Page "Brigade of Gurkhas" Paragraph 146

Under international law, according to Protocol 1 Additions to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Gurkhas serving as regular uniformed soldiers are not mercenaries, According to Cabinet Office official histories ( Official History of the Falkland Islands, Sir Lawrence Freedman ), Sir John Nott, as Secretary of State for Defence, expressed the British Government's concern that the Gurkhas could not be sent with the task force to recapture the Falkland Islands because it might upset the non-aligned members of the fragile coalition of support that the British had built in the United Nations.

The then Chief of Defence Staff Sir Edwin Bramall, like Nott a former officer in the 2nd Gurkhas, said that the Gurkhas were needed for sound military reasons ( as a constituent part of 5th Infantry Brigade ) and if they were not deployed then there would always be a political reason not to deploy Gurkhas in future conflicts.

So he requested that Nott argue the case in Government for deploying them against the advice of the Foreign Office.

Nott agreed to do so commenting that the Gurkhas " would be mortified if we spoilt their chances going ".