Marines, Mules, and the Middle East

How the U.S. Military is Training to Use Pack Animals in Afghanistan

Jul 11, 2009

At a California military training facility, U.S. Marines are learning how to use donkeys and mules as partners in upcoming combat missions in Afghanistan.

According to a July 7, 2009 Los Angeles Times article, students at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center near Bridgeport, Calif., are learning to use the Afghan’s own traditional method of animal packing as an alternative to Humvees and helicopters.

The Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center

The 47,000-acre training facility is set on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest amid jagged, 10,000-foot-high peaks. The terrain, analogous to the mountainous regions in Afghanistan, is a prime location to teach high-altitude combat skills. The animal-packers course teaches soldiers how to use beasts of burden to carry weapons and supplies for missions in Afghanistan.

Though the center opened in 1951 to train troops for the Korean War, the animal packers course began in the 1980s for CIA agents being sent to Afghanistan. Today, five donkeys and 24 mules are used in course training exercises for Marines, Army soldiers, Navy SEALs, and foreign troops.

U.S. Military use of Mules and Donkeys

Donkeys and mules are bred for strength and stamina. A one-thousand pound mule can carry a load of one-third its weight or more. Soldiers at the training center are taught how to use the animals in situations where U.S. military technology is infeasible. In Afghanistan’s mountains, there are few navigable roads, the air is thin, and Humvees and helicopters often cannot effectively traverse the terrain. Mules and donkeys can carry weapons, supplies, and according to the Los Angeles Times report, even retrieve injured and dead soldiers.

The U.S. military has used donkeys and mules in combat before. In 1915, during the U.S. occupation of Haiti, Sgt. Maj. Daniel Daly earned his second Medal of Honor for leading pack animals into battle. The U.S. Army used mules in World War II to carry supplies and equipment in regions where jeeps could not travel. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the CIA bought several thousand mules for the Afghans to maintain supply lines.

Mules and Donkeys in Afghanistan

The central highlands region of Afghanistan, which covers about two-thirds of the country, consists of the towering Hindu Kush mountain range where most Afghans live. According to the report, Afghans have used donkeys and mules as the “preferred mode of military transport” for centuries, due in large part to the treacherous terrain.

The strategy of adopting a comparatively primitive method of supply transport is one way the U.S. military is adapting to the harsh environment in the mountainous, war-torn nation. According to the report, mules and donkeys will act as a “force multiplier” and aid soldiers’ efforts in getting gear and men into the fight.

The mules and donkeys at Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center will remain there. Once the Marines reach Afghanistan, they can purchase a donkey for about $5.

Sources

Dupree, Louis. “Afghanistan.” The World Book Encyclopedia. 1983 ed. Print.

Perry, Tony. “Marines’ beasts of burden are again leading the pack.” Los Angeles Times. 7 Jul. 2009.

The copyright of the article Marines, Mules, and the Middle East in US Armed Conflicts is owned by Jeremy Mangum. Permission to republish Marines, Mules, and the Middle East in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.