My dad had some contact with the Gurkhas
When he was overseas with the RCAF for a little exercise code-named World War 2, my dad came into contact with Gurkhas serving with the British Army. He had nothing but praise for them. Apparently the Germans were extremely unhappy about having to face them.
And yeah, I get the story's subtext...if he hadn't been carrying a weapon, he might have been less effective against the bad guys. (If you've ever seen one of those blades, you can imagine how terrifying it'd be to find yourself on the business end.)