Man, between them and the Gurkhas! What a bunch of bad.., well, you know.
The differences between them are also very interesting.
Gurkhas are indigenous people mainly from the mid-western, eastern Nepal and the Gorkhaland region of India. They are mountain people, on the shorter side, with lean and strong muscles. To belong to a Gurkha regiment is a matter of family pride, as is ferocity in battle, and their distinctive Kukri knife, which is really half knife and half sword, is handed down through their generations.
In the UK, their traditional training ground were the mountains of Scotland, where they do fun things like 20 mile mountain runs in freezing rains while carrying kits that weigh half or more of their weight.
The Sikhs are a religion, found in northern India and Pakistan, sometimes crudely described as “Half Hindu and half Muslim, but rejecting the stupider parts of both religions.”
They tend to be entrepreneurial-business oriented middle class, and as a really good idea, though they are egalitarian in their treatment of others, rejecting both racial and caste discrimination, theirs is a militant religion, being caught between Muslims and Hindus. One of their most respected social roles is as a soldier, in just about any honorable army. That is, their being a good soldier is literally part of their religion.
At the time of Indian independence, the Sikhs held almost all the leadership roles in the Indian army. So being non-commissioned and commissioned officers comes pretty naturally to them.
Their favored knife-sword, which is called a Kirpan, is required to be carried at all times, which at full size is a pretty impressive blade; but they are so moderate that they are allowed to carry a very small ceremonial equivalent, that you could put on a key chain, when it would be impolite or impractical to have a full sized knife.
They have a whole collection of traditional religious weapons, and even a classical fighting style that has somewhat fallen by the wayside as impractical these days; but again moderation rules their thinking—it is hard to find *any* weapon that at least some Sikhs have not mastered.
The one thing they will not be moderate about is their olive drab (or other color) military turban and their beard. Until the 1980s, there were lots of Sikhs in the US military, even Special Forces, but some twit in the Pentagon demanded they shave or leave. They left. Only in the last few years did the Pentagon end that stupid rule. The first Sikh back in uniform who went through a US Army training school became a national hero to US Sikhs.
Oddly enough they have a particular affinity for Airborne operations. They love the idea of parachuting right into the middle of the enemy forces.
About the only time Sikhs have run amok was when a radical, secessionist group of Sikhs took control of their most sacred temple in India. The Indian government overreacted against the secessionists, and ordered a Sikh general to invade the temple. This turned into a bloodbath, there were some mutinies by Sikhs in the Indian army, and just about every Indian involved, including the Indian president who ordered it, and this Sikh general, were eventually assassinated by Sikhs.
In the US, the Sikhs are a very quiet population of entrepreneurs and white collar professionals. They give a lot to charity to help the poor, and are agreeable and friendly folks to live around.
The Wisconsin Sikh Temple shooting in August of 2012 by a stupid white supremacist illustrates Sikh behavior. While shooting up the place, which had a lot of women and children preparing a meal, he was charged by the 65 year old founder of that temple, with his full sized Kirpan, who was shot to death along with the other victims.
A responding police officer was shot 15 times, including once in the neck, but survived, before the perp was shot in the stomach by another officer and killed himself. Sikhs from around the US donated some $110,000 to the injured police officer for his bravery.