Mandalay Company, Royal Gurkha Rifles

[Rainbow Six]

Afternoon all,

Attached a short stand alone piece intended to provide some background for Gurkha PC's / NPC's in Europe.

Comments / questions welcome...

Cheers

[James Langham]

Really good article.

Some Gurkhas were attached to the Parachute Rgt but I'm not sure of the date.

I'm not sure how many would opt for the SLR as they usually carried the M16 pre-SA80.

Interesting bit of trivia Gurkhas only get one shot at each promotion - if they fail they will never get that rank.

Nice way to include Gurkha characters in BAOR.

[dude_uk]

Cheers for that! Did not realise there was a company attached to the Infantry Battle School as well as Sandhurst. Will slot that in my next orbat revision.

One minor point, Gurkhas are never assigned to Mechanised units, be it Warrior, FV432 or Saxon. It is more likely they would be attached to a light role unit rather than 2nd Grenadier Guards who are in 4th Armoured Division.

5 Airborne or 24 Airmobile could use their expertise. Pathfinders for 24 Airmobile might a good idea?

[Targan]

That was an excellent read, Rainbow Six.

[Fusilier]

Very nice.

I think the Dude's suggestion on having them attached to the Paras or 24 Airmobile is something to consider too.

[simonmark6]

Having the Gurkhas attached to a Para regiment reminds me of a story I've heard. Forgive me if someone has posted it here before.

During WW2 a Gurkha unit was tasked to train as paras to work with the Chindits. Their officer explained to them that they'd start practice jumps at two thousand feet. Uncharacteristically, there was a ripple of unease in the ranks. A senior Rissildar came up to the officer and said, "Sir, the men would be more comfortable with starting at a lower level and working their way up."
The officer replied that any lower than two thousand feet would mean that the parachutes might not open.
At that the NCO beamed happily and said to the troops, "Ah, they're giving us parachutes."

[Canadian Army]

According to Osprey Military Elite Series 49 The Gurkhas; there have been three Gurkha Parachute units 153 (Gurkha) Parachute Battalion; raised in 1941 from volunteers from all the Gurkha regiments; the 154 (Gurkha) Parachute Battalion, which was rasied the following year, was formed by 'converting' the 3rd/7th Gurkhas. A Gurkha Independent Parachute Company (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha_...achute_Company) was formed from Brigade of Gurkha in the early 1960's and was in existence for about 10 years.