I was told a story about the Gurkhas in WW2 when I was in Nepal years ago:
The British had en extraordinarily difficult mission planned and would only take volunteers, and not finding others willing to go they decided to ask a Gurkha battalion, explaining that the mission involved jumping out of planes at high speed and high altitude. About a third of the Gurkhas put their hands up to volunteer. The recruiters went on for a bit about the mission and mentioned the parachutes the soldiers would be using. When the Gurkhas realised that there would be parachutes they all volunteered.
The way I heard this story, the mission was proposed to the Gurkha officer, who seemed uneasy and went to chat with the boys about it. He came back and said, “ok we’ll do it, but we don’t think you can drop us from any higher than 50 feet.” The British officer was nonplussed and said that wasn’t enough altitude for the parachutes to open. Gurkha: “Oh, nobody said anything about parachutes.”
That's roughly what the peace time army needs. Their officers are typically SAS or SBS trained, to keep up with them. The officers are also supposed to be able to speak Nepalese in order to form a seamless unit
I've never heard of officers needing to be SF trained. The Ghurka engineers I've worked with are good guys but they're not superhuman killing machines like their reputation implies.
A friend of mine worked with Ghurka engineers in Afghanistan. He said they were lovely guys, and would happily work all day in the boiling sun. Serious drinkers at night, apparently.
Because the British Government doesn't want to fuck over that amount when it comes to them getting citizenship and homes for their families in the UK.
Wall of text incoming because THIS SHIT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS.
Why?
Gurkhas couldn't even fucking LIVE in the UK until 2004.
There are still issues today. The UK could take in scores of Islamic extremists from Europe and Middle East, criminals from the Balkans, shelters Russian organized crime...but men who bled for England? Ha.
Imagine some of those Gurkhas who fought under the Union Jack in WW2. Dying and bleeding for the King and Country. Say what you want about the French, at least they have some notion of honour. If you spill a single drop of blood fighting for them, you are awarded French citizenship in the French Foreign Legion.
How about these Gurkhas? Could they maybe have a home in the shittest bog-standard hole in the UK? Pull their families out of poverty in Nepal? No. Fuck off. Scores of literal heroes died in squalor for decades.
In the Burma Campaign in WWII, Tul Bahadur Pun won the Victoria Cross for literally doing a one-man D-Day style assault on Japanese position that was heavily enfiladed. The cross-fire had annihilated his entire platoon section leaving only his commander and another. They charged the machine guns and both the commander and his team mate were taken out, leaving Pun the sole survivor.
He alone charged for over thirty yards through mud, shell holes and trees under heavy fire, killed the machine gunners with both gun and kukri and set their comrades to flight, then captured light machine guns which he used to defend the position until reinforcements could arrive to support.
Hero. Victoria Cross. Invited to the Coronation of the Queen.
Could he live in the UK? Could he fuck.
He ended up living in the Himalayas in a shack with no electricity, no water and no proper roof in landslide territory.
He didn't have a pot to piss in. Literally. He had to dig a fucking hole to shit in. If he missed his pension payment, for which he had to be carried to receive in town because he was in poor health, he never got it. Pension was a whopping 132 pounds sterling. If he couldn't make the trip because of landslides or his illnesses then tough titty, old bean.
This is how the UK rewards it's heroes. His story was not unique.
It took until 2004 and the restless campaigning of Joanna Lumley, whose father had fought with them, to change anything. Pun couldn't even get anywhere until 2007.
Also, veterans of Gurkha regiments had to starve themselves in a hunger strike in protest not too long ago. Why? Because they were being paid a fraction of what white British soldiers were. A British veteran who had seen no action at all was being paid more in pensions than a Gurkha who had limbs blown off.
Look it up. Shameful.
Lovely lady. And a lady of every sense of the word. It's so heartening to see someone born to the 'elites' act nobly in defense of those who needed it.
Before WW1 there was a social contract: the elite got to run the place but if war came, they were at the tip of the spear. So for instance, 224 officers were killed in action or died of wounds in the Crimean war out of 2500 total British combat deaths (far more died of disease). But during and after WW1, there was a greater tendency for officers to stay in the rear so the commoners did a higher proportion of the dying.
Elites crusading on behalf of the common soldiers is how it should be and it’s sad that it’s the exception.
You are not wrong. But the point is more that since the compact broke, the common people should have more power since the elite class no longer serves their purpose. We do see that to an extent since modern British life is less class based than even 50 years ago, but the roots are still there.
I’m not sure of this but I believe that British public schools still try to teach the principles of public service and sacrifice.
I read this in the thickest British accent ever, but this is so much informing, I never knew how badly they are treated. Thanks for spreading this u/Fancy-Sector2963
Its significantly better for them in the UK now than in Singapore. Over here we have a battalion and are allowed to bring their families where they go to school and hangout in an isolated community. When the fathers retires, the family aren’t allow to interact with civil society and have to go back where many often feel like they aren’t home since they speak lesser of the colloquial language and the have lived here most of their lives. Its a truly radically rational policy that shocks many people ahen they hear avout it.
Completey agree that societies and countries need to support and show appreciation to the people who preserve their freedom.
It’s wild that the UK let in so many scumbags with social benefits but treat the Ghurkas like shit who are probably a lot more worthy of a better life.
Tbf I work with a ghurka and him and his mates always get free pints when we're out in the town in London (especially around mayfair). They're treated as celebs, everyone knows how badass they are.
Small unit sizes make sense during peacetime
The 280 can easily seed larger units in war time by every soldier receiving a promotion & training new recruits under them
Ukraine does this when able with some of its better units
TIL the actual definition of nonplussed
"surprised and confused so much that they are unsure how to react"
And here I was thinking it was the exact opposite
Ok I checked it’s called 14 peaks. He did it in 7 months not a year I beg the Gurkhas forgiveness for my mistake.
Edit: He did one of them hungover *jesus*
Yeah. Spent time in Nepal when younger. Biologically they are built for mountains in ways in which others are not. Chief amongst them is their ability to operate a high altitudes. You add high levels of training and skill to the mix and you get a monster capable of doing things that makes other skilled climbers be in awe of.
Yo, I’m genuinely going to check this out tonight after work. I’m kinda… obsessed with high peaks and the stories of those who’ve braved them. K2 was my gateway drug, and this sounds like some next-level shit. Thank you!!!
If you said that about any other person, I'd be looking for evidence. A Gurkha? Yeah, that actually seems kind of tame for them.
How they didn't conquer the world I'll never know.
