Passing Off the Square completed for Recruit Intake 23

By Trainee Rifleman Jay Raj Rai, 1 (Tigris) Platoon

On the 25th of May 2023 the Passing Off the Square (POS) eventy for Recruit Intake 23 (RI23) took place. The previous day, we busied ourselves throughout the evening making the necessary preparations for the big day ahead. We practised our foot drill within our pairs, asked military knowledge questions to each other and started arranging our bed spaces optimally. We cleaned and prepared our bed spaces and prepared our uniforms ready for the inspections. For the second and third phases, we needed to be confident about our foot drill, military knowledge and be able to perform the basic Khukuri patterns.

Company Headquarters (CHQ) staff entered our section rooms. We were inspected for our turnout in barrack dress uniform, the cleanliness of our rooms, individual bed spaces and lockers. After the inspection phase, we lined up on the parade square to perform individual drill movements on command. We confidently carried out this stage and after lunch demonstrated the basic Khukuri drills (Close Quarter Combat) as a group. Passing the Khukuri drill meant that we were officially allowed to carry the individual khukuris we had been issued, rather than the wooden ones we had practised with. We all gave our best effort to prepare and present ourselves in all the phases of the POS.

Officer Commanding Gurkha Company congratulated the Trainee Riflemen (T/Rfn) of RI23 and announced the top-scoring T/Rfn from each platoon. The results were as follows:

T/Rfn Devid Tamang – 1 (Tigris) Platoon
T/Rfn Kumar Muktan – 2 (Kandahar) Platoon
T/Rfn Sunam Ingnam – 3 (Tobruk) Platoon
T/Rfn Anup Rai – 4 (Iraq) Platoon
T/Rfn Ujjwal Chemjong Limbu – 5 (Helles) Platoon
T/Rfn Anand Limbu – 6 (Assaye) Platoon

Passing Off the Square Overall Champion was awarded to T/Rfn Anand Limbu from 6 Platoon and the Passing Off the Square Overall Champion Platoon was awarded to 2 (Kandahar) Platoon. The top scoring T/Rfn were nominated to become the first platoon and section duty trainees whose role will now be to act as a conduit between the chain of command and their peers. We have all now been granted grand privileges but must continue to prove we can be trusted with equal responsibility.