0:00:05 > 0:00:08The history of the British army
0:00:08 > 0:00:12is embroided on its colours, rich gazetteers of campaigns,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17actions, sieges, sometimes obscure villages where it stood to fight.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19One such is Sobraon where in 1846
0:00:19 > 0:00:24the forebears of what is now the Queen's Regiment, the 31st Foot,
0:00:24 > 0:00:26engaged a massive Sikh army
0:00:26 > 0:00:30bent on driving the East India Company out of business.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35When their officers were killed a sergeant, Bernard McCabe,
0:00:35 > 0:00:39snatched up the fallen colour and ran it to the highest enemy rampart.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48McCabe's inspiration that bloody day,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51for the fierce hand-to-hand battle was won two hours later,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53is commemorated each year
0:00:53 > 0:00:57by an escort of sergeants marching determinedly to the officers' mess.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09As the battalion assembles they exercise their traditional right
0:01:09 > 0:01:11to claim the colour for the day.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40In the name of Bernard McCabe they bear the colour
0:01:40 > 0:01:43to the sergeants' mess where it is theirs to gaze upon until midnight.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01SOLDIER: He did show great gallantry in picking up the colours because
0:02:01 > 0:02:04anybody carrying the colours was an immediate target,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08so to actually get up there, place it on the Sikh ramparts,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11he did rally the men, and it has been said
0:02:11 > 0:02:15he was a turning point in the Battle of Sobraon.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24'If the music, A Life on the Ocean Waves, sounds incongruous
0:02:25 > 0:02:27'it's because they once served as Royal Marines.'
0:02:37 > 0:02:41The colour is our way of celebrating all our former battles.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Well, I say all the battle honours, we've only got 40 on it,
0:02:45 > 0:02:49but it's our way of celebrating and remembering our dead, of course.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52Who died for those battle honours
0:02:52 > 0:02:54is of great significance to us.
0:02:55 > 0:02:56I think we have to
0:02:56 > 0:03:00considering in the days of yore they put in a great deal of effort.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03It's not like today where we've got mechanised transport.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08Bernard McCabe was marching up to 30 miles a day on sand tracks
0:03:08 > 0:03:14and they put up with an awful lot of hardship and sweat and toil.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16So if we don't celebrate them who will? Nobody.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19We've got to recognise them somehow.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25It's a great feeling of honour.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28You know, as you're walking up there you've got the battle honours
0:03:28 > 0:03:31in front of you, it brings it all to you,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33the actual importance of the day.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35It's a great feeling.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03At the battle of Sobraon they also served alongside
0:04:03 > 0:04:05what their general described as
0:04:05 > 0:04:09soldiers of small stature but indomitable courage.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12Men armed with the short weapons of their country.
0:04:12 > 0:04:13The Gurkhas.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20A century and a half later in the new territories above Hong Kong
0:04:20 > 0:04:22the Gurkhas still served the British Crown.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Many as their fathers, grandfathers,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28even great grandfathers did before them.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30The Union Jack will come down here in 1997
0:04:30 > 0:04:35but in the meantime they continue to maintain vigilant surveillance
0:04:35 > 0:04:39against any footloose Chinese attempting to pre-empt treaties.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42China's yearning to get here is obvious.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Their half of the bridge into Hong Kong is already built.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49From these Red China sky-scrapers across the wire
0:04:49 > 0:04:52the would-be infiltrators constantly make a break for it,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55to reach a British-dependent territory
0:04:55 > 0:04:58already teaming with the Orient's refugees.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00The Gurkhas patrol their side of the wire
0:05:00 > 0:05:03on a silent, stealthy form of transport.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05But coming from Nepal, high up in the Himalayas,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07there is occasional evidence
0:05:07 > 0:05:10that cycling may not exactly be a coming sport.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17The general's reference to the short weapon of their country,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21worn on the hip, was to the legendary kukri.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24It's used for everything from chopping vegetables to shaving
0:05:24 > 0:05:27but it's primary function is to inspire the fear of God.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33In fact I think the last time our regiment used a kukri in anger
0:05:33 > 0:05:35was in 1967 on the Hong Kong border
0:05:35 > 0:05:41at an incident at a place called Taikoo Lane where a Gurkha officer,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45a British officer and a Gurkha officer's orderly
0:05:45 > 0:05:47were surrounded by a crowd of about 50 people
0:05:47 > 0:05:52who weren't being very friendly at the time and none of our men
0:05:52 > 0:05:54were carrying arms because they'd been ordered not to,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59and one of the soldiers had a kukri secreted in his shirt
0:05:59 > 0:06:03and took off the hand of one of the people attacking him
0:06:03 > 0:06:04with a pick helve.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06- Clean off? - Yes.
