[Mamzelle]

OK, ya’ll, what’s a Ghurka? I always thought they were a tiny little pickle.

[pnz1]

Gherkin=pickle. No idea on Ghurka..

[Altariel]

gur·kha
Noun

1. A member of any of several peoples of Nepal noted for their military prowess.

2. A member of units of the British army established specifically for Nepalese recruits in the mid 19th century.

[Texas Fossil]

Ghurka?

http://www.himalayan-imports.com/gurkha.html

Weapon of choice: khukuri

http://www.himalayan-imports.com/assets/images/gurk0.jpg

[Ronin]

Here’s a tip Manzelle-san, if you meet a Ghurka, do not EVER mention that you mistook him and his comrades for tiny pickles.

He might be tempted to show you his pickle slicer.

[knarf]

Think; Navy Seal with no restrictions.

[PVT4evr]

Ghurkhas are Nepalis in the Nepali, British and Indian armies (may be in other commonwealth nations as well, but I’m not sure) Known for their fierceness in battle and also that if they draw their knives, that they will not sheath them until they draw blood.

I read an article a few years back (might have been here on FR, but I don’t remember) A retired Gurkha in UK got mugged by a group of thugs. He kept warning them to stop, they didn’t know what they were doing...then he beat them all to a pulp.

[Pollster1]

Ghurka in the news, 2011

Gurkhas, the Nepalese elite soldiers in the service of Britain and some of its former colonies, sometimes fight with their traditional kukri knives (pictured). One retired Gurkha was carrying his knife when a train in India that he was riding was robbed by forty men. The robbers unwisely chose to not immediately surrender. The ex-soldier then killed three, wounded eight, and drove off the rest:

The band of about 40 robbers, some of whom were travelling as passengers, stopped the train in the Chittaranjan jungles in West Bengal around midnight. Shrestha-- who had boarded the train at Ranchi in Jharkhand, the place of his posting--was in seat no. 47 in coach AC3.

“They started snatching jewelry, cell phones, cash, laptops and other belongings from the passengers,” Shrestha recalled. The soldier had somehow remained a silent spectator amidst the melee, but not for long. He had had enough when the robbers stripped an 18-year-old girl sitting next to him and tried to rape her right in front of her parents. He then took out his khukuri and took on the robbers.

“The girl cried for help, saying ´You are a soldier, please save a sister´,” Shrestha recalled. “I prevented her from being raped, thinking of her as my own sister,” he added. He took one of the robbers under control and then started to attack the others. He said the rest of the robbers fled after he killed three of them with his khukuri and injured eight others.