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Better To Die Than Be A Coward
The newly 'elected' Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) do not like the elite soldiers known to all as 'The Gurkhas'. The deputy leader of the 'Maoists', Baburam Bhattarai, says: "Having the citizenship of Nepal and serving in a foreign army is totally unacceptable ... They are mercenaries".
They are not. The Gurkhas, of whom 3,500 currently serve the United Kingdom, have a special legal status in an army in which they have served for over 200 years. (Members have received a record of thirteen honours of the Victoria Cross).
Last year the British army recruited just 230 Gurkhas from 17,000 applicants. The lucky ones began their service on £14,000 per year, on the same pay scale as any British soldier. After retirement they, like those recruited after 1998 but not before that date will also receive a British old-age pension payable in Britain, and the right to settle in the United Kingdom.
By contrast, the chief of the army of Nepal earns £2,200 and the right to settle with the Maoists.
The Gurkhas is the only infantry regiment that is always fully manned.
The Gurkhas are famed for always having their sharp-edged 'Kukhri' swords. At the time of the Falklands War, when the young Argentine conscripts got word that the Gurkhas were being deployed they went immediately to the nearest latrine.
As it turned out, the Gurkhas had no compuction in decapitating a few of their enemies with their Kukhri.
Today, every morning, in their renovated mess halls, these men from Nepal pay a silent salute to a portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II.
The motto of of this special force is: "Better to die than be a coward". They are among the most revered soldiers in Britain, as was demonstrated by the enormous outcry which followed revelations that retired Gurkhas were not receiving their full pension benefits or the right to settle in Britain.
In the minds of Britons and foreigners, the Gurkhas are the most feared soldiers in the world.
