SECRET PLAN TO DISBAND GURKHAS

I was sad to hear this. I spent some time with the Gurkhas in Hong Kong when I was on a US/UK exchange and they were some of the hardest troops as a group I have ever encountered.

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/80026

It's just kite flying at the moment I think. It comes up as an issue periodically, certainly it's been an occasionally muttered issue whilst the whole settlement and pension rights for Gurkas thing is so current.

Tory MP and former infantry officer Patrick Mercer said: “The great advantage of the Gurkhas always used to be that they were plentiful and they were cheap. But with the new agreements that they are getting they are rapidly becoming more and more expensive.”

He said the Gurkhas were being saved at the moment because of a recruitment shortfall in the Army.

“But if recruiting in Britain increases, the justification for the Gurkhas will become more untenable,” he added.

There ye go. problem solved. I don't see any great hike in army recruitment any time soon over here.

Besides the practical issue of money their whole concept is so British. It is almost like the British military would not be British without them. Just one persons view I know. They have such a deep history within British military history.

It'd break my heart if we disbanded them. That right there is a relationship forged in the heart of old Empire. Living history.

I used to play with Grandfather's Gurkha knife when I was little. A soldier/friend who served with him in India gave it to him as a momento when they left to come to England.

DanaC;522753 wrote:

I don't see any great hike in army recruitment any time soon over here.

The US army's problem with not meeting their target for recruits with a high school diploma, is likely to be solved by the economic depression.

You can't just sign on here though.

Two things that the UK simply won't conscience without something amounting to a political and administrative revolution: conscription and an end to social security.

Without those two things we will only ever have a relatively small professional army.