitment of young Nepalese men into the British Army. You are a Canadian soldier and if you were recruiting new soldiers into the Canadian Army would you recruit a person that is going to have medical problems a year or two later, which would put them out of action for ever and you have wasted 10's of thousands of Canadian dollars in training someone who will have to get a medical discharge a year or two down the road. No you let them go before you spend time, money and there health also there mental health later on, it's logical to let them go before training, it's absolute stupidity to allow someone into your military that has medical problems. I know this personally as in the early 1980's I went to join the British Army especially my local Regiment, I went to the recruitment office and I went through the paperwork and a talk one on one with the Recruitment Officer and when they heard that I had psoriasis on my right knee, they informed me that they could not take me as I have a medical condition. So that was the end of my dream that I had as a child to become a Soldier in the British Army and to serve my country also to be in the very best military on the planet with all due respect. I was heartbroken also very emotional but I got over it as I understood why I was turned down. Every Regiment in the UK Armed Forces has it's own individual special training implement, the Parachute Regiment has "P" Company which no one else has, the a Royal Marines has it's unique training bit that no one else has etc etc. The Gurkhas have the leader basket on their heads that they do in civilian life that is part of the Gurkhas that no other British Army Regiment has, but only the Gurkhas has. Your military in Canada does not have this type of thing but it's part of getting the toughest and best man for being in the British Army and especially in the Gurkhas that is why we only take a small amount out of 10,000 because you want only the best in your military, this maybe alien to you but it's normal in the UK Armed Forces. 💂‍♂️💂‍♂️💂‍♂️💂‍♂️🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤝🤝🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵🇳🇵💙💛🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 as for 21 years old men from Nepal not being allowed to join the Gurkhas well it's just a policy that the British Army stand by, it's like weather it's the British Army, the Royal Navy or the RAF there are polices for a age cut off point, when I went to join the Royal Anglian Regiment it was 17 to 25. You find it Alien because your military is run differently plus the Canadian military is run completely different to the UK. You take any aged person into your military but we don't as you have to be the best to get in, that is why we have the best military on the planet, it maybe smaller compared to other Allied nations but it's the best trained, the best organised, the best lead and the most feared.

What is not said in this vid is that alot of the young men who fail eather because of not being able to pass the test or have gotten too old is that alot of them feel ashamed to go home and travel to India and join the Gurka Regerments in the Indian army although they don't get payed the same or have the privileges the Gurka of the Indian army are just as valued its like OK you did not get into the A team of the football club but your still in the club . The pay you get there is still better than the average wage you get in Napal , also Iam not sure if the marriage system is the same . When I served alongside the 7 Gurka Rifles they told me that to be able to married they had to be eather a full Corporal or Sargent with five years of service

Britain now sits at the feet of Mighty America wagging its tail.The list of major dependency on American weapons & supply is huge.The dreamers say its partnership.The realists, dependency.

Cause a lot of our own problems? 🤔

tradition

You seem to have a bee under your bonnet about how the British do things . You dont understand and nobody expects you to you're Canadian. Dont worry about how we do things just worry about what the Canadians do. I dont wouldnt dream of disrespecting Canadians

What are you talking about try listening to what been said