The Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas are learning how to decontaminate a casualty who has suffered chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear exposure (CBRN).

The Gurkha Musicians spent five days at the Defence CBRN Centre near Salisbury on a course that isn’t open to everyone, just military musicians. The Defence CBRN Centre designs and runs courses that qualify individuals of all three services for operational, training and staff CBRN defence appointments.

If there was a CBRN incident where casualties were contaminated, they’d be brought to a facility to be decontaminated by soldiers wearing specialised kit, making the task even more challenging.

As soldiers and musicians, these Gurkhas could be performing anywhere in any environment when called on by defence to deploy quickly and perform this operational role on the battlefield.