The Gurkhas, one

 
 
 

Vocabulary

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

The Gurkhas. Respected by their allies feared by their foes. Many call them the bravest of the brave.

Boys from the hills of Nepal trained by the British to be the consummate global warriors Gurkhas. The mere mention of the name Gurkhas is enough to set off a rush of emotions and stories from those who have fought against them and with them.

Col Nigel A. Collett: British Army: “Our enemy against whom we’ve been operating has been totally unaware that the Gurkha has not only carried out a reconnaissance of his position, but actually crawled inside it, and listened to his conversations in the trenches taken some of his equipment and got away with a complete layout of the position on a plan.”

For sport, Gurkhas used to slip through Japanese lines in World War II, and cut the laces on the boots of Japanese sentries.

There are even more chilling tales about what Gurkhas would surgically do to their enemies with their distinctive curved knives called kukris.

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The British first learned how fierce the Gurkhas are in combat when they fought against them in Nepal in 1814.

After narrowly defeating them despite their overwhelming odds, the British asked the Gurkhas to join them. One British officer wrote, “I never saw more steadiness or bravery exhibited in my life: run they would not and of death they seemed to have no fear, though their comrades were falling all around them.”

Perhaps the greatest mystery surrounding the Gurkhas is how such natural passive people have become such fierce fighters.

Long before the term “rapid deployment force” became the operative military buzzword, the British were dispatching their Gurkha battalions to hot spots around the world.

Brig. Gen. Timothy Glass: “Well the Gurkha is a natural soldier that’s the first thing of course the background that he comes from makes him a hard and durable human being.

The Gurkha soldier will pay attention and do his job 24 hours a day, without prompting he somehow has his natural motivation and pride which makes them do that.

When there’s trouble about, it’s nice to have a few of them around.”

The Sultan of Brunei likes to have them around so much, he personally pays the British government the costs of keeping a regiment of Gurkhas in Borneo at all times to help protect his Sultanate.

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As many as two hundred thousand Gurkhas responded to the British call for arms during World War One, with those not fit for infantry duty volunteering as ambulance drivers.

From fighting in Europe and North Africa during World War II to guerrilla warfare in the Malay jungles in Borneo, the Gurkhas have created a legacy of being virtually undefeatable in combat.

Col Nigel A. Collett, British Army: “He at home is often a hunter; he’s used to moving around the countryside. And he makes a remarkably good infantry soldier particularly in the bush or the jungle. He’s silent and stealthy and very difficult to detect.”

Above all the Gurkhas have been fiercely loyal to the Queen and the British Army for nearly 200 years of distinguished service, not as detached mercenaries or cheap soldiers, but as professional members of an extended military family. They swear to serve for a minimum commitment of 15 years.

When a British officer once asked volunteers for a difficult parachute assault in World War II, only half the Gurkhas immediately stepped forward (as the story goes, the other half said they would go too — if only they could use parachutes).

Real or imagined, the Gurkhas mystique was their most potent weapon in the Falklands War just before the final attack on Port Stanley, the British leaked the plans for a Gurkha invasion.

To the man the defending Argentines fled rather than learn firsthand if the Gurkha legends were more fiction than fact.

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The mountain kingdom of Nepal is a portrait of pastoral beauty. But for the past hundred years, many of Nepal’s best young men have been fighting and dying.

Nepal is also a portrait of lifelong poverty. With historically one of the world’s lowest per capita incomes, much of the Gurkha legendary dedication and determination comes from the harsh economic realities of life in Nepal.

Lt. Col Paul Gay: “They are subsistence farmers, hill farmers. The lad comes from a small homestead. Around it there’s some fields which his father owns. They work those fields and attempt to produce sufficient food to feed themselves for the year.

Now if you take a boy out of that family, as it were, you give them a double plus you mean it means there’s one less person to feed — and also that person is in a position to send money home to contribute towards the family.”

These economic facts of life have made soldiering a noble and rewarding profession for generations of Nepalese men wishing to raise their standard of living and opportunity.

Gurkha Veteran: “I was a Gurkha soldier for 21 years.”

Throughout the year, retired Gurkhas called gullawalas regularly visit the mountain villages, scouting and screening candidates for yearly recruiting tests called “hill selection”.

Most of the recruits come from Gurkha families like Jaskagi Gurung’s, himself a former Gurkha, with one son already serving in the Indian Army and now hoping his youngest son Golman will be selected by the British.

Golman Gurung: “I want to become a Gurkha because they are going to army, then they earn money you know and they buy some land, and they help their father and mother. So I also think about that, you know.”

A village boy’s departure to join the Gurkhas is as important a passage in life as a wedding or funeral. if Narya Gurung is accepted, he will not see his mother or family again for at least three years, at his first leave.

If he fails the tests, his disappointment and embarrassment will be so great, he might never come home again.

Golman and Nara are from the same village and are joining together. Since they were first selected by their local galawala they’ve trained together for six months for the demanding physical tests that will determine their potential as infantry soldiers and their chances for a new life as Gurkhas.

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The local hill selection tests take place but once a year and are by invitation only. Only one in 20 will be selected for the final testing at the British camp in Pokhara.

Regional Gullawalas: “They’ve been trained for nearly a year to get through this test. And these days here, all the friends and the parents and the villages villagers are watching for them.

If they fail any one part of the test, we just throw him out. That means they’ll lost their face and some of them even they don’t go back to the home, and they try to disappear from here.”

