OT: Gurkha history site...

[Kismet]

(Which I probably got from someone else on HI Forum, but interesting to re-read. My thanks and apologies to the original poster.)

http://www.army.mod.uk/brigade_of_gurkhas/history/Brigade_background.htm

 

[FallingKnife]

Interesting stuff. Quite different from American military service. You sign up for a 15-year stint, but get a pension at the end.

The really strange thing is that Nepal is a sovereign nation, yet the British military recruits soldiers from there. Imagine if the US recruited soldiers from, say, Liberia?

 

[Thomas Linton]

IIRC, I have heard stories of non-citizens serving in U.S. armed forces, including recently. We don't seem to actively recruit, however.

 

[Yvsa]

IIRC, I have heard stories of non-citizens serving in U.S. armed forces, including recently. We don't seem to actively recruit, however.

When I was getting my MOS training in Ft Hood we had a guy there from Ireland studying so he could go back and fight for the IRA.

 

[Lion's Roar]

Yvsa, as Uncle Bill would say...

Holy Toledo!

 

[MacHete]

There were Canadians and Inuits from Alaska, Canada and Greenland in my training battalion at Ft. Benning. The U.S. apparently recognizes universal citizenship among NdNs, and does recruit them actively. Citizens of U.S. protectorates are also eligible to serve. I've met soldiers from the Virgin Islands, and Guam. Somehow, a native-born Korean was in basic with me as well.