Photo: A brigade of Nepalese Gurkha soldiers during a March 2008 operation in Afghanistan's Helmand province. Patrick Chauvel / CorbisFrom Times Online:
The kukri strapped to Mekhman Tamang's hip belt is more than an ordinary family heirloom. When his father bequeathed the traditional knife to him 10 years ago, Tamang, a third-generation Gurkha soldier, also inherited the stout-hearted reputation tethered to thousands of Nepalese men who fought for foreign countries before him. Recruited by the British army in 1999, the 30-year-old soldier has braved hails of Taliban bullets during two recent stints in Afghanistan. But he is uncertain whether he will be able to pass down his kukri — or the Gurkha legacy — to his son.
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My Comment: A sign of the times .... everything is changing .... the Gurkhas included.