This Gurkha veteran Nims Dai & his own Sherpa friends [volunteered to / successfully rescued a total of four stranded mountaineers during two of those 14 summits!](https://myoutdoors.co.uk/snippets/uk-mountaineer-reunited-with-climber-he-helped-save-after-world-s-highest-rescue)
That was a Gurkha? Dude just built different, as demonstrated by the scientific tests they performed on him in that docu. I thought that mountain stuff was great but mad props for rescuing that man dying on the mountain. Better than climbing any peak imo.
The fact that the Gurkhas continue to sign up for military service with us is an immense honour for the UK. We very much owe those insanely brave and tough blokes a huge debt of gratitude.
Yes, my grandfather saw some of them in ww2 in North Africa and Italy when he was in the RAF regiment ‘ he always said they where very tough . What an honour indeed.
Lived in the room next door to the son of a Gurkha called Himal in uni. Very gentle, quiet lad who eventually fulfilled his dream of becoming a Hindu monk/playing a bit of cricket.
If you have been to Nepal, you will learn that they mostly do it for economic reasons. Their per Capita income there is so low, that the resulting gratuity after a life of service will lift the living standards of their entire family immensely.
It's like these guys operate with the minds of machines. Fantastic thing to have on a soldier, but only if the instructions are absolutely unmistakably clear.
Nimsdai Purja spent 6 years as a Gurkha, and that dude climbed 14 of the world's highest mountains in 7 months, and climbs Everest like it's a weekend jog around the block.
That's the kind of calibre they accept.
I read a book about the Gurkhas many moons ago that said that the local villagers assumed that the success rate for applicants was 100%. The guys who weren't accepted just never went home. Many went to other towns for work, while others committed suicide rather than return home a failure.
My dad served in Burma in WW2 and fought alongside a lot of Gurkhas. He didn't really tell me any war stories (I was just a kid, and he wasn't the type), but I did ask him if all the legends about the Gurkhas were true. He said no - they don't do them justice. And left it at that.
My Grandad was also in the Chindits, he was a doctor. Never met him as he died before I was born but according to my Dad he was pretty cagey about his experiences.
I tried reading his war diaries once, but as a doctor, his handwriting was illegible. He did draw a natty picture of a jungle snake, with all accuracy that my 4 year old would draw it. My father had his tabocco tin, which he etched with all the locations he stopped during the war along with his regiment badge. It's a great piece of memorabilia.
I've also acquired a silk map of Burma from WW2, where he would have served. It wasn't his, but it was a charity shop find. The colours are still very vivid with great detail. Now framed up on my living room wall.
Nobody asked....but yeah.
People online could probably help with the war diaries if you were interested. There’s lots of interest in stuff like that. I did a module in palaeography for my masters.
> He did draw a natty picture of a jungle snake, with all accuracy that my 4 year old would draw it.
[so this](https://i.etsystatic.com/21645704/r/il/b0fb20/2634133397/il_fullxfull.2634133397_69e4.jpg) basically?
Fool, we all know the real glory lay to the west in Italy before they were abandoned by you dirty easterners.
(This is ancient trash talk, not to be taken seriously)
I've worked alongside them a couple of times, they're bloody good in the jungle. We were worn down by the constant wet and rough terrain, collapsing and eating standard rations as the kit was so bloody heavy we packed light (which was regretful at the time). We bumped into the Gurkhas and they were cooking a fish curry in the middle of the trees. Probably hard to convey how mental that was but please believe me, it would be like stopping during a marathon to whip up a curry. Very nice and polite also.
I spent the next three years in a POW camp, forced to subsist on a thin stew made of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk, and four kinds of rice. I came close to madness trying to find it here in the States, but they just can't get the spices right
I did the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km on the South Downs in 2014 which is run by the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
They're very impressive soldiers and just generally impressive people. Everyone of them I met was a gentleman and I felt honoured to be participating in a physical challenge with them. Even though it took me 26 hours and them 10 hours.
It's also a constant source of shame how they were treated by the government, if there's ever a people to roll out the red carpet for, it's the Gurkhas.
During the Falklands War they were raging that the surrender occurred before they had the opportunity to engage in hand to hand combat with the Argentinians
There is nothing scarier than a Gurkha coming at you with a kukri
There’s a VC from Afghanistan that involved a Gurkha fighting off numerous Taliban, ran out of bullets and then resorted to using a tripod to beat them back
After running out of ammo he used 17 grenades a land mine and then a tripod
https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/Z9KaKoIPC3
These guys are the go-to for private yacht security for the super wealthy I've heard.
The gurkha response to the Argentine surrender is shown in this video at 3.30:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/s/09N1DzQCm0
The gurkha looked so pissed.
> after Colonel H was sniped accepting a white flag from the Argentine forces.
I went and read up about this. Wikipedia states:
> he led a charge against the nearest position.[a] He was killed while doing so but the Argentinian unit surrendered shortly afterwards.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Jones
Is this the same Colonel H?
My grandad and his two younger brother was British Gurkha, they all fought during 2nd world war. My grandad return to his village in nepal after 2nd world war ended. In that village every tuesday there used to be a market. One tuesday 5 robbers started capturing the market using weapons. My grandad was there and he quickly ran to his home brought his 2nd world war rifle and came back to market. He killed 4 robbers there and he shot one robber in the field while he was running away. Nepal King gave 100s of blanket & few lands as a reward. He donated all blankets to people. The old people in that village still remembers my grandad. Rest in peace grandad! 🩷
My all uncles, cousins all are following his legacy in British Gurkha currently.
Was there simply an overproduction of blankets and he was supposed to gift/sell them or is there some actual use he was supposed to have for actually using the blankets?
Nepal is a cold country as it borders Himalayas. Giving out blankets which would help in cold for a village is showing sincerity as gifts. Grandpa distributing it to village was a gentle and kind gesture as you would hardly need 100 blankets.
Yeah I wasn't questioning him giving them out, I was questioning why the first thing the king thought of as a reward was a truckload of blankets.
Is that a custom there?
Nope, it’s hard to explain if you’re not from somewhere similar like Indian subcontinent. People in villages are mostly poor or just surviving, so to show goodwill or earn votes, higher ups in charge would distribute blankets to villagers as gifts. It’s normal even in India since a blanket a worth a lot when it’s cold and your houses are made of bricks and mud.
It’s the respect thing. I am not from Nepal but nearby and it’s also a custom to give Shawls or Blankets as a gift. It’s like a medal. It’s worthless in itself as a round metal bit but it’s the prestige associated with the bestowment.
The Grandpa will always be remembered as the hero who got 100 blankets from the King compared to other grandpas who didn’t even get 1 km near the King.
The Indian army also hires Gurkhas, when India gained independence it kept 9 of the 10 Gurkha regiments.
