The selection process, designed to identify the most suitable and capable candidates, has been carried out with the utmost rigour and precision to ensure that only the best candidates have been selected to serve in the British Army.
The 23rd Recruit Intake for the esteemed Brigade of Gurkhas culminated on the 4th of February 2023 at British Gurkhas Pokhara in Nepal.
The recruitment process was highly demanding, and the candidates who made it through the regional selection events to Phase Three (Final Selection) underwent a rigorous and highly competitive evaluation. Out of the 20,000 applicants, only 204 were selected for the vacancies in 2023.
The potential recruits (PRs) who progressed to Phase Three had to meet the minimum eligibility criteria before being assessed on a range of physical fitness tests, educational aptitude, medical examinations, paperwork verification, and interviews. This intense and comprehensive evaluation ensured that only the most deserving and capable PRs were selected to become Gurkha soldiers in the Brigade of Gurkhas.
The medical evaluations for each PR followed the same standard procedures as any British Army applicant. A battery of tests was conducted to rule out any underlying medical conditions or concerns and to confirm the physical fitness of the individual for military service, thus ensuring the highest standards of health and safety.
In line with the British Army’s Physical Entry Standards (PES), the following physical assessments are tested at Phase Three – Final Selection:
- 2km Run: Under 8 minutes (best effort)
- Jerry Can Carry: Under 2 minutes (best effort)
- Doko: Under 46 minutes (best effort)
- Mid-Thigh Pull: 76 kilograms
- Medicine Ball Throw: 3.1 Metres
You can read more on this here.
Would or should i say could, Great Britain defend our Nepal allies and close friends. If the CCP decided to invade their country.
News just in – I hear that the CCP have agreed to supply “lethal aid” to their Russian allies as many predicted they would months ago. This is in response to NATO increasing our support for Ukraine.
George if I’m not mistaken the CCP already have close associations with the Nepal government which if I’m not mistaken is communist controled. I think I’ve also read in recent past of various buildings being built by China on the Nepalase side of the border.
https://theprint.in/world/china-encroaches-on-36-hectares-of-nepals-land-at-10-places-on-northern-border/1232541/
George, That’s very interesting as it wasn’t that long ago that Nepal faced a very serious insurrection (1996-2006) from the Communist party, it ended when the King took control of Parliament and rewrote the constitution in which to appease the Communists. In return the Communists ended their bun fight and 6,576 terrorists each receiving between £3 to £5K each for handing over their weapons. (which is a fortune in that neck of the woods) The interesting thing is when the King took control, the Uk and India both stopped material aid to the country, but China supplied the gov… Read more »
That’s the usual way Marxism spreads and western governments fail to react early enough. One would hope the foreign office would know by now. Alas not, we have our own socialist faction to contend with. Considering the links both India and GB have with Nepal. A successful hearts and minds campaign should have been a doddle to organise. As a sovereign nation we certainly let our friends down. The loss of the Royal Family of Nepal in 2008 was a bitter blow. I recall it hardly registered on the public awareness scale here in GB. Wishful thinking but I do… Read more »
Well in reality the Royal line died in a bloodbath in 2001…the last king of Nepal was ( a brother to the murdered king) Not at that family party, that killed King Birendra. A lot of the nation of Nepal actually thought the brother may have somehow set the whole thing up ( his wife and child were two of the few survivors), the rest just did not like him much.. The county never ever got over that and in reality the chance of a stable constitutional monarchy died the night the entire line of king Birendra died.
20,000 applicants for 200 positions … expand the Brigade of Gurkhas back to four regiments with a couple of battalions each and you may have solved the British Army’s “manpower shortage”
its clear isn’t it?
👍👍
The only problem is it won’t get the Army back to 82,000. For an unknown reason the Gurkhas are not counted as part of the strength of the British Army.
🤔🤔
Hmm…up to X thousand Gurkhas advancing on the poor, relatively defenseless, slobbering Orcs? 🤔 May have mopping up ops. completed by afternoon tea. 😁
Afternoon Chai 😁😁
There are international treaties about the employment of mercenaries, the UK skirts very close to this with the Gurkhas and Foreign and Commonwealth troops in it’s ranks, IIRC there is a maximum quota of hired foreigners that is allowed.
