Contact. Wait Out. #50. Commonwealth II.
I was working away one time and we had a few commonwealth soldiers with us. The Gurkhas were an interesting bunch, they once sat in on a quiz that was full of deep British culture, and they attempted to answer the questions even though they had no idea what was going on. I was impressed by their willingness to get involved for a laugh.
The Fijians were a rowdy bunch that tended to keep to themselves. In a similar story to that in the sketch, I once walked into the a little common room that we all shared and asked a big Fijian if he could come and clean out some Landrovers. He just looked at me, said "No", and then went back to chatting with his mates.
I only found out after that the reason he said no was because I had pointed at him. Apparently, that is rude in their culture. Once he got to know me, he was ok, but it didn't help get the Landrovers clean that day.
There are a lot of different cultures in the British Army. So many that understanding them all would take ages, but we all still manage to get along. I believe that it is yet another reason that our army is as good as it is. Everyone brings something different to the party.
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