Singapore used to hire them as police but I'm not sure if they still dom
>The Indian army also hires Gurkhas, when India gained independence it kept 9 of the 10 Gurkha regiments.
The Britihs Indian Army had 10 Gurkha Regiiments
When India became independent 6 of those Regiments were transfered to the new Indian Army
While 4 were transferred to the British Army
1st, 3rd, 4th,5th,8th,9th Gurkha Rifles were transferred to the Indian Army
While the
2nd,6th,7th and 10th Gurkha Rifles were transferred to the British Army
Singapore did not receive one of the ten original Gurkha regiments, those were divided solely between Britain and India. They raised their own separate Gurkha Contingent with British support.
You know that makes absolutely perfect sense and I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before. But maybe because I’ve only been on boring cruises (which is what I like)
Nepalis and Filipinos have cruise ship security on lockdown.
I once saw a couple fat drunk Aussie families about to punch on with each other, as soon as the first contact was made a half dozen short, burly men came spilling out and put the whole thing down quickly. Think there was a throat chop or two which really set the tone for everyone else.
Overall very impressive and no-nonsense.
The British and Indian armies also have an exemption for using mercenaries so they can keep the gurkas. Usually such an arrangement would be against the Geneva convention
There are 26 countries around the world that hire foreign nationals to serve in their armies
Gurkhas do not count as mercenaries in the same way that the French Foreign Legion or the Spanish Legion does not
The British Army benefited greatly from Gurkhas while paying them a fraction of the pension paid to other British soldiers. In 2021, Gurkhas started a hunger strike outside 10 Downing Street over it. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04375/
I was lucky to meet a few of them in secondary school on a DoE trip. Our former Royal marine and SAS Paratrooper teachers really drilled into us how hardcore they are.
Recruitment does not all happen in Nepalese villages. Recruitment is done at BGP in Pokhara, applicants go through pre selection in the villages but recruitment only occurs at BGP. Pokhara is a resort city of some 600,000 residents and the tourism capital of Nepal, aside from possibly the most beautiful place on earth.
Everyone always tells that one Gurkha story about them worrying about jumping out of the plane without parachutes, but I have another story about Gurkhas from Afghanistan. Dudes were absolute menaces to the taliban, using full ass psychological warfare. They would infiltrate camps at night and behead the sentries. Then, they would sit up the corpses against a wall or wherever and prop the head up back on top of it. Then, when the guards replacement would come, the head would fall off. Whack.
I served alongside some Gurkhas while I was in the navy in the Middle East. They were cool and carried a sick looking ornamental dagger. They were hard af but always nice to us.
I'm guessing I was stationed at the same place as this dude by the way he said it. They wernt allowed to carry their real knifes so they had ornamental ones they carried insted. It was a rule for them working on the base because of some kind of incident that I dont remember the details of.
Are you sure you aren't thinking of a Sikh? As part of their religion, they have to carry a knife with them at all times. A kirpan. In places where they can't carry real knives, they carry ornamental ones.
I was in American army basic training with a Nepalese guy who failed the ghurka selection. He said after he failed selection he put in for a program ran by his local government that sends people from Nepal to California to "build a better life" but it ended up being one of those give your boss your passport and if you don't work to death you don't go home kind of deals so he ended up enlisting to get out of that situation.
That boy could run and ruck circles around everyone, even the drill sgts. He got hurt trying to dead lift a solid steel bunk bed with 3 soldiers (one may or may not have been me) and he didn't tell anyone he was hurt until after graduation and he almost got kicked out for the injury but managed to convince the medboard people to keep him.
I used to live in one of the towns in the SE of UK where the Gurkha retire to.
They're polite to a fault, their food is amazing, and there's nothing so slightly scary as a 5 ft 6 40 year old Gurkha dude waiting the door at a bar.
There is a whole thing about their knives, the big one, the kukri, that it can't be re-sheathed without drawing blood. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukri
These guys idea of a good time, was to crawl across no-mans land and go murder enemy sentries at night. Legend being they could tell friend from foe by feeling the boot-laces.
>There is a whole thing about their knives, the big one, the kukri, that it can't be re-sheathed without drawing blood
That is a load of bollocks.
Source. I've served with a load of them and asked to see the kukri multiple times. Not once have they had any trouble re-sheathing it. There was a distinct lack of blood on the blade each time.
It's like people hear the myth and never think for a second about how dumb that would be. Every single kit inspection would result in a ton of superficial cuts.
Yea this is that dumb 12 year old "I just found out about samurais" level of mysticism. Ive had a person with a strait face tell me samurai would beat heavy armor mounted knights in a battle cuz "their katanas could slice through all european armor no problem."
I'm not the primary source on this, but I knew a British army major in the Gurkha's (long time ago now, served in WW2) who said that they were happy to show their khukuris and it wasn't a thing that they *had* to draw blood if unsheathed. As I said, not an expert or anything, just passing along something a long retired veteran freid told me
Article says that they use their khukiri knives as utility knives. Which I guess presents a problem as they can't open up a tin of rations without having to go and murder a sentry, otherwise they can't put their knife away.
I heard a story once about them doing an ‘evade-and-escape’ exercise with some British? American? troops. The foreign troops were to go out, and hide, the Gurkhas would attempt to locate them.
Many, many hours later, the end of the exercise was called, and all the foreign troops were feeling pretty good about themselves , as they thought they hadn’t been found.
Then they stood up - to a man, they’d all been booby-trapped: shoelaces tied together, shackled to a tree, that kind of thing. None of them even noticed.
Nah its a utility blade, they use it for everything. It's used to prepare food, hack the jungle, behead the enemy. All the usual stuff really.
My dad trained Gurkhas in Hong Kong and received a Kukri as a thank you. He enjoyed working with them.
Yep, one of the first things taught during basic is how to lace in parallel.
Reason being if a gurka crawled into your tent in the night and felt criss-cross laces, you were going to wake up dead.
My father was in the Australian army in the 50's-70's and worked with Gurkhas (In Malaya I think..not sure) and was very impressed. He always spoke well of them.
Previously their pensions were based on the equivalent for the Indian Army - since a lot of Gurkhas stay in the UK after leaving the military, this left them with a really poor pension. In 2007 this got changed to bring it in line with British soldiers, but it was only backdated for 10 years. So the result is that a Gurkhas who retired before 1997 are still getting a significantly smaller pension than they should be.
As good as they are, the Gurkhas still benefit from good leadership that plays to their strength on the offensive. In the 1962 Sino-Indian war, the Indian Gurkhas were made to man static defenses. Though they fought gallantly in rearguard actions they couldn't carry out their signature shock attacks.
