CONFIDENTIAL
Q30. Accompanied service?
A30. Accompanied service remains vital to morale of this garrison a long way from home. Therefore it is planned to
continue until the latest time consistent with a smooth
administrative withdrawal. At present we judge this to be the
end of the school year in 1996 (July/August for UK, November
for Gurkhas).
Q31. Effect on families?
A31. The normal range of families infrastructure will remain
at scaled down levels until 1996, when all families will depart Hong Kong as accompanied service ceases. It is important to remove families a little before the final
withdrawal so that the infrastructure can be closed down in an
orderly way.
In the final period UK servicemen will serve
unaccompanied, as they do in some other parts of the world, eg
Falklands, Belize.
Q32. Effect on Brigade of Gurkhas rundown?
A32. Future plans for the Brigade of Gurkhas have already been announced. The major elements of the Hong Kong withdrawal (eg amalgamation of 2 and 6 GR to form 1RGR, relocation of HQ and
training depot to the UK) are already part of those plans. Some minor adjustments to the rundown plan will be made in respect of the Gurkha supporting arms and services (Engineers,
Signals, Transport).
Q33. Will extra Gurkhas be made redundant?
A33. The future size of the Brigade is not changed by these
As always we aim to keep
plans for the Hong Kong garrison.
redundancies to a minimum.
CONFIDENTIAL
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