The Queen’s Gurkha Engineers provide prestigious Queen’s Guard

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The Queen’s Gurkha Engineers will be providing the Queen’s Guard and Windsor Guard from 18th Feb to 12th April 2019.

Stepping off for the first time from Wellington Barracks on 18th February, soldiers from the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers will provide the prestigious Queen’s Guard at the Royal Palaces in London and Windsor this Spring. This mainly ceremonial role, ordinarily undertaken by the Guards Division, is carried out at Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace, the Tower of London, and Windsor Castle. It is the first time the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers have undertaken the duty since the Gurkha 200 celebrations in 2015, when the Brigade of Gurkhas provided a Queen’s Guard to mark 200 years of service to the British Crown.

Gurkhas started serving as engineers after the Second World War, and the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers has a short but proud history. Formed in 1948 in Malaya, since the 1990s the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers have been based in Maidstone as part of 36 Engineer Regiment. ‘Gurkha Sappers’ have been widely deployed in recent years, to Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan on numerous occasions. Gurkha Engineers were deployed to Nepal in 2015, where they took on a key role in the disaster relief effort following the devastating earthquake of that year.

The connections with both the Brigade of Gurkhas and the Corps of Royal Engineers will be visible to spectators who come to watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Each Gurkha will carry a kukri instead of a bayonet on parade. These distinctive weapons are famously sharp and are useful for everything from preparing ingredients for a curry to striking fear into the hearts of their enemies, if necessary. Tourists will be able to watch the Gurkhas draw their kukris and have them inspected at Wellington Barracks immediately before the Changing of the Guard.

It is a real honour and privilege for the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers to be providing the Queen’s Guard

Major Ian Pilbeam RE, Officer Commanding 70 Gurkha Field Squadron explained: ‘It is a real honour and privilege for the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers to be providing the Queen’s Guard, it is something quite different from our normal role of providing Force Support Engineering to the Field Army. All of those taking part are looking forward to this fantastic opportunity to highlight yet another side of the Corps of Royal Engineers and the Brigade of Gurkhas.’

The Royal Engineers are amongst the most highly qualified soldiers in the British Army and experts at providing bridging, demolitions, and water supply for troops on operations, and skilled in trades such as bricklaying, electrics, plumbing, surveying and carpentry. The Gurkhas have now added a high standard of drill to their coterie with weeks of preparation prior to taking up their new ceremonial role.

Whilst on Queen’s Guard, the Gurkhas will wear Kilmarnock Hats on parade, as their forefathers have for two centuries. The cap badge of the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers is two crossed kukris with the ‘flaming bomb’ of the Corps of Royal Engineers on top. The black brogues worn by the Gurkhas and cross belts worn by the officers on parade are reflections of the Brigade of Gurkhas heritage as a rifle brigade. The Gurkhas are historically light infantry, and whilst on duty the Gurkha Engineers will march at the faster rate of 140 paces a minute. They will carry their rifles at ‘the trail’, or down by their side as opposed to on their shoulders like the rest of the army. Due to their links with the Royal Engineers, the Ensign of the Guard will not carry a Colour (Regimental flag).

They will be supported by music from the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas, led by Director of Music Captain Basu Dev Gurung, and visitors to London will be entertained by traditional Gurkha military marches such as “Birata ko Chino”, “Jellalabad”, and the rousing “Yo Nepali” (Quick march of the Brigade of Gurkhas).

Sapper Bijay Ale, who joined the British Army in 2012 said: ‘It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us. I am excited and looking forward to it’.

Gurkha soldiers have been recruited into the British Army since the Anglo Nepalese War at the start of the nineteenth century and have fought in most wars since, including both World Wars. The notoriously competitive recruitment process takes place solely in Nepal and culminates in the ‘doko race’ a six kilometre uphill run carrying a basket full of rocks suspended from a recruits forehead.

Who are the Gurkhas?

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Gurkhas have been part of the British Army for almost 200 years, but who are these fearsome Nepalese fighters?

“Better to die than be a coward” is the motto of the world-famous Nepalese Gurkha soldiers who are an integral part of the British Army.

They still carry into battle their traditional weapon – an 18-inch long curved knife known as the kukri.

