Red identical t-shirts of young Nepali boys walk in single-file through a dry valley near the British Gurkha Regiment's army camp at Pokhara after recently being recruited into the regiment after a gruelling series of tests to eliminate the weaker and less able candidates. 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. The Gurkhas have been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
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