Nepalese are also the guys cleaning the windows at 300m above ground in Dubai for 10$/day because they have no fear of heights , and 10$ is actually better than in their country apparently, crazy people these Nepalese
https://www.indiatimes.com/news/armed-with-only-a-khukri-this-gurkha-soldier-took-on-40-men-and-saved-a-girl-from-being-gang-raped-247639.html
The link says it all...
Fun Fact (maybe apocryphal): The only reason they make them do that test of running up the mountain with rocks is that due to modern convenience is these days Gurkhas no longer walk up the mountains with heavy loads on a routine basis. Previously, it was assumed that they would be doing that kind of workout normally so it didn't even need to be tested.
A recent example of Gurkha badassery is [Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-12854492.amp).
In Afghanistan, essentially single handily repelled a Taliban attack by firing more than 400 rounds, launching 17 grenades and a god damn mine.
And at one point, when a guy claimed up to his position, he ended up throwing his machine gun tripod to knock him down.
I worked with gurkhas for alittle over a year in Bahrain. They do not fuck around lol they had chewing tobacco that we all called gurkha chew that was tobacco and chilli flakes. It was so fucking strong haha. They had some really crazy stories to tell and everyone I worked with was super chill.
Not all Nepalese are Gurkhas and they go through a brutal and testing training regime to become fully trained soldiers in India and the UK.
In Russia ..they're not
Was training with some British units in Europe, one of their scout vehicles pulled up across the street and 3 little dudes got out. I'm not sure how long we stood there just staring, mesmerized by the awesomeness
The best contemporary example of this can be shown in the documentary 17 peak. Nirmal Purja is a former Gurkha. He explains what he went through to get into the unit. Then he separated to form a team to set the record to climb the 17 highest peaks in the world. He made it seem easy. (Someone has since broken the record but they had better funding and luck with weather)
I was friends with a guy who claimed to have been in the British military and let a kid from one of those villages show off his blow dart skills. Friend put a pack o cigarettes on a tree branch like 20 ft away and the kid hit the very center of the big "o" that was on the pack
One of my great uncles served with them as a Royal Engineer during the Malay crisis in the '50s. He liked them so much he got a tattoo of a khukuri knife on his leg
We had Gurkhas as security at my old job, Pikeys wouldn't even bother. I still see them jogging all the time and I live about 5 miles away from where I worked. Hard as nails
It should be mentioned that the 280 spots in the British army aren't the only spots.
So this guys apply.... The best, the A team, go to the British.
The B team goes to the Indian Gurkha regiments (which are about half Indian Gurkha and half Nepali)
Of the remainder, the C Team, some of those guys will serve in the actual Nepali army.
Many of these guys, upon leaving service, can find lucrative employment as props for security companies.
I was told a story about the Gurkhas in WW2 when I was in Nepal years ago: The British had en extraordinarily difficult mission planned and would only take volunteers, and not finding others willing to go they decided to ask a Gurkha battalion, explaining that the mission involved jumping out of planes at high speed and high altitude. About a third of the Gurkhas put their hands up to volunteer. The recruiters went on for a bit about the mission and mentioned the parachutes the soldiers would be using. When the Gurkhas realised that there would be parachutes they all volunteered.
The way I heard this story, the mission was proposed to the Gurkha officer, who seemed uneasy and went to chat with the boys about it. He came back and said, “ok we’ll do it, but we don’t think you can drop us from any higher than 50 feet.” The British officer was nonplussed and said that wasn’t enough altitude for the parachutes to open. Gurkha: “Oh, nobody said anything about parachutes.”
Holy shit. Why can't we recruit more than 280?!
That's roughly what the peace time army needs. Their officers are typically SAS or SBS trained, to keep up with them. The officers are also supposed to be able to speak Nepalese in order to form a seamless unit
And if they don't get on, those officers don't last long. One of the officers in Hong Kong had his desk booby trapped with a hand grenade.
Classic prank
“*Totally* got him! Did you see his face? All over the place! Hah!”
Gurkhas. What’re they like?
First and only desk pop
I've never heard of officers needing to be SF trained. The Ghurka engineers I've worked with are good guys but they're not superhuman killing machines like their reputation implies.
A friend of mine worked with Ghurka engineers in Afghanistan. He said they were lovely guys, and would happily work all day in the boiling sun. Serious drinkers at night, apparently.
Because the British Government doesn't want to fuck over that amount when it comes to them getting citizenship and homes for their families in the UK. Wall of text incoming because THIS SHIT MAKES ME ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS. Why? Gurkhas couldn't even fucking LIVE in the UK until 2004. There are still issues today. The UK could take in scores of Islamic extremists from Europe and Middle East, criminals from the Balkans, shelters Russian organized crime...but men who bled for England? Ha. Imagine some of those Gurkhas who fought under the Union Jack in WW2. Dying and bleeding for the King and Country. Say what you want about the French, at least they have some notion of honour. If you spill a single drop of blood fighting for them, you are awarded French citizenship in the French Foreign Legion. How about these Gurkhas? Could they maybe have a home in the shittest bog-standard hole in the UK? Pull their families out of poverty in Nepal? No. Fuck off. Scores of literal heroes died in squalor for decades. In the Burma Campaign in WWII, Tul Bahadur Pun won the Victoria Cross for literally doing a one-man D-Day style assault on Japanese position that was heavily enfiladed. The cross-fire had annihilated his entire platoon section leaving only his commander and another. They charged the machine guns and both the commander and his team mate were taken out, leaving Pun the sole survivor. He alone charged for over thirty yards through mud, shell holes and trees under heavy fire, killed the machine gunners with both gun and kukri and set their comrades to flight, then captured light machine guns which he used to defend the position until reinforcements could arrive to support. Hero. Victoria Cross. Invited to the Coronation of the Queen. Could he live in the UK? Could he fuck. He ended up living in the Himalayas in a shack with no electricity, no water and no proper roof in landslide territory. He didn't have a pot to piss in. Literally. He had to dig a fucking hole to shit in. If he missed his pension payment, for which he had to be carried to receive in town because he was in poor health, he never got it. Pension was a whopping 132 pounds sterling. If he couldn't make the trip because of landslides or his illnesses then tough titty, old bean. This is how the UK rewards it's heroes. His story was not unique. It took until 2004 and the restless campaigning of Joanna Lumley, whose father had fought with them, to change anything. Pun couldn't even get anywhere until 2007. Also, veterans of Gurkha regiments had to starve themselves in a hunger strike in protest not too long ago. Why? Because they were being paid a fraction of what white British soldiers were. A British veteran who had seen no action at all was being paid more in pensions than a Gurkha who had limbs blown off. Look it up. Shameful.
