Gurkha Selection Chest Measurement

A young Nepali boy is measured for lung capacity during a recruitment test for the Gurkha Regiment - part of a tough endurance series to find physically perfect specimens for British army infantry training, on 16th January 1997, in Pokhara, Nepal. 60,000 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 journey to the UK. Nepal has been supplying youths for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)

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Filename: gurkha_selection03-16-01-1997.jpg
Copyright: Richard Baker
Image Size: 5423x3570 / 3.7MB; www.photoshelter.com/support/license; https://www.bakerpictures.com/contact; 1990s 1997 20th century 90s adolescent armed forces army boy british army bygone chest measurement decade determination endurance era ethnic gurkha historical homeland inches lung capacity military motivation nineteen-nineties nineties past performance recruit regiment selection soldier strongest tape measure times years youth
Contained in galleries: 1990s

A young Nepali boy is measured for lung capacity during a recruitment test for the Gurkha Regiment - part of a tough endurance series to find physically perfect specimens for British army infantry training, on 16th January 1997, in Pokhara, Nepal. 60,000 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 journey to the UK. Nepal has been supplying youths for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)