0:06:07 > 0:06:08MILITARY FANFARE
0:06:13 > 0:06:15ORDERS SHOUTED
0:06:15 > 0:06:17TROOP RESPONDS
0:06:25 > 0:06:28These are the Second King Edward VII's own Gurkha Rifles,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31direct descendents of the Gurkhas at Sobraon.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40What saves these new recruits from being labelled mercenaries,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43troops merely hired to fight for some foreign power,
0:06:43 > 0:06:45is that they swear their oath of allegiance
0:06:46 > 0:06:48direct to the Queen of England.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Gurkha loyalty has never been in question
0:07:07 > 0:07:10since they stormed Delhi during the Indian mutiny.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Henceforth they were to be known now as sepoys but riflemen,
0:07:13 > 0:07:18which required them to march precisely at 140 paces to the minute.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Queen Victoria presented them not with colours
0:07:21 > 0:07:23but a ceremonial truncheon.
0:07:26 > 0:07:27No man is a Gurkha soldier
0:07:27 > 0:07:31until he has formally touched the Queen's truncheon.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34MAN SPEAKS NEPALI
0:07:34 > 0:07:40He says that "Yes, when we were given the Queen's Truncheon,
0:07:40 > 0:07:45"originally after the Siege of Delhi it was given to us by a queen,
0:07:45 > 0:07:50"and at the stage to Gurkhas of Nepal and elsewhere,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54"kings and queens were almost like gods,"
0:07:54 > 0:07:55so it obviously has
0:07:55 > 0:08:00an almost religious significance to it for that reason.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02We do treat it a bit like a god.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04For instance, when a man goes on leave,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08before he goes there he goes into the guard room and salutes it
0:08:08 > 0:08:12as if to say, goodbye, I'm off, I'll be back in six months' time.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Every soldier does actually pay respects to it by them going up to it
0:08:16 > 0:08:18and in some cases putting garlands on.
0:08:25 > 0:08:31Before Queen's Truncheon I think I am not
0:08:31 > 0:08:34proper soldier
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and when I touched the truncheon
0:08:37 > 0:08:42I think I am a very good and strong soldier.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04What would happen if someone tried to steal it?
0:09:04 > 0:09:06Well, he lost his head then.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Where did the Gurkha alliance actually begin?
0:09:15 > 0:09:21You have to go back to 1815 where the British East India Company
0:09:21 > 0:09:23were expanding within India
0:09:23 > 0:09:27and at the same time in Nepal the whole kingdom had been united
0:09:27 > 0:09:30in one kingdom and they were expanding into India
0:09:30 > 0:09:36and they met head on and there was a war between 1814-1816
0:09:36 > 0:09:40where the British and the Gurkhas fought each other.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43Now, it was a war nobody won
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and it was a war in which the Gurkha soldiers said,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49the British soldiers are very good soldiers,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52in fact they're nearly as good as us.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55'That attitude, the self-assurance that they are among the elite
0:09:55 > 0:09:57'of the world's combat troops
0:09:57 > 0:09:59'makes these men what they are, born fighters.'
0:09:59 > 0:10:03It's a very difficult thing to define, this relationship between us,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06but affection is something all soldiers feel for each other.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Respect, really, I suppose, but affection also comes into it.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14I think in the brigade of Gurkhas it's a little stronger than that.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17If you want to be trite, and I don't mean it to sound trite,
0:10:17 > 0:10:19it's a matter of love in that
0:10:19 > 0:10:22we know each other so well as individuals
0:10:22 > 0:10:26that we have a great deal of respect between each other,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30and that we've got so many shared experiences because
0:10:30 > 0:10:34we've served together continuously for a long time.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39I think this is where the relationship starts really different
0:10:39 > 0:10:42from that of a British battalion in that we will also spend
0:10:42 > 0:10:44a lot of time in each others' hands.
