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Trade secrets
While at the back end of a deployment on Op KIPION, as the Force Movement Warrant Officer for the Middle East in 2019, I learnt there was an opportunity to be assigned to British Gurkhas Nepal (BGN). Thinking that my current deployment would hinder my chances, I volunteered but remained unconvinced I would be offered the assignment. To my surprise, I promptly received an assignment order and swiftly got in contact with the incumbent at the time to find out what I could.
I completed my tour at the end of March 2019 and was on a flight to Nepal at the end of April 2019. The first nine months of the assignment were spent making the most of what Nepal has to offer. However, as it has been all over the world, the COVID-19 global pandemic had a vast effect on how we conducted our daily business and inevitably an adverse impact on the supply chain.
The Government of Nepal (GoN) imposed lockdown, which began on 24 Mar 20. This included the suspension of all air and long-distance ground travel with the cessation of the lockdown unpredictable. The ground line of communication from India had been considerably impacted, with no expectation of significant movement until COVID-19 was under control within the region. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also been impacted by the lockdown and had very limited capacity, causing delays in import licences and permissions for surface freight. BGN at the beginning of the lockdown had 14 containers held in Kolkata (India) incurring demurrage charges, whilst awaiting import authority. New processes had to be quickly formalised by my department and accepted by both the relevant Nepal and Indian customs authorities or the clearance of the backlog could have taken months at a cost of thousands to the MOD. Additionally, the lockdown was inevitably extended into monsoon season. Flooding and landslides were a common occurrence during this time which created further delays to the import of surface freight.
Equally, with the international flight suspension, there had been
Movement Control in Nepal during COVID-19
By WO2 Thomas Stone, Movement Control Warrant Officer, British Gurkhas Nepal
8 TRfn from RI21 ready to board
their flight to the UK
no routine air supply route. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal was permitting foreign government sponsored, chartered relief flights for repatriation, freight and essential (mainly medical) supply. Some freight carriers were operating a significantly reduced service, but not as routine.
Shortly after the lockdown was announced, the British Embassy in Kathmandu (BEK) ordered the drawdown of all non-essential personnel and dependants from
8 A400M arriving at Tribhuvan
International Airport Kathmandu, Nepal
8 Bridge collapse. The riverside exchange
between Kathmandu and Pokhara had become quite a struggle due to the monsoon season
Nepal. The Defence Attaché in Nepal, who is also the Commander of BGN (Colonel Richard Goodman), subsequently advised a commensurate draw down of our families and any non-essential Service Personnel. On this announcement, our families were extracted back to the UK on one of the three FCDO charter flights, which BGN played a huge role in organising.
There were 109 British nationals, and a further 28 foreign nationals identified as stranded in isolated parts of Nepal when the coronavirus crisis broke out. This resulted in a rescue mission to retrieve them. With severely diminished transport routes available in country, over a three-week period BGN personnel
travelled over 4,000 miles through the Himalayas to 13 different districts to retrieve the stranded tourists dispersed across Nepal. Some areas were inaccessible due to local barricades or landslides, meaning that some of the journeys to retrieve the tourists had to be conducted on foot over severely undulating terrain. Not all journeys could be completed in one day due to the length and precarious routes, so various individuals were forced to camp for the night on the side of the road.
With the unpredictability of the lockdown duration and COVID-19 cases on the increase in the region, it was decided there was a requirement for personnel and stores movement in and out of Nepal. The organisation of three resilience flights followed, in order for BGN to maintain a safe COVID-19 facing posture, its disaster response capability, the delivery of mandated outputs, the sustainment of the Army-wide summer posting cycle and to enable personnel to take leave. The resilience flights were scheduled to take place every six weeks and operated in July, September and October.
The Defence Attaché noted that the use of Military Air Transport (MilAT) has enabled BGN and the BEK to rehearse the capability of coming into Nepal, which has allowed confirmation that BGN’s contingency capability is enhanced. This provided some confidence to the Service Personnel that, should there be any AEROMEDEVAC required in the future, many of the wrinkles in the Nepali processes have already been ironed out. Additionally, it has also given the chance of some Defence Engagement. Most of the airport staff could not recall seeing any MilAT (of any flag) landing in Nepal for a considerable time.
The international flight suspension ended on 2 Sep 20 allowing the families to be repatriated back to Nepal over the period of OctoberNovember 2020. The return of the families helped to bring a brief moment of normality for those in Nepal, who had assumed a working on Ops mentality as some personnel had spent in excess of six months apart. This was unfortunately short lived with further travel prohibitions were implemented by the GoN on 22 Dec 20.
This announcement banned all passengers originating or transiting through the UK, which included a large number of BGN personnel and dependents who had returned to the UK for Christmas leave. As support personnel from the UK were delayed indefinitely, the travel plan and the plan for the Recruit Intake 2021 (RI21) Central Selection, that was required to start in January 2021, underwent huge overhauls. 2 RGR in Brunei provided a large amount of support, which with remaining BGN personnel, enabled recruitment to take place with BGN and UK support personnel eventually arriving in Nepal in February 2021 to reinforce. The movement of 340 T/Rfn to the UK was another unpredictable obstacle. Commercial flights remained limited with the additional exit and entry admin and paperwork requirements providing additional planning. COVID positive tests required constant engagement and reshuffling of chalks with Defence Travel and the airlines in order to prevent large additional costs. Ultimately, (with some rework required) the 340 T/Rfn were moved to the UK over seven chalks throughout February-March.
Over the last year, the global pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we conduct our business in BGN. There has been a lot of planning and co-ordination that has been required to remain flexible during this unpredictable and unusual period. It certainly has at times been extremely challenging, causing long hours and headaches.
Overall, BGN has achieved a great deal with the evacuation and repatriation of personnel and dependents, whilst delivering its primary objective of recruitment. These all stand out as amazing accomplishments conducted in such challenging circumstances, which should not be underestimated. It is a period in my career that has been completely different to what I expected, but one that I have been happy to play a part and will look back on with fond memories.
8 Passenger brief. WO2 Stone delivering
the passenger brief to all the passengers of resilience flight two
8 TRfn from RI21 following COVID