There is also the issue of Gurkha pids:
If a pid is labelled for a Gurkha it can ONLY be filled by one of them. This makes force generation really difficult, you kind of have to have fully formed units of them.
Sorry, pids? Obviously, a reference to an authorized position, but unfamiliar w/ specific acronym. 🤔
Not 100% sure what the acronym is short for, never heard it said out in full, I imagine something like Personal Identification or something like that. But whatever the long form is a PID is a unique listing within the Army, that can only have 1 name put against it. So, if you’re away on a 4 month course, you’ll still be assigned to the PID in your home unit. The PID may or may not correspond to reality I’ll add: Eg you might be Pided to Platoon Sergeant, 5 Platoon B Coy, 1 PWRR, but actually be working as… Read more »
Thanks, understand. Interesting to note military bureaucracy appears to function w/ same degree of efficiency on both sides of the Pond. 🤔😳🙃
I don’t know that we haven’t already lost on the numbers game. The more I think about the army the more convinced I become that we ought to concentrate on the highly specialised roles.
A plan any plan would be nice. 👍
If Brits don’t want to join, then fill up the ranks with those who do. Unfortunately, Rome was also forced to recruit mercenaries but it was the beginning of the end for the empire as as the citizenry decayed … but what choice is there?
… I suppose just recruiting solely on merit and forgetting all the “targets” would be a start!
There are many choices but it will take an effort and some political patriotic will power to implement them. People are our true primary resource and the population is growing. Only the government can introduce incentives to join up. Failing that, conscription. Faced with a choice between volunteering and receiving a lucrative life long benefits package. Or running the risk of being conscripted anyway, with no benefits. I imagine many more will see the light. Some relaxation of the more ridiculous medical restrictions would be useful too. I know of one family member who has tried repeatedly to join up.… Read more »
To be honest Rome used mercenaries during most of its existence…it was after all a massive multi ethnic empire..so its auxiliaries came from all over the empires conquests. what killed Rome was its ruling classes…it was constantly at war with itself..weakened itself..238 was a classic year..6 people all decided they were the emperor. It also suffered a cultural divergence as well with the western end of the empire and eastern side developing differing cultures…and final separation….the western bit fractured even more and fell….but the eastern bit kept on ticking for almost a thousand more years…it even regained almost all the… Read more »
Specialist roles are killing the army.
The british army strength was the wide experience of the average battalion.
Now they have stopped the arms plot and made every battalion a one trick pony.
The 6 battalions designed to train other countries armies once we have secured a country are almost useless. We almost always lose that type of war and often the trained army has more combat experience and credibility than our own. It is only an access point to western kit.
Other specialisations are rapidly contracted out. As seen by the babcock
decision
I suspect there are a lot of people here on UKDJ who can see where a lot of the problems are and probably have a decent idea of what to do. Unfortunately the army has spent twenty years chasing survival with the generals only commenting when they retire and one DefSec after another trying not to get the blame for the cock ups that occurred.
Geoff, you are clearly no fan of the digitised warfighting division. Why?
It’s not so much that Graham, it’s a question of practicalities really. We have a decent navy but there is equipment needed; a good air force which is light on certain kit and we have the army which has had nearly twenty years of bad management. Given that we are an island and the future appears to be in the east there is a need to decide where we are going to spend what money we have, especially if the PM is not forthcoming. In terms of armour we are never going to compete again with the likes of Poland… Read more »
Not sure if our island status means we have to have a tiny army equipped with 50-60 year old kit. Our army has always been expeditionary and is ‘launched by the Navy’. It needs to be able to contribute to NATO land ops in a meaningful way. If we face a peer opponent who majors in armoured warfare, we need to be able to field a strong armoured division as a minimum. We are not competing with the Continentals in terms of quantity of ‘heavy metal’, but we don’t want to ‘turn up to the party’ with just a small… Read more »
Relative to history we’ve always had a small army. It’s just that now we don’t have the money apparently to support a larger one. I don’t recall saying that our army had to be tiny or equipped with historical junk? In fact I’m all for it’s modernisation with the best kit integrated into a fighting formula for the 2030’s which is how long it’s going to take. At best we might be able to put together three 56 CR3 type brigades and that’s only if Ben Wallace convinces the PM to allow enough money to bring the rest of the… Read more »
Sorry if it looked as if I put words in your mouth, Geoff. I was really alluding to the army we have actually got today and how it is not fit for warfighting against a peer or near-peer, whereas the RN and RAF are comparatively fit for purpose. Options for Change reduced the army for its post Cold War tasks to 120,000, a massive and controversial (in some quarters) cut of 40,000 at the time. There is no operational reason why the army should be less than 120,000 now. Thats not a large army. We do need to retain the… Read more »
I think we’re actually on the same page Graham but I just don’t know how we’re going to manage everything. If, as it seems, we cannot give each service what it need now, and I don’t mean being extravagant, then one or two have to be given priority. Given what we are supposed to want to do globally that means the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. It doesn’t mean the army should be forgotten. It just needs to be different.
