Regiment) - D (Gurkha) Company (1998-2003) 1st Battalion, The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons) - A (Gallipoli) Company (2001-2004)1 1: The company attached to the Royal Scots transferred to the Highlanders in 2001. The Gurkha companies operated as fully integrated elements of their parent units, and saw deployments alongside both the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Irish Regiment to Sierra Leone as part of Operation Palliser in 2000, as well as deployments to Bosnia in 1999 with the Parachute Regiment and to Iraq with the Royal Irish as part of Operation Telic in 2003. The only time that the Gurkhas were not deployed with their parent battalion was in the event of a tour of Northern Ireland as part of Operation Banner - British government policy prevented them from serving in Northern Ireland. So, in the event of the parent battalion undertaking a tour of Northern Ireland, the Gurkha company would need to be detached for duty elsewhere. This occurred when the Royal Scots were deployed on two roulement tours, with B Company instead deployed to Bosnia as part of Operation Resolute. Both the Parachute Regiment and the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment also deployed to Northern Ireland during the periods they were reinforced by Gurkha companies. Although the last of the reinforcement companies, attached to 1st Battalion, The Highlanders, was disbanded in 2004, a new batch of units was formed from 2008, again as a result of manpower shortages in the infantry. This eventually saw three new reinforcement companies formed - one of these was attached to 2nd Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, while the other two formed part of other regiments: 1st Battalion, The Mercian Regiment - G (Tobruk) Company (2009-2012) 1st Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) - D (Delhi) Company (2009-2012) As with previous reinforcement units, the new companies were fully integrated elements of their parent battalions, deploying on a number of occasions as part of Operation Herrick to Afghanistan. In 2019, the government announced the formation of a new third battalion of the Royal Gurkha Rifles, intended for use as part of the Specialised Infantry Group, a formation intended to operate in the training and mentoring role with the armed forces of other nations. On 31 January 2020, the new battalion was officially formed with the formation of its first sub-unit, A (Coriano) Company, which was initially attached to 4th Battalion, The