First members of the King's Gurkha Artillery get hands-on with the L118 Light Gun
Fifty years ago, the L118 Light Gun entered service in the British Army – but soon it will be fired by soldiers from the British Army's newest regiment – The King's Gurkha Artillery.
The first members of The KGA have been drawn from across the various Gurkha units.
They are infanteers, signallers, engineers and logisticians – so now they must be transformed into gunners. And that means learning everything from scratch.
Sergeant Suryabahadur Gurung has been an infantryman for 19 years. He says he was always excited when he was attached to the Royal Artillery, but he never had the chance to work on the gun line.
Until now.
"In the first week it's been quite hard and a bit overwhelming," he told BFBS Forces News.
"When you see the big guns, they have a lot of parts and it's quite overwhelming. But it gets easier."
"We've been teaching them almost everything that is relevant to the gun," said Royal Artillery instructor Bombardier Joe Smith.
"So positions on the guns, roles and responsibilities, ammunition natures, how to carry out a fire mission, and how to carry out a direct firing mission, which is slightly lower elevation.
"Also how to maintain it and then how to use it out in the field."
The new members of The King's Gurkha Artillery have been streamed to specific roles.
While the strike operators were getting hands on with greasing the guns, across the parade square the new Fire Support Team members were also in training.
Their job is to find the target in the first place – and call in the fire.
"One of the most important things is the VP," explained Sergeant Sam Gasan from the Royal Horse Artillery.
"VP means Voice Procedure and it's simply because we in the artillery, every time we speak on the net to that gun line, every single thing that we say is an order – which means that your VP has to be really on the money.
"For these soldiers, English is their second language, so there's another level of difficulty, and we in the artillery are really strict on the way we speak on the net.
"Anything misinterpreted could end up being the wrong message further down the line – which could be fatal."
The instructors training the Gurkhas say it's been really enjoyable.
"It's been fantastic!" said Bombardier Smith. "They're just sponges for information.
"They absorb everything you tell them, and they're always really keen to jump in and get involved and get hands-on."
In a couple of weeks' time, the Gurkhas will have their first go at firing the gun for real on exercise in Brecon.
In time, they'll progress on to firing the Archer – the Royal Artillery's newest gun.
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