Guns For Hire: Gurkhas of Nepal

Dreaming of a better life and willing to fight for it.

The Gurkhas were first hired as soldiers of fortune in the early 19th century to fight for the British East India Company's private army and were eventually absorbed into the British military. Now thousands of young Nepalese men take part in the British Gurkha tryouts every year with the hopes of lifting themselves and their families out of poverty.

The age old profession of hired guns is experienceing a rebirth not seen since the rise of the nation state over three hundred years ago. With up to forty thousand private soldiers assisting in the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq the business of hired guns has become a hundred-billion dollar industry. This project looks at the many forms of hired guns from the institutionalized forms to more fringe elements.