Gurkha ordered back to UK after beheading dead Taliban fighter

Mail Online ^ | 18th July 2010 | Christopher Leake

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

He deserves a medal, not punishment. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and he’ll be back in action soon.

As for insulting Muslims ... uh, the head didn’t belong to Joe Muslim from the local village, it belonged to Joe Taliban, a certified enemy of the state. Isn’t there a distinction?

[philman_36]

I see you already made it.

[TigersEye]

The ring of a kukri blade calls out to me even through cyber-space. lol

Thanks for pinging me.

[NTHockey]

Marines in Korea tell of Turkish soldiers who walked around with necklaces of ears they had cut off enemy soldiers - some obtained by sneaking into enemy camp at night. They say that Marines always wanted the Turks on their flanks.

Can any Old Breed verify? Or was this another tall tale told to impress young minds?

[csvset]

Thanks for posting that.

Kipling was a master of the written word.

[comps4spice]

That is what I meant in my first post—well, at least I wasn’t criticizing their troops.

[LurkedLongEnough]

He was told to head off, so he did. He heard about the laws against bullying in wartime, so he figured the victim couldn’t snitch if his head was removed. Makes sense to me.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I know I shouldn’t laugh, but they did want verification."

The Gurkha have a reputation for taking things quite literally. There is an anecdote from WWII, about a British Officer who was planning an airdrop of Gurkhas behind enemy lines from 600'. The senior Gurkha requested a drop altitude of 100'. The British officer advised him that from that altitude the parachutes would never have time to open, and only at that point did the Gurkha realize that the intent was to actually drop the soldiers with 'chutes.

[Robe]

Gorkha legion has it as a “ A Gorkha never sheathes his blade without first drawing blood, even if it is his own”

[BARLF]

ROTFLOL

[milestogo]

(Formerly) Great Britain

Burkhas: Good

Gurkhas: Bad

[Little Ray]

We need more “gross insults” to the Muslims of Afghanistan.

[Theophilus]

Victoria Cross???

[Colonel_Flagg]

Don’t screw around with Gurkhas. Ask the Japanese from World War II.

[archy]

That's a great story and I've heard it many times. Unfortunately, I can't find any historical verification for it.

Try a websearch for his subordinate, General *Hellroaring Jake* Jake Smith.

[archy]

That's a great story and I've heard it many times. Unfortunately, I can't find any historical verification for it.

Try a websearch for his subordinate, General *Hellroaring Jake* Jake Smith.

[archy]

Oh, and retrieving the severed head for positive ID is supposedly the exact instructions the Bush White House gave to our special ops people should they come across Bin Laden, dead or alive.

You familiar with an old Southeast Asia hand named Tony Poe? Made a few of the embassy spook *warriors* wet themselves, he did.

[Ramius]

This is considered a gross insult to the Muslims of Afghanistan

Good.

[katana]

Not familiar with him but I’ll look up the name and the stories associated with him. Sounds like the “John Clark” type, a’la Tom Clancy, i.e. just the sort of fellow we need.

[RichInOC]

So did he get the right guy?