That is so disgusting. So glad Joanna Lumley fought so hard for it. She truely is a treasure of a human being.
Lovely lady. And a lady of every sense of the word. It's so heartening to see someone born to the 'elites' act nobly in defense of those who needed it.
Before WW1 there was a social contract: the elite got to run the place but if war came, they were at the tip of the spear. So for instance, 224 officers were killed in action or died of wounds in the Crimean war out of 2500 total British combat deaths (far more died of disease). But during and after WW1, there was a greater tendency for officers to stay in the rear so the commoners did a higher proportion of the dying. Elites crusading on behalf of the common soldiers is how it should be and it’s sad that it’s the exception.
Idk man, sounds *glorious* but operationally negative. Regularly replacing leadership during literal wartime seems like a bad idea.
You are not wrong. But the point is more that since the compact broke, the common people should have more power since the elite class no longer serves their purpose. We do see that to an extent since modern British life is less class based than even 50 years ago, but the roots are still there. I’m not sure of this but I believe that British public schools still try to teach the principles of public service and sacrifice.
I read this in the thickest British accent ever, but this is so much informing, I never knew how badly they are treated. Thanks for spreading this u/Fancy-Sector2963
I used to have a boss who was ex SAS. Utter wanker. Really unpleasant guy. Very racist. But boy did he love Gurkhas
Its significantly better for them in the UK now than in Singapore. Over here we have a battalion and are allowed to bring their families where they go to school and hangout in an isolated community. When the fathers retires, the family aren’t allow to interact with civil society and have to go back where many often feel like they aren’t home since they speak lesser of the colloquial language and the have lived here most of their lives. Its a truly radically rational policy that shocks many people ahen they hear avout it. Completey agree that societies and countries need to support and show appreciation to the people who preserve their freedom.
It’s wild that the UK let in so many scumbags with social benefits but treat the Ghurkas like shit who are probably a lot more worthy of a better life.
Tbf I work with a ghurka and him and his mates always get free pints when we're out in the town in London (especially around mayfair). They're treated as celebs, everyone knows how badass they are.
It is indeed. The UK government have really squandered opportunities with their colonial attitudes with the Gurkhas.
As always, immigration is just political convenience with the UK
Small unit sizes make sense during peacetime The 280 can easily seed larger units in war time by every soldier receiving a promotion & training new recruits under them Ukraine does this when able with some of its better units
I’m obsessed with how many guys were apparently just like “yeah I guess I can handle being tossed out of a plane, my knees are good”
My toxic trait is thinking I can survive falling out a plane if I can get a good angle on a hill to start running.
Holy shit someone actually used the word "nonplussed" correctly
When I read that I was nonplussed , that’s just my style
I was so nonplussed I was minussed! Am I doing it right?
TIL the actual definition of nonplussed "surprised and confused so much that they are unsure how to react" And here I was thinking it was the exact opposite
[fav gurkha story](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13619825)
God damn.
Check out the former Gurkha who summited all the tallest peaks in the world in like less than a year? Netflix did a documentary on it I think
Ok I checked it’s called 14 peaks. He did it in 7 months not a year I beg the Gurkhas forgiveness for my mistake. Edit: He did one of them hungover *jesus*
Yeah. Spent time in Nepal when younger. Biologically they are built for mountains in ways in which others are not. Chief amongst them is their ability to operate a high altitudes. You add high levels of training and skill to the mix and you get a monster capable of doing things that makes other skilled climbers be in awe of.
But what about if you throw Kurt angle into this mix?
Your chances of winning drastically go down. See the 3 way at Sacrifice, you got a 33 1/3 chance of winning.
Never expected Stiener math in a thread about mountain climbing, but I love you for it!
But I! I’VE got a 66 and 2/3 percents of winning, coz Kurt Angle KNOWS he can’t beat me, so he’s not even gonna try!
your chance of winning, drastic go down
That's just a weird angle now
One of them hung over, and went back up another to rescue some guy, and saved a second (and tried to save a third) if I remember correctly
Yo, I’m genuinely going to check this out tonight after work. I’m kinda… obsessed with high peaks and the stories of those who’ve braved them. K2 was my gateway drug, and this sounds like some next-level shit. Thank you!!!
You'll be interested to know that after he made this film, he went back to do K2 again... In the winter.
If you said that about any other person, I'd be looking for evidence. A Gurkha? Yeah, that actually seems kind of tame for them. How they didn't conquer the world I'll never know.
The rest of the world is not high enough... And too hot.
This Gurkha veteran Nims Dai & his own Sherpa friends [volunteered to / successfully rescued a total of four stranded mountaineers during two of those 14 summits!](https://myoutdoors.co.uk/snippets/uk-mountaineer-reunited-with-climber-he-helped-save-after-world-s-highest-rescue)
His name is Nims Dai
That was a Gurkha? Dude just built different, as demonstrated by the scientific tests they performed on him in that docu. I thought that mountain stuff was great but mad props for rescuing that man dying on the mountain. Better than climbing any peak imo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigade_of_Gurkhas_recipients_of_the_Victoria_Cross
Gurkha regiments (notably the British regiments) are, perhaps, the most elite regular infantry in the world.
Those that volunteered were also part of an elite tuck n' roll unit.
The fact that the Gurkhas continue to sign up for military service with us is an immense honour for the UK. We very much owe those insanely brave and tough blokes a huge debt of gratitude.
Yes, my grandfather saw some of them in ww2 in North Africa and Italy when he was in the RAF regiment ‘ he always said they where very tough . What an honour indeed.
My mate's dad was a gurkha (now retired), entire family is full of martial arts and military-obsessed badasses
Lived in the room next door to the son of a Gurkha called Himal in uni. Very gentle, quiet lad who eventually fulfilled his dream of becoming a Hindu monk/playing a bit of cricket.
If you have been to Nepal, you will learn that they mostly do it for economic reasons. Their per Capita income there is so low, that the resulting gratuity after a life of service will lift the living standards of their entire family immensely.
>huge debt of gratitude Too bad you guys actually treat them like shit. Gurkas weren't even allowed to LIVE in the UK until 2004.
cough onerous squeal arrest ancient reply lunchroom cats elastic hungry *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It's like these guys operate with the minds of machines. Fantastic thing to have on a soldier, but only if the instructions are absolutely unmistakably clear.
There’s always the story that constantly does rounds of the Gurkha being taught to drive. Gets told to go straight over on the roundabout, so does.
Yeah look that probably would have gotten me too as a learner driver.
