Gurkha And Aircraft Window

A newly-recruited Nepali boy stares through the window of a Nepal Airlines airliner during his flight from his Himalayan homeland to the UK where his 2-year training for the British Army will begin, on 16th January 1997, in Kathmandu, Nepal. He is leaving behind his family for England where the British army is to make him a fully-trained soldier in the Gurkha Regiment. Some 60,000 young Nepalese boys aged between 17 - 22 or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000 - 12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the flight to the UK. The Gurkhas training wing in Nepal has been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

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Filename: gurkha_selection05-16-01-1997.jpg
Copyright: Richard Baker
Image Size: 4307x2786 / 1.5MB; 1990s 1997 20th century 90s aeroplane aircraft airliner airplane aviation away boy british army bygone contemplation decade era flight flying future gurkha historical history jet nepal nepalese nepali nineteen-nineties nineties past plane recruit soldier sunset teen teenager thinking thoughts times view viewpoint window seat worries years
Contained in galleries: Richard Baker - All pics

A newly-recruited Nepali boy stares through the window of a Nepal Airlines airliner during his flight from his Himalayan homeland to the UK where his 2-year training for the British Army will begin, on 16th January 1997, in Kathmandu, Nepal. He is leaving behind his family for England where the British army is to make him a fully-trained soldier in the Gurkha Regiment. Some 60,000 young Nepalese boys aged between 17 - 22 or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000 - 12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the flight to the UK. The Gurkhas training wing in Nepal has been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.