Each candidate is marked with an identifying chest number to eliminate any favoritism. The recruits must be at least 17 years old, five for three inches (162 cm) tall, and meet other minimum physical requirements.

Recruits are closely checked for scars, bad teeth, flat feet . . . any abnormalities that might lead to future medical problems.

Goldman and Nara scouted previous hill selection tests and trained together to pass this one.

Goldman was worried about his upper body strength and doing at least 12 chin ups while Nara practiced sit-ups three times a day to make sure he could do at least the required 35 on an incline in two minutes.

The preparation paid off for Goldman and Nara; they were two of the four chosen from this hill selection to head down to the British camp in Pokhara for more tests evaluations and competition.

Some of the rejected have been known to have scraped the numbers off their chests with sand and walked days to find another hill selection test.

British Recruitment Officer: “As I call out the numbers and come in with those who’ve passed leaving behind those have failed, my thoughts I’m afraid always with those who’ve failed.”

The pace and intensity of the selection process picks up at the British camp in Pokhara where only the finalists from the hill selection tests can compete.

Here a simple running race becomes a climactic moment in a young man’s life most are from the hill country and have never run on flat ground before, let alone with running shoes.

The last event is the mother of all military fitness tests: each man must climb four miles up a 4 000 foot mountain carrying 70 pounds (35 kg) of rocks. The weight equals the equipment they must be able to carry as an infantry soldier in combat.

Instead of a modern backpack they use the bamboo baskets called docos which many have strapped across their foreheads and on their backs since they were children.

Despite the load heat and altitude, these Gurkha hopefuls turned the doco carry into a high-stakes race and run for their lives.

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Those finally selected to be Gurkhas are anything but guns for hire or mercenaries without cause or allegiance: in a simple but profound ceremony these Nepalese boys first swear their absolute allegiance to the Crown while touching the British Union Jack.

They sign a paper promising to serve the British Army for at least 15 years at a basic pay rate of about $300 a month.

True to the Gurkha tradition they will send most of the money home and stay in the British army on an average of 22 years.

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Hong Kong could very well be another planet for the Gurkha recruits. Coming here for basic training, most have never been on a plane, seen an ocean or been in a big city before.

Joining the 20th century and the rest of the world is as much a part of the Gurkhas transition as joining the army.

The first weeks of training are a series of firsts beginning with their first set of shoes and learning to do things together. Because of the language and basic cultural differences Gurkha basic training takes almost a full year, nearly three times as long as their British counterparts.

Col Nigel A. Collett, British Army: “Our soldier is still very much of an unsophisticated hill phenomenon he’s the sort of man who’s had perhaps five or six years education in his school, has spent his entire life marching up and down, running up and down the hills of Nepal, the mountains of Nepal.

And when he comes to us, his much more of a raw material than his British counterpart.”

However a Gurkha is generally much more physically fit for training than his British counterpart. More importantly Gurkhas require far less disciplinary attention and motivation and none of the bluff and bluster of most military basic training camps.

Col Nigel A. Collett, British Army: “They don’t require a great deal of noise and bluster to motivate them to do things.

In fact they react against that; if you shout at a Gurkha and show that you’re unhappy with him, he will first of all giggle at you, and think you’re being funny.

And if that infuriates you even further, he will just close up and not do what you want. A simple um polite word is all he requires.

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Much of the additional training time is for learning English and the new culture they have adopted.

As part of their cultural exchange, all British Gurkha officers learn Nepali both as a sign of respect and to ensure against any communication gaps under fire.

If the Gurkhas have any natural fears, it is a fear of water: for most swimming isn’t in their vocabulary or background of life experiences.

Gurkha Recruit: “Some of them are afraid of water because they think they might drown; that’s the reason why they’re afraid of water.”

Having lost more soldiers to drowning than in combat in Borneo, all Gurkhas are now trained to be good swimmers however long it takes. By the completion of training, they must be able to pass the standard British swimming test and true to Gurkha camaraderie they like to make a race of it.

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Questions

Private. The Gurkhas have historically been regarded as an expendable force, as cannon fodder. True or false?

Corporal. Do the Gurkhas come from Scotland, Wales and Ulster (Northern Ireland)?

Sargent. Have the British Armed Forces and the Gurkhas been partners and allies since the Middle Ages? Did they trade with each other and then sign an alliance?

Second Lieutenant. The Gurkhas only took part in battles in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh). Is this right or wrong?

First Lieutenant. Are the Gurkhas cowards? Do they usually, quickly retreat and flee from battle fields?

Captain. Do the Gurkhas come from middle-class communities, and mostly play video games such as counter strike?

Major. Young Nepalese men fear and dread serving in the military. Is this correct or incorrect?

Colonel. The selection process is very simple. Passing the fitness test is very easy. Do you agree? What is the climax of or the final physical test?

Brigadier General. Do the Gurkhas train in the UK or Nepal? Is it a culture shock for them?

Major General. Are they excellent swimmers? Do they have any discipline problems? Are they motivated or unmotivated, enthusiastic or unenthusiastic?
 
 
 
Lieutenant General. I have been in the army, navy, air force or marines. Yes or no? Have your father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncles served in the military?

Full General. What do people think of serving in the army or military? Do young men look forward to it, do they dread it, both, in the middle, or it depends?

Army Chief of Staff. Are there elite units, special forces or commando units? Are they legendary, admired and held in awe?

Secretary of Defense. What might happen in the future?

Commander in Chief. What could or should people and governments do?