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Uncertain future for Johnny Gurkha: Will Nepalese fighters sign up with Russia?
As traditional recruitment opportunities dwindle, particularly in the Indian Army, will the famed Nepalese fighters look to other places, like Russia?
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Some traditional recruiting opportunities for Gurkhas are drying up, leaving a few of their young to consider travelling farther to find work.
PHOTO: AFP
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As reports emerge of Russia’s Wagner Group likely recruiting Gurkhas, an anecdote in Byron Farwell’s 1984 book, The Gurkhas, stands as an enduring tribute to the legendary hardiness of these hill people from central Nepal.
According to this story, no doubt embellished in every rum-induced retelling in British and Indian army messes, in 1931 at Razmak, on the North-West Frontier region that borders Afghanistan, a mess-mule of the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Gurkha Rifles kicked a Gurkha sergeant in the head with its iron-shod hooves.
