Re: Gurkhas was:[SG2] [DS2] A list of questions on TOE and logistics

	One of my familys friends was a vet of Tobruk. Apparently a unit
of
Gurkhas were there for at least part of the siege and they were great
trench raiders. The worst part about them though was that if you felt a
hand on your neck at night you had to remain still, if you struggled you
must be German. In those days Commonwealth troops had metal badges on
their
collars either national symbol or service badge. What the Gurkhas were
doing was feeling for the badge. One night this bloke was on sentry duty
when he felt a hand at his neck. This hand felt his badge (Aus Army
rising
sun symbol) and a quiet voice said "Oh, hello Aussie" and disappeared.

	Tony.
	twilko@ozemail.com.au

At 13:27 02/11/98 -0500, you wrote:
 <<big snip>>
><Incidentally and completely unrelated, my uncle discovered early on in
his
>career that the British Army paid bonuses for shooting ability - the
better
>you shot, the better you were paid.  This was to encourage soldierly
skills
>and marksmanship among ALL army members - kind of makes sense I guess.
>Anyway, he wanted the extra cash so spent a lot of time perfecting his
>skills, as was consistantly rated at the highest level of marksmanship.
>The extra money was nice, but the downside to this was that as an
>experienced NCO (he was eventually a Sergeant, and even as a REME he
was
>expected to be fully proficient as an infantry leader) who was also a
top
>marksman, whenever the British Army had to go off to some far away
place
>and fight, it was guys like him who were taken along to provide
logistic
>and technical support.  So he ended up fighting in Aden, Borneo (or
Malaya
>- I forget which, maybe both) etc.  He did stuff like servicing weapons
at
>SAS jungle camps (he was actually asked to join the SAS, but they
couldn't
>get him to jump out of airplanes, so he never did...).  At one point he
was
>put in charge of a patrol of Gurkhas (I think they rotated the NCO's
from
>units like the REMEs into infantry postings to keep up their combat
skills)
>- he told me he never realized that a proper traditional Kukri set was
>actually two knives.  They used the big one, which we are familiar
with,
>for hunting, stalking sentries, etc, and the little one was a skinning
>knife.  The gurkhas were never taken prisoner (they wouldn't surrender
and
>very rarely would stop fighting enough to be captures) and didn't take
a
>friendly attitude to the communist insurgents (terrorists?? depends on
>which side you were on, I guess) who they captured.  He found out how
they
>used the skinning knives when the gurkha unit he was with captured
>prisoners...  Stuff they don't talk about in the history books.   He
did
>have a lot or admiration for the Gurkhas - once when stationed in Hong
Kong
>patrolling along the mainland border with China, his section was
looking
>down at the vast Chinese army encampments just outside the Hong Kong
>border.  There were thousands of Chinese troops, and his eight Gurkhas.
>The senior Gurkha (a corporal) took a look, smiled, and said "OK.  Fair
>odds.">
>
>
>
>
>