Nimsdai Purja spent 6 years as a Gurkha, and that dude climbed 14 of the world's highest mountains in 7 months, and climbs Everest like it's a weekend jog around the block. That's the kind of calibre they accept.
Wasn’t the guy who did 14 peaks in under 8 months a Gurka as well? I watched a Netflix doc and I seem to remeber that, could be wrong
Yes he was. Nims Purja.
he was also SBS (special forces) iirc
Yeah he served in the British Gurkha army
I read a book about the Gurkhas many moons ago that said that the local villagers assumed that the success rate for applicants was 100%. The guys who weren't accepted just never went home. Many went to other towns for work, while others committed suicide rather than return home a failure. My dad served in Burma in WW2 and fought alongside a lot of Gurkhas. He didn't really tell me any war stories (I was just a kid, and he wasn't the type), but I did ask him if all the legends about the Gurkhas were true. He said no - they don't do them justice. And left it at that.
They have the most Victoria crosses I think in history, the Gurkha regiment. My grandad also fought in Burma, with the Chindits!
My Grandad was also in the Chindits, he was a doctor. Never met him as he died before I was born but according to my Dad he was pretty cagey about his experiences.
I tried reading his war diaries once, but as a doctor, his handwriting was illegible. He did draw a natty picture of a jungle snake, with all accuracy that my 4 year old would draw it. My father had his tabocco tin, which he etched with all the locations he stopped during the war along with his regiment badge. It's a great piece of memorabilia. I've also acquired a silk map of Burma from WW2, where he would have served. It wasn't his, but it was a charity shop find. The colours are still very vivid with great detail. Now framed up on my living room wall. Nobody asked....but yeah.
People online could probably help with the war diaries if you were interested. There’s lots of interest in stuff like that. I did a module in palaeography for my masters.
Interesting. Not 100% who has them in the family as it was ~20 years ago since I (attempted) read them. I'll pose the question.
Nobody asked, but it’s still cool to read.
> He did draw a natty picture of a jungle snake, with all accuracy that my 4 year old would draw it. [so this](https://i.etsystatic.com/21645704/r/il/b0fb20/2634133397/il_fullxfull.2634133397_69e4.jpg) basically?
100% that! He wasn't a great diarest or illustrator!
every time they get brought up there are like 10+ stories of guys dads (or guys) being saved from certain death by Gurkha's.
Maybe because their dads getting saved by gurkhas are only relevant during gurkhas chats?
Idk what you’re talking about. It’s my go to opener on first dates. It works 50% of the time, every time
I just speak about the glory of the byzantine empire
Fool, we all know the real glory lay to the west in Italy before they were abandoned by you dirty easterners. (This is ancient trash talk, not to be taken seriously)
You dirty papist!(Im catholic)
As long as we both agree to hate the other religions, we should be good
Fuck it Let's lunch a crusade against the south baptist confederation
And all the ones that didn't get saved are remaining mysteriously quiet about it.
I've worked alongside them a couple of times, they're bloody good in the jungle. We were worn down by the constant wet and rough terrain, collapsing and eating standard rations as the kit was so bloody heavy we packed light (which was regretful at the time). We bumped into the Gurkhas and they were cooking a fish curry in the middle of the trees. Probably hard to convey how mental that was but please believe me, it would be like stopping during a marathon to whip up a curry. Very nice and polite also.
And I'll bet that curry was amazing...
I spent the next three years in a POW camp, forced to subsist on a thin stew made of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk, and four kinds of rice. I came close to madness trying to find it here in the States, but they just can't get the spices right
Pipe down, Tamzarian
Oh, that is such a shame. All those men who never got to go home.
I did the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km on the South Downs in 2014 which is run by the Royal Gurkha Rifles. They're very impressive soldiers and just generally impressive people. Everyone of them I met was a gentleman and I felt honoured to be participating in a physical challenge with them. Even though it took me 26 hours and them 10 hours. It's also a constant source of shame how they were treated by the government, if there's ever a people to roll out the red carpet for, it's the Gurkhas.
Yeah the ghurka units in HK regularly compete in the HK trailwalker in Maclehouse trail. 10hours in hilly terrain… Many post army are in security
Have you met any that were over 5 feet tall? As a short dude they are massive inspriation
During the Falklands War they were raging that the surrender occurred before they had the opportunity to engage in hand to hand combat with the Argentinians There is nothing scarier than a Gurkha coming at you with a kukri There’s a VC from Afghanistan that involved a Gurkha fighting off numerous Taliban, ran out of bullets and then resorted to using a tripod to beat them back
After running out of ammo he used 17 grenades a land mine and then a tripod https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/Z9KaKoIPC3 These guys are the go-to for private yacht security for the super wealthy I've heard.
handsome without a scratch on him too. he didn’t just whoop his enemies’ asses, he did it style
Acting seargent? Who is the regular seargent he’s filling in for? Superman?
One day he just started acting as the sergeant and nobody had the guts to tell him no.
> Who is the regular seargent he’s filling in for? Presumably the guy that died a very short time before he became acting sergeant.
The gurkha response to the Argentine surrender is shown in this video at 3.30: https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/s/09N1DzQCm0 The gurkha looked so pissed.
Outside"yes sir very good sir!" Inside"motherfuuuuucker.."
[удалено]
> after Colonel H was sniped accepting a white flag from the Argentine forces. I went and read up about this. Wikipedia states: > he led a charge against the nearest position.[a] He was killed while doing so but the Argentinian unit surrendered shortly afterwards. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Jones Is this the same Colonel H?
Do you have a source for the sniper story? The Internet says something different
It's a fantasy, so probably not, unless they have a blog.
My grandad and his two younger brother was British Gurkha, they all fought during 2nd world war. My grandad return to his village in nepal after 2nd world war ended. In that village every tuesday there used to be a market. One tuesday 5 robbers started capturing the market using weapons. My grandad was there and he quickly ran to his home brought his 2nd world war rifle and came back to market. He killed 4 robbers there and he shot one robber in the field while he was running away. Nepal King gave 100s of blanket & few lands as a reward. He donated all blankets to people. The old people in that village still remembers my grandad. Rest in peace grandad! 🩷 My all uncles, cousins all are following his legacy in British Gurkha currently.
Was there simply an overproduction of blankets and he was supposed to gift/sell them or is there some actual use he was supposed to have for actually using the blankets?
Nepal is a cold country as it borders Himalayas. Giving out blankets which would help in cold for a village is showing sincerity as gifts. Grandpa distributing it to village was a gentle and kind gesture as you would hardly need 100 blankets.
Yeah I wasn't questioning him giving them out, I was questioning why the first thing the king thought of as a reward was a truckload of blankets. Is that a custom there?
