NOT every soldier gets the chance to put his commander in a full nelson and give him a good shaking. Gurkha Lance-Corporal Indraprasad Ghale did and today he will be honoured for it. In fact his commander Captain Kulbahadur Thapa wrote the citation. ''It took me a few minutes to realise it, but he saved my life,'' Captain Thapa said last night, reflecting on the night last October in the Brunei jungle when his six-man signal detachment was struck by lightning. Captain Thapa writhed, unconscious, and two other soldiers lay paralysed while Corporal Ghale treated them and organised their rescue, out of radio contact and 45 minutes through dense foliage to his platoon. ''The captain was jumping all around like crazy, he was out of control and screaming . . . the lightning had thrown him five metres,'' he said. ''I just put my arms tightly around his chest, held him up and shook him . . . I know he was my commander, and I had always respected him, but I had to do that to get him to calm down. I thought he was going to die. ''I could hear the others in the darkness and rain, shouting: 'Where's my arm, where's my leg?'.'' Today Corporal Ghale will receive a commendation for ''exceptional courage and initiative'' from Commander British Forces Major-General Sir John Foley at the Prince of Wales Barracks, along with Sixth Gurkha Rifles companion Lance-Corporal Khembahadur Galami. Corporal Galami was cycling through the barracks last November with his son when he saw flames leaping two metres out of a house where six Gurkha wives were playing with their children inside. ''The door was shut upstairs and when I burst in, they had no idea of the flames. They were soon screaming but I was able to calm them down and make sure they got out,'' Corporal Galami said. ''I was able to shut the main switch off, and get help. With my friends behind me, I felt confident about tackling the fire by myself.'' He spent 30 minutes using a garden hose and buckets to save the families' belongings. Sixth Gurkha Rifles are stationed at Casino Lines, near Fanling, when not jungle training in Brunei.
