One of the most unusual units in the British Army is the Brigade of Gurkhas, which consists of Nepalese citizens who become British soldiers in the vaunted Royal Gurkha Rifles regiments. They are fierce warriors easily identified by the traditional long, curved knife known as the kukri. They are now in theater in Iraq providing rear=area security.
Apparently, there are a few of these types of native units in the British Army, the remnants of their worldwide empire.