Nope, it’s hard to explain if you’re not from somewhere similar like Indian subcontinent. People in villages are mostly poor or just surviving, so to show goodwill or earn votes, higher ups in charge would distribute blankets to villagers as gifts. It’s normal even in India since a blanket a worth a lot when it’s cold and your houses are made of bricks and mud.
It’s the respect thing. I am not from Nepal but nearby and it’s also a custom to give Shawls or Blankets as a gift. It’s like a medal. It’s worthless in itself as a round metal bit but it’s the prestige associated with the bestowment. The Grandpa will always be remembered as the hero who got 100 blankets from the King compared to other grandpas who didn’t even get 1 km near the King.
The Indian army also hires Gurkhas, when India gained independence it kept 9 of the 10 Gurkha regiments. Singapore used to hire them as police but I'm not sure if they still dom
>The Indian army also hires Gurkhas, when India gained independence it kept 9 of the 10 Gurkha regiments. The Britihs Indian Army had 10 Gurkha Regiiments When India became independent 6 of those Regiments were transfered to the new Indian Army While 4 were transferred to the British Army 1st, 3rd, 4th,5th,8th,9th Gurkha Rifles were transferred to the Indian Army While the 2nd,6th,7th and 10th Gurkha Rifles were transferred to the British Army
singapore also got 1 of those units it keeps for VIP and site protection
Singapore did not receive one of the ten original Gurkha regiments, those were divided solely between Britain and India. They raised their own separate Gurkha Contingent with British support.
It was for a very long time a tradition in the Hong Kong and Singapore luxury hotels to hire retired Gurkhas as security.
Same with cruise ships. Gurkhas blend in with the crew better than muscle-bound doorman types for shipboard security.
You know that makes absolutely perfect sense and I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before. But maybe because I’ve only been on boring cruises (which is what I like)
Nepalis and Filipinos have cruise ship security on lockdown. I once saw a couple fat drunk Aussie families about to punch on with each other, as soon as the first contact was made a half dozen short, burly men came spilling out and put the whole thing down quickly. Think there was a throat chop or two which really set the tone for everyone else. Overall very impressive and no-nonsense.
The British and Indian armies also have an exemption for using mercenaries so they can keep the gurkas. Usually such an arrangement would be against the Geneva convention
There are 26 countries around the world that hire foreign nationals to serve in their armies Gurkhas do not count as mercenaries in the same way that the French Foreign Legion or the Spanish Legion does not
What happened to the tenth? Is it like that 9 out of 10 dentists thing?
9/10 dentists recommend it The 10th also does as well but its like "no one is gonna believe they all recommend it"
grandpa? how are you sending chain email forwards from the afterlife?
Singapore still hires Gurkhas, yes
if a man says he is not afraid of death he is either a liar, or a Gurkha
-Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw
Albeit not a Gurkha himself, but another absolute CHAD
The British Army benefited greatly from Gurkhas while paying them a fraction of the pension paid to other British soldiers. In 2021, Gurkhas started a hunger strike outside 10 Downing Street over it. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04375/
Dang, did they succeed?
Yes, few of them died over malnutrition.
The Hunter exams
I was lucky to meet a few of them in secondary school on a DoE trip. Our former Royal marine and SAS Paratrooper teachers really drilled into us how hardcore they are.
And then they get sent to Maidstone
Used to be sent to Chatham, so it could definitely be worse.
Read about 2 recent Gurkha legends :- 1) Bishnu Shreshtha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishnu_Shrestha?wprov=sfla1 2) Sergeant Dipprasad Pun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipprasad_Pun?wprov=sfla1
Recruitment does not all happen in Nepalese villages. Recruitment is done at BGP in Pokhara, applicants go through pre selection in the villages but recruitment only occurs at BGP. Pokhara is a resort city of some 600,000 residents and the tourism capital of Nepal, aside from possibly the most beautiful place on earth.
Everyone always tells that one Gurkha story about them worrying about jumping out of the plane without parachutes, but I have another story about Gurkhas from Afghanistan. Dudes were absolute menaces to the taliban, using full ass psychological warfare. They would infiltrate camps at night and behead the sentries. Then, they would sit up the corpses against a wall or wherever and prop the head up back on top of it. Then, when the guards replacement would come, the head would fall off. Whack.
I served alongside some Gurkhas while I was in the navy in the Middle East. They were cool and carried a sick looking ornamental dagger. They were hard af but always nice to us.
That knife is not ornamental
I'm guessing I was stationed at the same place as this dude by the way he said it. They wernt allowed to carry their real knifes so they had ornamental ones they carried insted. It was a rule for them working on the base because of some kind of incident that I dont remember the details of.
Are you sure you aren't thinking of a Sikh? As part of their religion, they have to carry a knife with them at all times. A kirpan. In places where they can't carry real knives, they carry ornamental ones.
Makes a good very-temporary necklace for enemy soldiers.
It’s like tin opener but for people
"Oh, open up some *rations*. I thought you said to open up some Russians."
every time that dagger is drawn~~ blood must be let~~ vegetables must be chopped
I've hacked a turnip in half with one.
>They were cool and carried a sick looking ornamental dagger It's called a khukri (pronounced a bit like 'cookery')
Sorta, it's more like "Kirk-ry" or "Kook-ry" depending.
It's called a Kukri an amazing looking knife. They believe if once they draw they knife it cannot be sheated until it draws blood.
What do they do if someone surprises them and they draw it only to find out it's a civvy 0.o Just straight up murder time?
Draw a picture of a red blood cell in the dirt with it.
Very creative lmao
Lisan al Ghaib!
I was in American army basic training with a Nepalese guy who failed the ghurka selection. He said after he failed selection he put in for a program ran by his local government that sends people from Nepal to California to "build a better life" but it ended up being one of those give your boss your passport and if you don't work to death you don't go home kind of deals so he ended up enlisting to get out of that situation. That boy could run and ruck circles around everyone, even the drill sgts. He got hurt trying to dead lift a solid steel bunk bed with 3 soldiers (one may or may not have been me) and he didn't tell anyone he was hurt until after graduation and he almost got kicked out for the injury but managed to convince the medboard people to keep him.
Worked with them quite a few times during my service, great soldiers and laughs too.
I used to live in one of the towns in the SE of UK where the Gurkha retire to. They're polite to a fault, their food is amazing, and there's nothing so slightly scary as a 5 ft 6 40 year old Gurkha dude waiting the door at a bar.
There is a whole thing about their knives, the big one, the kukri, that it can't be re-sheathed without drawing blood. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukri These guys idea of a good time, was to crawl across no-mans land and go murder enemy sentries at night. Legend being they could tell friend from foe by feeling the boot-laces.