0:10:44 > 0:10:45For example, when I go up to Nepal
0:10:46 > 0:10:49I will be spending the night in riflemen's houses
0:10:49 > 0:10:52and corporal's houses and junior NCO's houses
0:10:52 > 0:10:55and I will accord them a great deal of respect
0:10:55 > 0:10:56because it is their country,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00their house and the Gurkhas are, above all, very proud people.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03The same way as if I'm in England the regiment isn't here
0:11:03 > 0:11:06and the a corporal is coming through on a course
0:11:06 > 0:11:09he will have no compunction in phoning me up and saying,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12"I'm in England on a course,
0:11:12 > 0:11:14"can I come round and spend the weekend?"
0:11:14 > 0:11:16And if I say yes, which I probably will if I can,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19he'll say, "Well great, are the kids at home?
0:11:19 > 0:11:23"I'd like to see Luke, he must have grown since a last saw him."
0:11:23 > 0:11:27We don't talk about the latest weapons come into the army
0:11:27 > 0:11:30but we'll sit round and talk about families and children
0:11:30 > 0:11:35because Gurkhas are people who have a great deal of feeling for children
0:11:35 > 0:11:37and they get very homesick.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44ORDER SHOUTED
0:11:48 > 0:11:53Guard. For inspection draw a kukri.
0:11:53 > 0:11:54Kukri. Draw!
0:12:00 > 0:12:03Kukri!
0:12:11 > 0:12:14With so many uses what are the common notions
0:12:14 > 0:12:17that a Gurkha never draws his kukri without also drawing blood?
0:12:17 > 0:12:23Yes, it is a myth in fact that a lot of people do believe that.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26But it isn't so to put you, put everyone right.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28If they start doing that
0:12:28 > 0:12:32there would be lots of nicks around Gurkha bodies and in the hand.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36In fact we don't do that any more, we don't do that at all actually.
0:12:36 > 0:12:43The only kukri that touch blood is during Dussehra,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47that is the big sacrifice of the kukri that is brought out during Ma
0:12:47 > 0:12:51and that is the one brought out for chopping buffalo and goat.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53That is the only kukri that is in fact touch blood,
0:12:54 > 0:12:55otherwise, normally, no.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Guard will return kukri!
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Return!
0:13:02 > 0:13:06'Given the chance would they have used the kukri in the Falklands?'
0:13:06 > 0:13:07We would have used kukri, yes.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10It is a very handy weapon.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12It is for hand-to-hand combat.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14It is very useful indeed.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20Although we do bayonet drill as well in training
0:13:20 > 0:13:24but I think when we are face to face with enemy and in close quarter
0:13:24 > 0:13:26I think kukri would be more handy.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31Here if I may describe, you see a little pattern there
0:13:31 > 0:13:36which some people say that it has got some religious significance
0:13:36 > 0:13:38but I doubt very much, in fact.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42That is just so that when you have blood on the kukri
0:13:42 > 0:13:44is just sort of naturally drips there,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47it doesn't get onto your hand and starts clogging up
0:13:47 > 0:13:50and that is what it is for, that little nick there.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54'When the 7th Gurkhas set off for the Falklands
0:13:54 > 0:13:57'they took their bayonets but their very fame and fighting reputation,
0:13:58 > 0:13:59would it frustrate them?
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Were they disappointed as they approached Mount William
0:14:01 > 0:14:03that the Argentineans had already fled?
