MA Firearm Safety

   Corporal Dipp Rasad Pun, age 31, a Nepali (Gurkha) soldier of the 1st Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles under British command in Afghanistan, single handily killed more than 30 Taliban fighters as his checkpoint came under a concentrated attack. During the furious action in the time span of fifteen minutes Corporal Pun fired approximately 400 rounds, threw 17 grenades, detonated a claymore mine, and when he had exhausted his ammo used the tripod from his machine gun to club an insurgent that was climbing over the wall. When reinforcements arrived the fighting was already over.

   For his actions Corporal Pun was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, ( CGC ) second only to Britain’s highest award, the Victoria Cross. His Medal Citation said he saved the lives of three of his comrades at the checkpoint by his actions.

  “At the time I wasn’t worried, there wasn’t any choice but to fight. The Taliban were all around the checkpoint, I was alone. I had so many of them around me that I thought I was definitely going to die, so I thought I would kill as many of them as I could before they killed me, I wasn’t scared“.

NOTE: The Gurkha are renowned for their ferocity in battle, my only question is why he did not receive the Victoria Cross?  May it be because he is not British?  He is a true hero in the strictest sense of the word, and our news media did not even cover the story.

Submitted 6-6-2011, Mark Shean