Thursday, September 6, 2012

I Told You: "Don't Mess With the Turks"

In last year's "Just a Friendly Heads-up: Don't Mess With a Gurkha, They Think 1 on 40 is a Fair Fight" I led with a quick vignette:
Twenty-odd years ago I found myself talking to an old Turkish soldier about his experience in Korea.
He said the Turks didn't think they were outnumbered until the odds got over 5 or 6 to 1.
Here are a couple comments on one of their battles:
"The heroic soldiers of a heroic nation, you have saved the Eighth Army and the IX'th Army Corps from encirclement and the 2nd Division from destruction. I came here today to thank you on behalf of the United Nations Army."
- General Walton H. Walker, Commander, Eighth Army

"The Turks are the hero of heroes. There is no impossibility for the Turkish Brigade."
- General Douglas MacArthur - United Nations Forces Commander in Chief
The Gurkhas have a similar reputation, here's a story from last month at Republica (Nepal)...
You read that right. An American four-star said they had saved a freakin' division of the U.S. Army.
A five-star was a bit more flowery with his language.

Here's another example:
Turkish woman awaits trial after beheading her alleged rapist
...Nevin Yildirim, a 26-year-old mother of two, lives in a small village in southwestern Turkey. She said the man, Nurettin Gider, began the attacks a few days after her husband left in January for a seasonal job in another town, according to a source close to the case....

...On August 28, at least five months pregnant by a man who she said continued to rape her, Yildirim said she decided she had had enough. Gider was climbing up the back wall of her house. "I knew he was going to rape me again," she said at her preliminary hearing August 30.

She said she grabbed her father-in-law's rifle that was hanging on the wall and she shot him. He tried to draw his gun and she fired again.

"I chased him," she said. "He fell on the ground. He started cussing. I shot his sexual organ this time. He became quiet. I knew he was dead. I then cut his head off."...MORE
If the story is as presented by CNN this is a certified (certifiable?) Bad-ass.

And the Gurkha?
...the Gurkha who decided to stop a gang rape.
He killed three, wounded eight and chased the other 29 off.
He had a knife against firearms.