A NEW consignment of Gurkha recruits have arrived in Catterick Garrison ahead of their basic infantry training.

Major Dammar Bahadur Shahi, from Royal Gurkha Rifles, Infantry Battalion, said 230 new recruits from Nepal had arrived in the garrison over the last two days – more than 100 more than last year’s new arrivals.

He said: “The new Gurkha soldiers are all between 17 and 21, and most of them will be coming to the UK for the first time.

“They were selected in December in two groups of 115 and have already undergone some training before arriving here.

“They are selected on the basis of their education and fitness and then start 15 days of training in Nepal.

“They will now start 39 weeks of infantry training before being able to choose logistics, engineers or signals.”

The Gurkha recruits, who were selected from around 8,500 applicants in Nepal, were welcomed with a short ceremony led by Buddhist and Hindu leaders, and the company commander.

Maj Bahadur Shahi said he is proud to be the second ever Gurkha Company Commander in Catterick Garrison.

He added: “It is 33 years since I did my training in Hong Kong. It is challenging but I’m very proud to take on this role.”