# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [September 1, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/61 "2011-09-01T03:21:44Z")
Lord, next thing you know there’s going to be someone in here explaining that Shaolin monks can beat them all because they can project their qi up to 20 meters, catch bullets with chopsticks, and use baguazhang to create invisible force fields that no Westerner can penetrate. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/62 "2011-09-01T03:25:22Z")
i still think a regular US army dogface fighting for a truck of coca-cola can whip both SEAL and gurkha (that si, as long as the truck driver isn’t a drunken ex-marine.) ---
**Author:** ![Testy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@Testy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Testy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/63 "2011-09-02T14:17:42Z")
I don’t understand how you can reasonably ask questions like this. Does the SEAL _enjoy_ fighting with knives and practice it regularly? Is the Gurkha in good shape from climbing mountains all day? Too many variables to really establish something like this. I will say that a Gurkha will tend to kill someone with fewer scruples than most Americans. As an aside, I met a retired Gurkha in Saudi. One of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. He was my daughter’s school bus driver and took his duties to care for the kids **extremely** seriously. He was a terrible driver though. Regards Testy ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/64 "2011-09-05T21:31:20Z")
In John Masters’ _Bugles and a Tiger_, his memoir of life in the pre-war 5th Gurkha Rifles, he mentions how at Dussehra (I think), an annual religious festival, selected Gurkhas were expected to decapitate a buffalo for sacrifice with a single stroke of the kukri. IIRC, failure to do so resulted in shame for the battalion and blood being smeared on the face of the offender. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/65 "2011-09-05T21:53:39Z")
> [@Sizzlefry](#): > > Note that Gurkhas are not SAS/SBS (british special forces)… they are infantry and are trained as such. They do not get the demolitions training that a Seal recieves nor do they recieve some of the special ops tactical trainings. However, the Gurkha soldier is much more than an infantryman. [http://www.army.mod.uk/training\_education/training/18157.aspx](http://www.army.mod.uk/training_education/training/18157.aspx) and recieves equal or better hand to hand training than a Seal, especially with edged weapons. What’s your source for the final assertion? Because I agreed with everything up till that. The U.K. MOD page you link confirms that Gurkhas get good infantry training and some specialized (mostly language/cultural) cram sessions, but I don’t see anything about hand-to-hand combat training, which the SEALs certainly get. Gurkhas may well be a bit tougher/street smart, but IME even a guy with modest training in boxing or judo wins just about every bar fight with a street-tough guy. ---
**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:** [September 5, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/66 "2011-09-05T22:26:42Z")
So I think that the lesson of this thread is, if I ever fight a Ghurka, I should shoot him before he reaches knife range. Check. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/67 "2011-09-05T22:57:30Z")
I think the lesson in this thread is how much mysticism surrounds fighting. Otara ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/68 "2011-09-06T04:24:06Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So I think that the lesson of this thread is, if I ever fight a Ghurka, I should shoot him before he reaches knife range. Check. If you ever fight _anyone_ with a khukri, you should shoot him before he reaches knife range. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528/69 "2011-09-06T04:50:29Z")
Reminds me of a passage from Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, where the protagonist, a Marine, is being debriefed after the Battle of Guadalcanal (paraphrased): “One thing I learned is always to shoot the guy with the sword first.” “Because he’s an officer?” “No, because he’s charging at you with a\* fucking sword!\*” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gurkha-vs-navy-seal-hand-to-hand/594528.md?page=3)