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The Demise of the HUMVEE?

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  • The Demise of the HUMVEE?

    Donkeys Get Marines Around in Afganistan

    By Daniell Cooney AP Writter

    KANDAGAL, Afghanistan - Frustrated with the limitations of using its fleet of modern Humvee four-wheel-drives in rugged mountains with few roads, a battalion of U.S. Marines has enlisted a mode of transport used for centuries by Afghan villagers — donkeys.

    About 30 of the animals have been rented from local farmers to haul food and bottled water to hundreds of Afghan and U.S. troops on a two-week operation to battle militants deep in remote mountains in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province.

    "With all the smart bombs and the modern stuff in war nowadays, this is the best way for us to resupply our troops there," said Lt. Col. Jim Donnellan, commander of 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, which is based in Hawaii. "It's also much cheaper for the U.S. taxpayer for us to rent the donkeys than for everything to be air-dropped."

    Using aircraft to resupply the forces is also dangerous.

    In late June, militants in the area shot down a special forces Chinook helicopter, killing all 16 troops on board, as it tried to land in one of the many steep-sided, wooded valleys that snake their way through the mountains.

    The operation, which began Friday, is aimed at flushing those fighters out of the valley and U.S. commanders are nervous about risking other choppers in the process.

    From a temporary resupply base in a cornfield at one end of Korengal Valley, where the militants are suspected of hiding, squads of Marines with heavy packs on their own backs led out lines of donkeys, each laden with two boxes of water, a box of food rations and a sack of grain.

    While each Marine carried enough food and water for themselves for two days, the donkeys gave each squad supplies for an extra 48 hours. Once finished, the animals would be led back to the resupply base to load up again and then return to the mountains.

    Before coming to Afghanistan, some of the troops received training in handling donkeys at the Marines' Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, Calif., said Capt. John Moshane.

    "Marines have used donkeys since the American revolution," he said, as each animal received a spray painted number for identification.

    Still, the donkeys period stubborn refusal to cooperate and their determination to try to mate with each other whenever they were untied persistently frustrated their handlers. When one Marine slapped one of the animals on the rump in exasperation, the donkey promptly gave him a sharp kick with one of its hind legs.

    Donkeys have long been used by armies in Afghanistan, including by mujahedeen independence fighters against Soviet troops in the 1980s. Smugglers also use them to sneak loads of opium, illegally mined gems and timber across the country's mountainous borders.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/afghan_us...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl

  • #2
    I'm not surprised to hear this. The simplest transport is sometimes the most effective.
    "The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes." G-Man

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    • #3
      I posted a similar article in the War in Iraq forum.

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      • #4
        Not surprising. Patton's troops had to use donkey's on Africa.
        sigpic

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        • #5
          It was Italy that saw the mule come into her own. Mules were absolutely vital in those mountains.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Bluesman
            It was Italy that saw the mule come into her own. Mules were absolutely vital in those mountains.
            Well a question...... would the mules not get frightened and run away during a fight. Would the soldiers know how to handle them? I mean in 1943 a majority of soldiers would have had prior dealings with the animals, not the case today.
            "Any relations in a social order will endure if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy, which qualifies life for immortality." ~ George William Russell

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            • #7
              Originally posted by sparten
              Well a question...... would the mules not get frightened and run away during a fight. Would the soldiers know how to handle them? I mean in 1943 a majority of soldiers would have had prior dealings with the animals, not the case today.
              The Marines train on mules at the Mountain Warfare Training Center and the CIA reportedly employs a mule breeder to supply and train pack animlas for certain types of operations.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by sparten
                Well a question...... would the mules not get frightened and run away during a fight. Would the soldiers know how to handle them? I mean in 1943 a majority of soldiers would have had prior dealings with the animals, not the case today.
                TRUE STORY: In WWII, when the Army saw that they needed mules for mountain warfare, the call went through the ranks for soldiers that had any prior experience working with the animals. Once a corps of 'mule skinners' had been established, those soldiers set about training Quartermasters and other soldiers on how to handle the mules.

                So, yes, you're correct. It DOES take a specialized skill set to handle a mule, and sometimes the Army has to adapt on the spot. Luckily, today, the Army is thinking about the lessons learned in the Italian mountains, and are ensuring that there will be at least a few cadre to build their next 'mule skinner corps' when they're needed.

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                • #9
                  It was such a grand sight to see SF operators in Afghanistan on horseback with their weapons at the ready. All that was missing was J.E.B. Stuart or John Buford :)
                  “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by TopHatter
                    It was such a grand sight to see SF operators in Afghanistan on horseback with their weapons at the ready. All that was missing was J.E.B. Stuart or John Buford :)
                    That picture is quite simply FAMOUS down here. The CG has it on the wall behind his desk.

                    And the men on those Afghan ponies...were Air Force.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Bluesman
                      And the men on those Afghan ponies...were Air Force.
                      Ahhhh...that would explain the confused looks on their faces as they were trying to find the cyclic and collective....
                      “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by sparten
                        Well a question...... would the mules not get frightened and run away during a fight.
                        Pack animals have their own individual personalities. Some get spook real easy. Others wouldn't be phased by a blast right beside it. You usually know what kind of animal you have after a week and knowing the army, a new animal would be bought up while the one that wouldn't do would go to the slaughter house.

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                        • #13
                          "a new animal would be bought up while the one that wouldn't do would go to the slaughter house."

                          Can't be any worse than MREs....

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                          • #14
                            Donkeys are better than humvees.

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