Ghurkas Again

Ok, I talked to Thapa today. He's the security Guard here at CNN that I
mentioned was in a Ghurka Battalion. Apparently he was in the Royal Engineers
side of things and rose to Platoon Sgt over his 10 years in the service of the
Crown.

Today, I asked a few questions regarding stories about Ghurkas.

One was the question of Argies surrendering before the Ghurka's were sent in
to 'sort them out'. Chitra said that a friend of his was there in the
Falklands and such did happen.

Another that I asked about was how he thought about the difference in pay
scale. As he said, when his father was in the Ghurkas (he's apparently at
least a 2nd Gen Ghurka) they really didn't pay much attention to the pay. It
was somewhat like dressing on the cake. But in his own time the Ghurka troops
tended to learn a bit more and become more "clever" as he called it. He didn't
seem terribly unhappy about it, though I suspect a Ghurka wouldn't complain
unless they really had a reason too.

He also spoke some about the difference in Ghurka soldiers as having
90-95% performance on Physical training test that only 20% of the
average British soldiers could do. All in spite of their taller stature and
size.

There were some other questions people had that I'll try to ask about later
when the time seems right...