# Gurkha VS Navy Seal - hand to hand **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 29, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528 "2011-08-29T18:56:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/21 "2011-08-30T04:30:19Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, send an e-mail to _World’s Deadliest Warrior_ - maybe they’ll do an episode about it. Available episode is “Theodore Roosevelt vs Lawrence of Arabia.” Are they just punting these days? And what was with all the lipstick ads? Are they saying something about Spike viewers I only suspected? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/22 "2011-08-30T05:20:38Z")
Now, let’s assume both the SEAL and the Gurkha, when we put them into Thunderdome, are hopped up on relatively equal (adjusted for body weight) megadoses of cocaine, crystal meth, PCP and LSD. I don’t expect that to affect their relative prowess. I just think the possibilities are worth considering. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/23 "2011-08-30T05:36:01Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > If the Gurkha is named Leroy Brown, he wins by default. Unless the SEAL is a jealous man, and the Ghurka has messed with his wife. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/24 "2011-08-30T08:46:34Z")
I could take them both down with my giant pen. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/25 "2011-08-30T09:57:34Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > I could take them both down with my giant pen. Well, the pen might be mightier than the sword, but there’s nothing that says it’s mightier than the kukri. You might be in trouble… ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/26 "2011-08-30T12:32:07Z")
Or he’d just take the pen and batter you with it. Like this guy did with his gun tripod after his gun failed while holding off lots of taliban on his own. > [@](#): > > “I opened fire on them and we fired at each other. There were many, I was alone.” > > He said at one point his weapon failed and he resorted to using his machine gun tripod to knock one insurgent off the roof of the compound. > > “I had so many of them around me that I thought I was definitely going to die so I thought I’d kill as many of them as I could before they killed me,” he said. > > "That incident happened in the middle of my tour and after that I thought nobody can kill us now - when we met the enemy, I wasn’t scared. > > “I thought the Taliban did not have the capacity to fight with us.” > > The Gurkha, who was an acting sergeant with the 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles at the time, said he saw some Taliban trying to plant bombs beside the compound’s gate. > > He came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s for more than 15 minutes during the attack near Babaji in Helmand province last September. > > In total he fired more than 400 rounds, launched 17 grenades and detonated a mine. > **[Bravery medal for Gurkha who fought Taliban](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13619825)** > > A Gurkha who fought off an attack by at least a dozen Taliban insurgents is presented with the UK's second highest bravery medal by the Queen. Don’t fuck with these guys. They don’t stop until you kill them. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/27 "2011-08-30T14:21:32Z")
Its interesting how much press the Gurkha get in the West. In South Asia on the other hand their martial prowess is not really thought of that highly. Indian Army has several Gurkha regiments but the famous regiments are the Sikhs, Jats, Rajputs etc. Not the Gurkhas. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/28 "2011-08-30T14:25:51Z")
who else had faced such odds single-handedly and lived to tell it? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/29 "2011-08-30T14:42:19Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > who else had faced such odds single-handedly and lived to tell it? Have you even heard of [Audie Murphy?](http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=421) And he wasn’t even Special Forces. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/30 "2011-08-30T14:54:36Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Its interesting how much press the Gurkha get in the West. In South Asia on the other hand their martial prowess is not really thought of that highly. Indian Army has several Gurkha regiments but the famous regiments are the Sikhs, Jats, Rajputs etc. Not the Gurkhas. Yeah. The Sikh Regiment was at one point the most decorated regiment in the British Empire. The 36th Sikh Regiment received a standing ovation in the House of Commons after news from the Battle of Saragarhi was relayed: 10,000 Afghan tribesmen were held off by 21 Sikhs fighting to the death. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/31 "2011-08-30T15:32:24Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Have you even heard of [Audie Murphy?](http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=421) And he wasn’t even Special Forces. no i haven’t heard of him, but i’m sure he got much attention from the media during his time. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/32 "2011-08-30T15:42:29Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Yeah. The Sikh Regiment was at one point the most decorated regiment in the British Empire. The 36th Sikh Regiment received a standing ovation in the House of Commons after news from the Battle of Saragarhi was relayed: 10,000 Afghan tribesmen were held off by 21 Sikhs fighting to the death. You know who the Girl Guides are [named afte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guides_Cavalry#Frontier_Operations)r. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/33 "2011-08-30T16:48:22Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Have you even heard of [Audie Murphy?](http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=421) And he wasn’t even Special Forces. Yes, Audie was amazing, no question. But remaining in a forward position to direct fire, and then jumping on a tank to use it’s cannons against it’s brothers is not actually analogous to hand-to-hand combat. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/34 "2011-08-30T17:02:50Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Yes, Audie was amazing, no question. But remaining in a forward position to direct fire, and then jumping on a tank to use it’s cannons against it’s brothers is not actually analogous to hand-to-hand combat. Maybe apples and oranges, but I’d say singlehandedly facing down six tanks with the enemy closing to 10 yards, for a battle that ranged for an hour and ended with 250 enemy KIAs (around 50 killed by the soldier himself), is really in a different league than another solider who faces a 15 minute firefight with somewhere around 30 Taliban fighters, one of whom he beat down with a machine gun tripod. Sgt. Pun’s story is amazing, but Murphy’s is like, unbelievable. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/35 "2011-08-30T17:07:43Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Yes, Audie was amazing, no question. But remaining in a forward position to direct fire, and then jumping on a tank to use it’s cannons against it’s brothers is not actually analogous to hand-to-hand combat. So a soldier fighting like a soldier with soldier’s weapons is somehow less admirable than mucking around with cutlery? Knives are for chumps. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/36 "2011-08-30T17:14:33Z")
Audie was an astondingly brave and lucky man. Luck plays an element in all these stories though so I’m not diminishing Audie in any way. He was an amazing example to all around him. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/37 "2011-08-30T17:17:00Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So a soldier fighting like a soldier with soldier’s weapons is somehow less admirable than mucking around with cutlery? > > Knives are for chumps. Well, knife fights are harder. So they up the wow-factor. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/38 "2011-08-30T17:21:38Z")
Guys, please re-read th OP. We are disussing hand-to-hand combat between two very specific types of training/background. I have fully stipulated to the wonder of nature that was Audie Murphy. I’m fairly well certain that I know more about him than you do. But this is not a discussion about who is the most amazing soldier of all time. And Alessan, how you got from “not analogous” to “less admirable” is beyond me, truly. especially as it followed “Yes, Audie was amazing, no question.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/39 "2011-08-30T17:29:38Z")
If you re-read my post, you’ll see I was responding to a specific comment that seemed to imply that nobody has ever survived an encounter more dangerous than Sgt Pun’s. No need to get worked up about it. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/40 "2011-08-30T17:40:05Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > If you re-read my post, you’ll see I was responding to a specific comment that seemed to imply that nobody has ever survived an encounter more dangerous than Sgt Pun’s. No need to get worked up about it. And I was responding to posts #34 and 35, both of which quoted mine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528.md?page=3)