- Joined
- Mar 8, 1999
- Messages
- 1,760
For those of you who didn´t know, I´m in Nicaragua on a humanitarian operation with my reserve unit. I´m here on a two week adventure, and am having loads of fun moving around the countryside. I´m working in an area called Esteli in the north of Nicaragua, and am having a blast. And of course, I brought a World War khukuri along for the ride. Of course, I only had it two days. Here´s the story:
Although I am a cannon cocker by training, I am working as a civil affairs officer, and am doing a lot of work with the Nicaraguan Army (they are providing our protection while we´re here). Two days ago, we needed to get a contract written and signed by local town officials in the ultra-tiny town of San Juan de Limay so the US Army engineers could build a new road to replace the one washed out by Hurricane Mitch. Fortunately for me, a Captain Lopez of the Nicaraguan Army helped round up the "usual suspects" for a meeting to get the agreement signed.
We have become friends, and after all the help he provided, I felt like giving him the World War, which had been in my ALICE pack since I got here. So I pulled it out, showed it to him, and told him about Gurkha House. When I told him the knife was for him, he almost started crying. Needless to say, we posed for some pictures together - him holding his new khukuri and me holding his AK-47.
When I return, I´ll post the picture in this thread, along with some other Nicaragua shots. Machettes are carried everywhere by the farmers in the area. They are of an interesting design with a flair at the tip for cutting grass - I´ll try to get a shot of this very ingenious design.
And for those of you who are wondering how I made this post - the US Army has some pretty high-speed equipment that leaves us Marines speechless. One of their toys is satcom internet access - in the middle of the mountains of Nicaragua! My wife has the helm right now, so thanks Marya for doing such a smash-up job.
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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
Although I am a cannon cocker by training, I am working as a civil affairs officer, and am doing a lot of work with the Nicaraguan Army (they are providing our protection while we´re here). Two days ago, we needed to get a contract written and signed by local town officials in the ultra-tiny town of San Juan de Limay so the US Army engineers could build a new road to replace the one washed out by Hurricane Mitch. Fortunately for me, a Captain Lopez of the Nicaraguan Army helped round up the "usual suspects" for a meeting to get the agreement signed.
We have become friends, and after all the help he provided, I felt like giving him the World War, which had been in my ALICE pack since I got here. So I pulled it out, showed it to him, and told him about Gurkha House. When I told him the knife was for him, he almost started crying. Needless to say, we posed for some pictures together - him holding his new khukuri and me holding his AK-47.
When I return, I´ll post the picture in this thread, along with some other Nicaragua shots. Machettes are carried everywhere by the farmers in the area. They are of an interesting design with a flair at the tip for cutting grass - I´ll try to get a shot of this very ingenious design.
And for those of you who are wondering how I made this post - the US Army has some pretty high-speed equipment that leaves us Marines speechless. One of their toys is satcom internet access - in the middle of the mountains of Nicaragua! My wife has the helm right now, so thanks Marya for doing such a smash-up job.
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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
