Battalions with foreign bias face axe in Army cuts

[Lazy Lob]

Battalions with foreign bias face axe in Army cuts

Historic battalions that rely on foreign-born recruits for up to a fifth of their strength face being axed next week in the most significant reforms to the Army in a century.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond Photo: Matt Cardy/***** Images








By Thomas Harding, and James Kirkup

10:28PM BST 29 Jun 2012
22 Comments


The Government will outline next Thursday which units will be cut or merged under the Future Force 2020 proposals as the Army shrinks to 82,000 men, its lowest level since the Napoleonic Wars.

At least five infantry battalions will be cut, with many amalgamated with other units or turned into Territorial Army units. Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, has suggested that battalions with a high proportion of foreign and Commonwealth troops are more vulnerable.

Figures seen by The Daily Telegraph show that at least three of the 36 infantry battalions — the Royal Highland Fusiliers (2 Bn The Royal Regiment of Scotland), 1st Bn Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and 5 Bn The Rifles — have between 15 and 20 per cent of troops drawn from overseas. Common recruiting grounds include the Caribbean and Fiji.

The plans put forward by Lt Gen Nick Carter will be the biggest change to the Army since 1904. They have been delayed for months amid wrangling over which regiments will survive. The Scottish units have lobbied hard for survival but English MPs have also called for battalions based in their constituencies to be retained, especially with the possibility of Scottish independence.

It is expected that the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (5 Scots), whose Royal colonel is the Queen, will either be axed or turned into a TA unit. Other units likely to be cut or amalgamated include 3 Bn the Yorkshire Regiment, 2 Bn Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, 3 Bn Mercian Regiment and 5 Bn The Rifles.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...Army-cuts.html

[Pete031]

It happens, but it is always a sad day to see your Regiment disbanded or turned into a reserve unit.

[scttgillies]

They wouldn't need to recruit from the commonwealth, if they didnt treat the lower ranks like sh!t. Before 1990, retention was good in the infantry units, infact many units were overstrength. But this is just my rant, i already suffered under the British Governments cuts.

[Darklord]

What about the Gurkhas? Are they getting the axe too?

[Proudgrandson]

What about the Gurkhas? Are they getting the axe too?

Their facing cuts but that seems to be from the numbers that were dispersed around the army too keep the numbers up. But if the Nepalese Government ever bans foreign enlistment which its considering. They're gone anyway, as we would I assume be sticking too the rules and not just move the recruitment centre too India (assuming such agreement could be reached) and hire all the blokes who would be crossing the border and joining up anyway.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...uram-bhattarai

[sunnysandy]

A little known fact is that the recruitment of Gorkhas form Nepal in the Indian Army has been drastically cut since the rise of the Maoist movement. Having been commissioned into the Regiment in 2004 , I was surprised to see Assam Rifle recruits being trained in our Regimental Centres. Recruitment rallies were held in some areas of Nepal in 2009, but the number of vacancies were limited.

There is now a community of second generation Gorkhas born in India which now provide the new generation of recruits. But this population is restricted to Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Sikkim. There are not enough numbers to fill in the requirement of all the Indian regiments, so I doubt any agreement with the British Army to share recruits would be reached. The best of the recruits would obviously opt for the British regiments because of the better pay and perks.

[Proudgrandson]

A little known fact is that the recruitment of Gorkhas form Nepal in the Indian Army has been drastically cut since the rise of the Maoist movement. Having been commissioned into the Regiment in 2004 , I was surprised to see Assam Rifle recruits being trained in our Regimental Centres. Recruitment rallies were held in some areas of Nepal in 2009, but the number of vacancies were limited.

There is now a community of second generation Gorkhas born in India which now provide the new generation of recruits. But this population is restricted to Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Sikkim. There are not enough numbers to fill in the requirement of all the Indian regiments, so I doubt any agreement with the British Army to share recruits would be reached. The best of the recruits would obviously opt for the British regiments because of the better pay and perks.

Yes I was thinking that would be a problem. "Yes certainly British people we'll just let you set up here and take the fellows you don't want." And since Gurkha's started getting British Citizenship, and not going back too Nepal on retirement, their value to the Nepalese economy must have dropped considerably.

[Roaming East]

What about the Gurkhas? Are they getting the axe too?

nope. The khukri.