Book excerpt: Alex Schlacher has accompanied the Gurkhas on operations in Afghanistan, on exercises in the Brunei jungle and Australia, and has visited all the units in the Brigade as well as retired and medically discharged Gurkhas. She has taken intimate portraits of hundreds of soldiers and heard their stories, many of which are recounted in this book. There have been other books on the Gurkhas, but none has portrayed the individual soldiers and focused about their backgrounds, lives and thoughts.