In times past, it was said that once a kukri was drawn in battle, it had to “taste blood” – if not, its owner had to cut himself before returning it to its sheath.

Now, the Gurkhas say, it is used mainly for cooking.

The potential of these warriors was first realised by the British at the height of their empire-building in the last century.

The Victorians identified them as a “martial race”, perceiving in them particularly masculine qualities of toughness.

After suffering heavy casualties in the invasion of Nepal, the British East India Company signed a hasty peace deal in 1815, which also allowed it to recruit from the ranks of the former enemy.

Following the partition of India in 1947, an agreement between Nepal, India and Britain meant four Gurkha regiments from the Indian army were transferred to the British Army, eventually becoming the Gurkha Brigade.

Since then, the Gurkhas have loyally fought for the British all over the world, receiving 13 Victoria Crosses between them.

More than 200,000 fought in the two world wars, and in the past 50 years they have served in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Borneo, Cyprus, the Falklands, Kosovo and now in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They serve in a variety of roles, mainly in the infantry but with significant numbers of engineers, logisticians and signals specialists.

The name “Gurkha” comes from the hill town of Gorkha from which the Nepalese kingdom had expanded.

The ranks have always been dominated by four ethnic groups, the Gurungs and Magars from central Nepal, the Rais and Limbus from the east, who live in villages of impoverished hill farmers.

They keep to their Nepalese customs and beliefs, and the brigade follows religious festivals such as Dashain, in which – in Nepal, not the UK – goats and buffaloes are sacrificed.

But their numbers have been sharply reduced from a World War II peak of 112,000 men, and now stand at about 3,500.

During the two world wars 43,000 men lost their lives.

The Gurkhas are now based at Shorncliffe near Folkestone, Kent – but they do not become British citizens.

The soldiers are still selected from young men living in the hills of Nepal – with about 28,000 youths tackling the selection procedure for just over 200 places each year.

The selection process has been described as one of the toughest in the world and is fiercely contested.

Young hopefuls have to run uphill for 40 minutes carrying a wicker basket on their back filled with rocks weighing 70lbs.

Prince Harry lived with a Gurkha battalion during his 10 weeks in Afghanistan.

There is said to be a cultural affinity between Gurkhas and the Afghan people which is beneficial to the British Army effort there.

Historian Tony Gould said Gurkhas have brought an excellent combination of qualities from a military point of view.

He said: “They are tough, they are brave, they are durable, they are amenable to discipline.

“They have another quality which you could say some British regiments had in the past, but it’s doubtful that they have now, that is a strong family tradition.

“So that within each battalion there were usually very, very close family links, so when they were fighting, they were not so much fighting for their officers or the cause but for their friends and family.”

Historically, Gurkhas who had served their time in the Army – a maximum of 30 years, and a minimum of 15 to secure a pension – were discharged back to Nepal.

Pension battle

But last year, all retired Gurkhas won the right to live in the UK, following a high-profile campaign led by actress Joanna Lumley, whose father served with the 6th Gurkha Rifles.

Gurkha veterans have also continued to fight for equal pensions with the soldiers they served alongside.

In 2007, they won a partial victory when pension rules were changed to give serving Gurkha soldiers equal pension rights with other service personnel in the UK.

But the British Gurkha Welfare Society said about 25,000 men who had retired before 1 July 1997 were denied the opportunity to transfer into UK armed forces pension schemes.

It said the government had acted unlawfully by paying them a third of the income of UK-based soldiers, and vowed to fight on.

A High Court test case in January 2010 ruled in favour of the Ministry of Defence, which argued the pension cut-off date was “justified and proportionate”.

That decision has since been challenged by the Gurkhas, who have taken their battle to the Court of Appeal.

Britain lifts ban on Saudi weapons exports

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LONDON — Britain has lifted a yearlong ban on the export of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, the government announced July 7.

Weapon sales to Saudi Arabia were banned in June 2019 after a U.K. Court of Appeal ruled that the government may have contravened international humanitarian law by approving weapon sales to the Saudis that might have been used in the civil war in Yemen.

Britain is one of the largest exporters of defense equipment in the world, largely thanks to Saudi Arabia’s purchase over more than 30 years of Tornado and Typhoon combat jets as well as Hawk jet trainers. Raytheon Paveway IV precision-guided bombs, partly built in the U.K., are also among the list of recent significant sales to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition of Middle Eastern nations in a protracted and bloody war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels trying to seize Yemen.