You have a very good point. With the Regular Army coming down to 70,000 trained soldiers (and no offsetting increase in the Army Reserve) this makes the army the smallest it has been for 400 years, I believe.
Not everyone realises that this doesn’t mean we will have 70,000 troops deployeable for new operations either for a miscellany of reasons.
We have always just about managed to do a bit of everything, but when we hit 70,000 that may not be possible.
The army should not be forgotten – they actually do warfighting, not just train for it.
Your probably right on timescale. Napoleonic wars early on, I’ don’t know? The principal of an armoured division of three brigades and a similar mechanised division are probably both achievable but the timescale for mobilization of these runs into weeks if not month sand neither can go anywhere with huge logistical support, whereas the likes of 16th AAB can move in days. First things first though is that somebody needs to decide where these forces are going.
Couldn’t agree more. Air Assault Brigade, supporting special forces, light infantry…perfect.
Yes, that is the best role for their skill set. Mountain goats! I recall Junior Brecon waiting for the buses to get us the hell out of there. Our lads were sitting on their kit making vows never to set foot on a welsh mountain ever again. While the bored Gurkhas amused themselves by racing each other up and down the hillsides. I’m sure they could handle RAF Reg, Marines and regular mechanised infantry etc too. That level of desire to succeed has universal applications. You can probably tell, I’m a fan of Gurkhas. BTW without any condescension or stereo… Read more »
Had one in my home last week fixing the boiler!
You had better pay that bill promptly my friend. ho ho ho.
But seriously, I hope you gave him a good tip, those are the type of immigrants this country needs.
Some years ago my wife and I got were staying with my sister in law in Oxfordshire and we were invited to a big charity do. The Gurkha’s were doing what you might call all the management of events and so on. They were a wonderful bunch, really friendly and good fun. I didn’t get the curry though! 😢
Geoff, that would be absolutely useless against numerically strong armoured forces. If the Russians get their act together such light forces would be slaughtered.
I was talking about the potential role of additional Gurkha troops.
OK, thanks. Makes sense.
You would think it would be one of the obvious solutions. Unfortunately Gurkha status in the military is still rather Victorian. Something I have never understood in this age of equality. As for the wider problem. It’s almost as if consecutive HM Governments want there to be an apparent recruiting crisis. Cutbacks are easier to justify that way.
I still maintain that the so called crisis is engineered. As a nation with so much worth defending, we will regret it.
I think Joanna Lumley ensured they did…buses our way wouldnt work without them
Talking of Basic:
https://i.postimg.cc/yYkh4TMD/Untitled-1.jpg
Those who know, will know.
Great pic. CTCRM. With its own station!
Nice bed boxes, not perfect but close.
Hi mate.
Your detailed story to me about Bootnecks and your bully at Larkhill seems to have vanished, yet appears on my email. So thank you for that anyway, I like hearing these stories. 👍
Pity the army can’t afford No.2s for those excellent soldiers!
I believe they get them for their passout from Catterick.
Watching the BBC series about HMS Queen Elizabeth there are a few sailors who would fail the fitness tests…. Do the senior ranks have to do the beeb tests..
Also some would fail an intelligence test
“ you know what I mean “
20,000 applicants for 200+ places that’s a lot of competition.
Is it only 200 ish places available or a case that only 200 met the grade to be in? Isnt clear.
Im sure a limit on numbers exist as with all these things but id be shocked if only 1% doing the trial are physically/mentally capable of getting in!
There will only be 200 places. I would guess that at least 19,500 would make the standard!
Remember that the Grukhas (British and Indian Regminets) make up something ludicrous like 10% of Nepals GDP.