Britain to Cut Gurka Troops

Last we checked Gurkhas were being honored for defeating 40 bandits using his khukri (knife) or fighting off 30 Taliban singlehanded.  Now in a budget move, Britain aims to cut the Gurkha force:

MoD redundancies: Gurkhas heaviest hit by Army cuts:

A total of 2,600 serving members of the Armed Forces will be axed over the next six months, including 150 of the 3,500 strong Gurkha brigade.

The government was accused on Monday of "double standards" after it was emerged that front-line Gurkha soldiers are to lose their jobs while infantry in the rest of the army will be protected from the cuts.

Tikendra Dewan, Chairman of the British Gurkha Welfare society, said: "It is unfair, we are supposed to be on an equal footing and yet they are applying one criteria to the rest of the army and another to the Gurkhas.

"Gurkha soldiers are among the fiercest and most loyal in the army, this is double standards. We are not special but we should be treated the same."

In total 1,000 serving members of the Armed Forces and 1,600 Royal Navy personnel are to be made redundant, including navy personnel taking part in the Libyan intervention and members of the Army serving in Afghanistan.

I think of this as the library effect.  When the local government is threatened with budget cuts they always mention the library, and never the building department, since the former has greater approval among the voters...