0:14:03 > 0:14:08I think, yes, it is natural
0:14:08 > 0:14:11because we should have had contact with the Argentineans
0:14:11 > 0:14:15because I think they were very afraid of the Gurkhas
0:14:15 > 0:14:19and instead, well prior contacting with the Gurkhas
0:14:19 > 0:14:22I think they were very, um,
0:14:22 > 0:14:27I think they judged to run off.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32It was just possibly Argentina's wisest decision of the war.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38For all their ferocity in action the Gurkhas remain
0:14:38 > 0:14:40uncomplicated men from the hills,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43to which they return the moment their fighting days are over.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46No corner newsagent shop for them in Britain.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50They are farmers who even turn their lawns here into allotments.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Many bring their families and faiths can be Hindu, Buddhist
0:14:54 > 0:14:56or an amalgam or both.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59There's not much call for a dog-collared army chaplain
0:14:59 > 0:15:02at the naming ceremony for the daughter of Corporal Argen Ryan.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06It requires a Hindu pundit acquainted with the mystical configurations
0:15:06 > 0:15:07of the zodiac
0:15:07 > 0:15:12that actually determine the child's name exactly 11 days after birth.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14PUNDIT CHANTS MANTRA
0:15:19 > 0:15:23The curious thing is that morning prayers for the Gurkha children
0:15:23 > 0:15:26remind you of what it used to be like at some British schools,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30and yet there's been no missionary attempt to evangelise.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33CHILDREN REPEAT PRAYER IN UNISON
0:15:48 > 0:15:51'Perhaps the instinct of obedience
0:15:51 > 0:15:53'owes a little to the military environment.'
0:15:53 > 0:15:56School, stand at ease.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00ORDERS SHOUTED
0:16:14 > 0:16:17One of the customs that we have inherited from the Indian army
0:16:17 > 0:16:21is that when a man is brought in front of an officer,
0:16:21 > 0:16:25either his company commander or CO, his escort carries the accused man's
0:16:26 > 0:16:31belt, his hat and his sidearms, which in our case is a kukri.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34When I first was faced with this I rather thought the kukri was carried
0:16:34 > 0:16:37in case the man tried to attack me, which never happened.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45And it's really signifying that he's not fit to at that time until
0:16:45 > 0:16:49the case is dismissed to carry sidearms in the regiment.
0:16:49 > 0:16:5321172098,
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Rifleman Limbu, you are charged with the conduct in prejudice
0:16:57 > 0:17:01of good order and military discipline.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04'The charge was a minor one, trivial even if you baulk at
0:17:04 > 0:17:08'standards that demand that your bed space is a masterpiece of symmetry.'
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Pin ups, the aide memoir of lonely soldiers the world over,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15are conspicuous by their absence.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Well, almost.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20One Gurkha has an honoured place for a former colonel of the regiment,
0:17:20 > 0:17:22Field Marshal The Lord Bramall.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24He simply liked him.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Everybody's covering up are they?
0:17:27 > 0:17:28'Today's head of the British Army,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31'General Sir John Chappell, is himself a Gurkha
0:17:31 > 0:17:34'with a lifelong appreciation of the Gurkha's attributes.'
0:17:34 > 0:17:40I am sure that the Nepali citizen, the Gurkha soldier,
0:17:40 > 0:17:45because he comes from a proud and independent country,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49brings with him a certain feeling of independence.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52He's his own man. There's something in that but I think
0:17:52 > 0:17:55more than that he is a highlander, of course,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58from a pretty tough background environment where it's
0:17:59 > 0:18:03quite difficult to make a living, indeed, it's pretty hard to survive
0:18:03 > 0:18:06and he brings with him therefore,
0:18:06 > 0:18:11if he survives all the rigours of infancy and upbringing there,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13a fairly tough individual.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17And like a lot of highland people he is independent of mine.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22He is not in the least going to be subservient to anyone.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25On the other hand he is going to acknowledge readily and openly
0:18:25 > 0:18:29and freely the qualities that other people might display.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34'Some of those qualities, it must be said, are more apparent that others.'
0:18:39 > 0:18:44No-one outside the Gurkhas questions too deeply the ingredients of khaini.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Nominally a blend of coarse tobacco and lime,
0:18:47 > 0:18:49it has the kick of a dry martini.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00The most of Gurkha they are chewing the Khaini instead of cigarette
0:19:00 > 0:19:03and it is because it is much cheaper than a cigarette.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11It doesn't damage the health as well as a cigarette.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15If we are on patrol, either ambush or something like that, because you know
0:19:15 > 0:19:20if we smoke it is smelt 100 metres around the area
0:19:20 > 0:19:23but if we are chewing the khaini
0:19:23 > 0:19:27it is better than the other cigarettes. Tactical cigarette.
0:19:35 > 0:19:36You gather it
0:19:36 > 0:19:39like this and put in here.
