Gurkhas fail to escape MoD cuts

Cuts could hit those on Afghan and Libyan duty, while wounded soldiers are safe – but only until they recover Gurkhas will be among those losing their jobs in the army’s first round of redundancies, the Ministry of Defence has said as it announced cuts involving 1,000 soldiers and 1,600 sailors. Troops serving in Afghanistan and sailors who have been involved in the Libyan military operations could be made redundant, as will navy pilots in the wake of the decision to scrap the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, and Britain’s entire fleet of Harrier jump jets. In a move expected to cause dismay among their supporters, Brigadier Richard Nugee, head of army manning, said the 3,500-strong Brigade of Gurkhas would lose about 150 soldiers. The brigade has been hit partly due to recent improvements in their conditions of service. Nugee said there was a surplus of Gurkhas as changes in the terms of service in 2008 meant they could now serve for 22 years rather than the previous 15-year limit. “Opportunities for promotion within the brigade are being severely limited by the current situation,” Nugee said. “It is fair to say we would not expect that many to volunteer [because] Gurkhas tend to be loyal – staying with their regiment longer than soldiers in other units of the British army.” He insisted the army remained committed “to a strong and vibrant Brigade of Gurkhas into the future”. But Peter Carroll, a leading member of the Gurkha Justice Campaign, along with Joanna Lumley, said: “In percentage terms, this is a deep cut and will be a huge disruption to the older, highly-trained Gurkhas.” About half the redundancies in the army are expected to be compulsory, defence officials said, but they pointed out that no one preparing for combat operations, deployed on operations or on post-operations leave would be made redundant unless they had volunteered. But they could be told to go as soon as they complete their leave. Defence minister Andrew Robathan appeared less certain. “We do not yet know what operations will be current in September, when people will have received their redundancy notices,” he told the Commons. “We are looking at this carefully and we would certainly not wish to make anybody redundant who is serving on combat operations.” Those “who had served in Afghanistan at some stage may have to be considered for redundancy” because 55% of the army had been posted to the country, he said. Soldiers wounded in Afghanistan will also be candidates for redundancy once they had recovered, officials made clear. Exempt from the current round of cuts are the infantry – with the exception of Gurkhas, the army has a shortage – Royal Marines, special forces, the army’s bomb disposal experts, the Intelligence Corps and the Royal Army Medical Corps. About 25% of the army redundancies are expected to come from officers up to the rank of brigadier. The government believes the armed forces have too many senior officers but those of higher rank – generals, admirals and air marshals – will be the subject of a separate review due to be completed in the summer. Commodore Paul Bennett, the head of Royal Navy manning, said about two thirds of the redundancies were a direct result of reductions in capabilities. “We will have fewer ships and aircraft and so will need fewer people to operate them,” he said. He said 15 of the Fleet Air Arm’s 59 fixed-wing pilots will lose their jobs. Last month, the RAF announced its plans for 2,700 redundancies, including trainee pilots. The government plans to cut 17,000 posts in the armed forces – 7,000 from the army, 5,000 from the RAF, and 5,000 from the navy – saving about £5bn over four years. It also plans top cut the number of civil servants in the Ministry of Defence by 25,000. Military Defence policy Gurkhas Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 4, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.