In an action brought by anti-arms trade campaigners, the court ruling forced the British government to reassess whether previous export licenses had been issued on the correct legal basis, given alleged violations of international humanitarian law by the Saudi military, specifically reported airstrikes that hit civilian targets.

“The incidents, which have been assessed to be possible violations of international humanitarian law, occurred at different times, in different circumstances and for different reasons,” said International Trade Secretary Liz Truss.

“In retaking these decisions, I have taken into account the full range of information available to the government. In the light of all that information and analysis, I have concluded that, notwithstanding the isolated incidents, which have been factored into the analysis as historic violations of international humanitarian law, Saudi Arabia has a genuine intent and the capacity to comply with international humanitarian law,” she added. “On that basis, I have assessed that there is not a clear risk that the export of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

Truss said exports will resume after the government completes the court-ordered review of defense export licences to the Middle East’s largest buyer of military equipment. The ban only halted new approvals for weapons sales. Work on existing deals, like BAE System’s deals to support Typhoon and Tornado jets, have continued unaffected.

The British government will now “begin the process of clearing the backlog of licence applications for Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners that has built up since 20 June last year,” Truss told Parliament. “It may take some months to clear this backlog.”

In a statement, BAE said: “We note that the UK Government has implemented a revised methodology regarding licences for military exports. We continue to provide defense equipment, training and support under government to government agreements between the UK and Saudi Arabia, subject to UK Government approval and oversight. We work closely with the Department for International Trade to ensure our continued compliance with all relevant export control laws and regulations.”

US Navy orders General Dynamics NASSCO to stop work after small fire on USS Kearsarge

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WASHINGTON — A rapidly extinguished fire aboard the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge prompted the Navy to issue a “stop work order” Friday to General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in Norfolk, Naval Sea Systems Command told Defense News Saturday.

The incident started when a spark from welding landed on nearby material, which was then quickly put out by the fire watch. Fire watch is a sailor or contractor who stands nearby with a fire hose and/or extinguisher to stop a larger blaze in its tracks.

In a statement, Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman Rory O’Connor said the “stop work” was to ensure the company followed fire safety protocols.

“On July 17, the Navy was informed of a fire aboard USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), currently conducting a Selected Restricted Availability at General Dynamics NASSCO – Norfolk,” O’Connor said.

“The fire was quickly extinguished by the fire watch and resulted in minimal damage. In response to this incident, the Navy has issued a stop work order for all ships in maintenance availabilities at GD NASSCO Norfolk to ensure compliance with all established fire protocols and procedures.”

In a phone call Saturday, Anthony Paolino, a General Dynamics NASSCO spokesman, said the incident involved an ember landing on plastic, causing it to melt and smoke, but said there was no larger fire. NASSCO was already reviewing its safety protocols prior to the “stop work” order, and that it fully supported the Navy’s ongoing safety stand down in the wake of this week’s fire aboard Bonhomme Richard, Paolino said.

GD NASSCO was the lead contractor for the pier-side maintenance aboard Kearsarge’s sister ship Bonhomme Richard at the time of the fire that broke out July 12. The Navy said the fire likely originated in the lower vehicle storage area but that there was no known hot work going on in that location at the time.

Both Bonhomme Richard and Kearsarge are Wasp-class amphibious assault ships. Kearsarge has been in maintenance at NASSCO since late last year.

In an interview with Thursday with Defense News, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said the Navy was preparing to launch dual investigations into the fire on Bonhomme Richard: A safety investigation, which are generally not released to the public so that witnesses can feel free to speak openly, and a more formal administrative investigation, which generally comes with disciplinary recommendations and are releasable to the public.

Once those investigations are finished, Gilday will determine whether a broader examination of the Navy’s culture is necessary.

“This is a very, very serious incident that I think will force the Navy to stand back and reevaluate itself,” Gilday said. “We’ve got to follow the facts, we’ve got to be honest with ourselves and we’ve got to get after it. My intention, once the investigations are done, is to make this available for the public to debate, including what we need to do to get after any systemic problems that we might have.”

The headline of this story was changed to more accurately characterize the incident on board USS Kearsarge.