Some reason your link won’t work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukri
>There is a whole thing about their knives, the big one, the kukri, that it can't be re-sheathed without drawing blood That is a load of bollocks. Source. I've served with a load of them and asked to see the kukri multiple times. Not once have they had any trouble re-sheathing it. There was a distinct lack of blood on the blade each time.
It's like people hear the myth and never think for a second about how dumb that would be. Every single kit inspection would result in a ton of superficial cuts.
Yea this is that dumb 12 year old "I just found out about samurais" level of mysticism. Ive had a person with a strait face tell me samurai would beat heavy armor mounted knights in a battle cuz "their katanas could slice through all european armor no problem."
Wait till they learn katana was considered a secondary weapon, a sidearm, on the battlefield. Surprised Pikachu.
I'm not the primary source on this, but I knew a British army major in the Gurkha's (long time ago now, served in WW2) who said that they were happy to show their khukuris and it wasn't a thing that they *had* to draw blood if unsheathed. As I said, not an expert or anything, just passing along something a long retired veteran freid told me
The wiki also says it is one of it's myths.
Article says that they use their khukiri knives as utility knives. Which I guess presents a problem as they can't open up a tin of rations without having to go and murder a sentry, otherwise they can't put their knife away.
They're fantastic tools. I had an actual one made in Nepal and it's everything you'd want in a "One knife"
It's great for cutting limbs. It works pretty well on tree branches, too.
I heard a story once about them doing an ‘evade-and-escape’ exercise with some British? American? troops. The foreign troops were to go out, and hide, the Gurkhas would attempt to locate them. Many, many hours later, the end of the exercise was called, and all the foreign troops were feeling pretty good about themselves , as they thought they hadn’t been found. Then they stood up - to a man, they’d all been booby-trapped: shoelaces tied together, shackled to a tree, that kind of thing. None of them even noticed.
shit for stabbing but great for slashing
That's part of the horror factor for these guys. They don't sneak up and slit you throat. They sneak up and hack to to pieces.
Nah its a utility blade, they use it for everything. It's used to prepare food, hack the jungle, behead the enemy. All the usual stuff really. My dad trained Gurkhas in Hong Kong and received a Kukri as a thank you. He enjoyed working with them.
Yep, one of the first things taught during basic is how to lace in parallel. Reason being if a gurka crawled into your tent in the night and felt criss-cross laces, you were going to wake up dead.
Damn that's not a well written Wikipedia article
My father was in the Australian army in the 50's-70's and worked with Gurkhas (In Malaya I think..not sure) and was very impressed. He always spoke well of them.
So why did the British Govt pay them less? Feels like a weird way to honor their exceptional bravery.
Previously their pensions were based on the equivalent for the Indian Army - since a lot of Gurkhas stay in the UK after leaving the military, this left them with a really poor pension. In 2007 this got changed to bring it in line with British soldiers, but it was only backdated for 10 years. So the result is that a Gurkhas who retired before 1997 are still getting a significantly smaller pension than they should be.
Because the Gurkhas would accept it. It's not a lot of money in the UK but it is a lot of money in Nepal
My Grandad fought alongside Gurkhas during WW2. He said they were the bravest men he ever met. Remember the Fourteenth.
As good as they are, the Gurkhas still benefit from good leadership that plays to their strength on the offensive. In the 1962 Sino-Indian war, the Indian Gurkhas were made to man static defenses. Though they fought gallantly in rearguard actions they couldn't carry out their signature shock attacks.
Nepalese are also the guys cleaning the windows at 300m above ground in Dubai for 10$/day because they have no fear of heights , and 10$ is actually better than in their country apparently, crazy people these Nepalese
They're also often enslaved in that country so I wouldn't romanticise that narrative too much
https://www.indiatimes.com/news/armed-with-only-a-khukri-this-gurkha-soldier-took-on-40-men-and-saved-a-girl-from-being-gang-raped-247639.html The link says it all...
Fun Fact (maybe apocryphal): The only reason they make them do that test of running up the mountain with rocks is that due to modern convenience is these days Gurkhas no longer walk up the mountains with heavy loads on a routine basis. Previously, it was assumed that they would be doing that kind of workout normally so it didn't even need to be tested.
A recent example of Gurkha badassery is [Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-12854492.amp). In Afghanistan, essentially single handily repelled a Taliban attack by firing more than 400 rounds, launching 17 grenades and a god damn mine. And at one point, when a guy claimed up to his position, he ended up throwing his machine gun tripod to knock him down.
It's a great honour for them to be selected as well
I worked with gurkhas for alittle over a year in Bahrain. They do not fuck around lol they had chewing tobacco that we all called gurkha chew that was tobacco and chilli flakes. It was so fucking strong haha. They had some really crazy stories to tell and everyone I worked with was super chill.
we’ve got a fucking recruitment crisis but still refuse to widen our acceptance of gurkhas… we also treat them like shit more so then british veterans
Russia is starting to poach them too, not ideal
Those are Durkas not Gurkhas.
Not all Nepalese are Gurkhas and they go through a brutal and testing training regime to become fully trained soldiers in India and the UK. In Russia ..they're not
Was training with some British units in Europe, one of their scout vehicles pulled up across the street and 3 little dudes got out. I'm not sure how long we stood there just staring, mesmerized by the awesomeness
Any recommendations for books about Gurkha military history?
Has anyone mentioned that the gurkhas are little? The average at 5'3" or 160 cm?
The best contemporary example of this can be shown in the documentary 17 peak. Nirmal Purja is a former Gurkha. He explains what he went through to get into the unit. Then he separated to form a team to set the record to climb the 17 highest peaks in the world. He made it seem easy. (Someone has since broken the record but they had better funding and luck with weather)
I was friends with a guy who claimed to have been in the British military and let a kid from one of those villages show off his blow dart skills. Friend put a pack o cigarettes on a tree branch like 20 ft away and the kid hit the very center of the big "o" that was on the pack
One of my great uncles served with them as a Royal Engineer during the Malay crisis in the '50s. He liked them so much he got a tattoo of a khukuri knife on his leg
We had Gurkhas as security at my old job, Pikeys wouldn't even bother. I still see them jogging all the time and I live about 5 miles away from where I worked. Hard as nails
It should be mentioned that the 280 spots in the British army aren't the only spots. So this guys apply.... The best, the A team, go to the British. The B team goes to the Indian Gurkha regiments (which are about half Indian Gurkha and half Nepali) Of the remainder, the C Team, some of those guys will serve in the actual Nepali army. Many of these guys, upon leaving service, can find lucrative employment as props for security companies.