0:19:41 > 0:19:42This is the khaini.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49The Gurkhas, too, are the only remaining soldiers of the Queen
0:19:49 > 0:19:51who get a daily ration of rum.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53They justify this with a ingenuity
0:19:53 > 0:19:57that would put lawyers and magistrates courts out of business.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01If you would not have this rum here in Malaya
0:20:01 > 0:20:03you would have bite of mosquito,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07a sort of insect that will infect your body
0:20:07 > 0:20:15and you would have wet because this Malaya is what is called
0:20:15 > 0:20:17tropical country here,
0:20:17 > 0:20:21rainforest, so day by day you will get wet
0:20:21 > 0:20:25so you will not keep your body in good health
0:20:25 > 0:20:28so I think that is the way
0:20:28 > 0:20:32it has become tradition to have rum.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38And before you say "Ah!" at the site of a field of gambolling goats
0:20:38 > 0:20:42you should understand their function.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44The Gurkhas march on curry.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48They've been weaned to accept bacon and eggs for breakfast
0:20:48 > 0:20:50but otherwise their existence
0:20:50 > 0:20:52is one long takeaway to tables that could
0:20:52 > 0:20:56well teach British service stations a thing or two.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00It may be hard to relate all this,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04the hills, the bells, the temples, to the small men who from time to time
0:21:04 > 0:21:06stand guard at Buckingham Palace.
0:21:06 > 0:21:07Their loyalty is unquestioned,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10their particular needs are catered for,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13their priest is from the fifth generation of his family
0:21:13 > 0:21:14to serve the regiment.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18I think spiritualism plays a very strong part
0:21:18 > 0:21:21in most Eastern ways of life
0:21:21 > 0:21:25and for us it plays a strong part and it's part of a bond
0:21:25 > 0:21:27between us and the soldiers,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31between the Europeans and the Gurkha soldiers in that obviously we accept
0:21:31 > 0:21:35the strictures religion places on us
0:21:35 > 0:21:39and have to learn to understand them and appreciate how they fit in.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42There's no question of us ever questioning anything like that,
0:21:42 > 0:21:43that's part of life.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Apart from their orthodox priests they have their lamas.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Not to put too fine a point on it, witch doctors.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02There are some soldiers who if they are from the right cast
0:22:02 > 0:22:04and have the right training
0:22:04 > 0:22:07have special powers and occasionally you will get a soldier
0:22:07 > 0:22:12who will be diagnosed by the doctor as having a psychological problem
0:22:12 > 0:22:15whereas we know damn well we can hand him over to the lama,
0:22:15 > 0:22:19who could be a young rifleman or corporal serving the battalion,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22and essentially the soldier is possessed.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27Now that lama will take him aside and exorcise the spirit
0:22:27 > 0:22:30and the soldier will be as right as rain afterwards.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Now, I accept that because I've seen it working.
0:22:33 > 0:22:34Psychiatrists may not.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37I do remember when, Chindig can probably add to this,
0:22:37 > 0:22:43but when I joined the battalion and it had just come back from Borneo
0:22:43 > 0:22:47there was a soldier in C Company who was renowned for his ability to,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49if he was terrified and at night,
0:22:49 > 0:22:55when he was frightened, the story was he could turn himself into a tiger.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Everybody in the company believed it, there was nobody who questioned it.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03So much so that in fact, in Borneo, when they were on operations
0:23:03 > 0:23:06he was put on sentry duty by himself because people were quite confident
0:23:06 > 0:23:10he would turn into an animal and cope with that.
0:23:10 > 0:23:16I have not seen him turn into a tiger but I have seen this man who usually
0:23:16 > 0:23:19walked about and when he saw the snakes,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22really poisonous snakes like cobras,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25used to pick them up with his hand
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and the snake bit him many times
0:23:28 > 0:23:33and we saw it and nothing effected him. The venoms.
0:23:33 > 0:23:39Therefore I had to believe that this man was something
0:23:39 > 0:23:42which other human beings cannot perform, you see?
0:23:42 > 0:23:46I mean no-one said "Oh, don't be stupid, don't talk rubbish,"
0:23:46 > 0:23:49because there's an awful lot of strange things that go on
0:23:49 > 0:23:52that people don't profess to understand.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56I mean, we wouldn't disagree until it's proved otherwise.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00'The whole concept of the garrison is to make it home from home
0:24:00 > 0:24:04'for the men from the mountains and their mostly British officers.'
