I of course have zero mil experience and have never met a Gurkha. I have read a number of books by Brits who've served with and commanded Gurkhas though. From that reading, the following story I pulled from Tom Ricks' blog of May 1, 2009 illustrates something about those guys and it might be useful to bear it in mind when evaluating this incident.

" Story goes that during WWII, the British Indian Army planned to drop a company of the toughest Gurkhas behind Japanese lines to help stop the oncoming invaders. A British major explained the plan to the Gurkha sergeant major, saying: "We'll drop you from 600 feet."

"' The sergeant major talked to his troops, then went back to the major: "Sah, the men say 600 feet too high. They want to be dropped lower." The British major said: "All right, sergeant major, we'll make it 500 feet."

The sergeant major spoke to his troops again, and again went back to the major: "Sah, the men say 500 feet is still too high and want to be dropped lower." The major said: "Sergeant major, we could go down to 400 feet to drop you but that wouldn't leave enough time for the parachutes to open."

Sergeant major: "Ooohhh, paraaaachutes???"'"

The story is probably apocryphal but it makes the point well. I have also read the Gurkhas are extremely correct in their dealing with people subject to their authority.