THE ARMED SERVICES
while Air Scouts and members of the Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps received flying experience with the RAF at Sek Kong.
On Sunday mornings scores of local children enjoy a range of mini-sports on the playing fields of Stanley Fort, the home of the United Kingdom battalion, while most of the fixtures played on the garrison sports field at So Kon Po involve civilian clubs.
Military experts help with training and facilities for the sports parachutists of Hong Kong, RAF experts annually advise and assess local mountain rescue teams, and budding sailors are trained by men of the Royal Navy.
The range of differing nationalities which make up the garrison provides a mixture of cultures unique among British Forces deployed abroad. This helps to link the garrison firmly to the life of the community through its contribution to a stable and secure en- vironment for everyone.
Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers)
The Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) is a light reconnaissance regiment of part-time volunteers. Its role, though primarily one of security, includes reconnaissance, anti-illegal immigration operations and assistance to other government departments in the event of natural disasters. It is administered and financed by the Hong Kong Government but if called out it is commanded by the Commander British Forces and forms part of 48 Gurkha Infantry Brigade.
The regiment has an establishment of 946 volunteers and 54 permanent staff, including nine regular soldiers on loan from the British Army, one of whom is the Commanding Officer. The volunteers come from all walks of life and are of various nationalities, although over 97 per cent are Chinese.
The regiment is composed of four reconnaissance squadrons, a home guard squadron, a training squadron and a headquarters squadron. In May, a total of 124 recruits successfully completed six months' training.
In addition, a women's troop with a strength of 60 volunteers provides support in various duties, including anti-illegal immigration operations as searchers and interpreters. The regiment runs a junior leaders' corps of 300 boys, aged from 14 to 17, training in youth activities and leadership.
The Regimental Headquarters is located in Happy Valley on Hong Kong Island where the volunteers have been based since 1950. The regiment does not have a training camp of its own and shares the training facilities of the British Army in Hong Kong.
The training commitment is two evenings and one weekend each month as well as centrally-organised regimental training, such as regimental camps and exercises. Regimental camps, the highlight of the year's training, normally take place over seven days each in April/May and November. For the border camps which took place in November 1988 and May 1989, the regiment relieved the regular British Army of its anti-illegal immigration duties and captured a total of 121 illegal immigrants on these two occasions.
Each year, selected volunteers are sent for overseas training and on attachments in the United Kingdom. All officer cadets have to undergo thorough military training at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, before they receive commissions as Second Lieutenants.
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