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Our mess, in common with many messes in the army, houses a lot of property
0:24:08 > 0:24:11that record and represent the history of the regiment.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Regimental property is not only in the mess
0:24:14 > 0:24:17but also in the guard room and other messes
0:24:17 > 0:24:19and one piece of particular interest
0:24:19 > 0:24:24is this statuette which is the centrefold of Playboy Magazine
0:24:24 > 0:24:26which ties in with two pictures
0:24:26 > 0:24:30in the mess and a bit of our history that we're very proud of
0:24:30 > 0:24:32when one of lance corporals won a VC.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36Battalion had had four very successful actions in late '65,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38one of them being the VC action,
0:24:38 > 0:24:43and the company commander of the company that actually resulted,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46the battle that resulted in the VC,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49sent over to the Indonesian company commander of the other side
0:24:49 > 0:24:53a Playboy, a volleyball net and a volleyball
0:24:53 > 0:24:56with a message that he hoped it raised their morale
0:24:56 > 0:24:58and, indeed, their fitness.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01- But why did you want to give succour and comfort to the enemy?
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Probably because we'd given them quite a hammering
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and we didn't really, we wanted to keep things going.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Anyhow I think it was more of a joke.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13But it was sent over by a trader and three days later this statuette
0:25:13 > 0:25:18turned up with the varnish still wet on it and initially everyone
0:25:18 > 0:25:19wondered what on earth it was
0:25:19 > 0:25:24but then suddenly realised it was indeed a replica of the centrefold.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26But no message.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30'Probably in no other regiment in the British Army
0:25:30 > 0:25:34'is the relationship between officer and soldier quite so paternal.'
0:25:34 > 0:25:37Well, it's tradition that when a man ever leaves the battalion
0:25:38 > 0:25:39or returns that he is always
0:25:39 > 0:25:43interviewed by the CO because they all have the right
0:25:43 > 0:25:45to bring any point forward to the CO.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47It also gives me a chance
0:25:47 > 0:25:50to make sure that I'm in touch with anything going up in Nepal,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53they can let me know of any problems and so it's tradition,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56certainly in the 10th, that any man going or coming back from leave
0:25:56 > 0:25:59will always be interviewed by the commanding officer.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02- Are you married? - No, Sir.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Are you going to get married this time?
0:26:04 > 0:26:05- Yes, Sir. - All right.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07You got family permission when you come back?
0:26:07 > 0:26:09- Yes, Sir. - Have you?
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Don't smuggle, don't disobey the rules, all right?
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Or I'll throw you out. Don't do any of that. Good luck to you.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19I won't see you again unless I come up to the hills.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20Good luck to you.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28HE SPEAKS NEPALESE
0:26:28 > 0:26:30All right?
0:26:30 > 0:26:32Yes, Sir.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34OK, Rambata, nice to see you back.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40'In vivid contrast to the rolling hills of the Far East
0:26:40 > 0:26:43'the Gurkhas base in Britain is at Chruch Crookham in Hampshire,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46'an unlikely village for the celebration of Dussehra,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49'the symbolic triumph of good over evil.'
0:26:53 > 0:26:57If you really want to know, Dussehra commemorates the tussle during which
0:26:57 > 0:27:00the goddess Durga destroyed a demon with the head of a buffalo.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02So one way and another
0:27:02 > 0:27:06it's not exactly an every-day story of Hampshire country folk.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10There is much placing of leaves on foreheads and much warming of hands,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13and there are other matters which are strictly Gurkha.
0:27:20 > 0:27:26CHANTING
0:27:26 > 0:27:31'Everything is blessed, weapons included. The idea is to...'
0:27:31 > 0:27:36To make them powerful and make successful any.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41fighting whenever we need those weapons
0:27:41 > 0:27:46we think it is blessed by our goddess so we will have success, we will win.
0:27:46 > 0:27:52'One English vegetable marrow, one Gurkha sacrificial kukri.'
0:27:55 > 0:27:58TRUMPETING
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Obviously the most solemn ceremony of Dussehra
0:28:02 > 0:28:05doesn't always end like that
0:28:05 > 0:28:09but who needs 1,000 telephone calls in the next ten minutes?