Thread: horse mounted cavalry in modern armies

Originally Posted by joey

President's Bodyguards: This is one of the oldest regiment earlier known as Governor General's Bodyguards and was raised in Varanasi in the year 1858, it is presently commanded by Col Adil Mahmood VSM.

Wow ... very impressive uniforms. Then again I have always been fond of redcoats

The 4th Arty Bn. and 35th Pack QM Co. were equipped with mules and a small number of horses. Those two Ft. Carson, Colorado units were deactivated in 1957 marking the end of horse and mule mounted regular army units. Their animals were transferred to other government agencies. The US Army still has horses for ceremonial purposes. I believe the US Civil Air Patrol has a horse mounted SAR unit in Texas.

Let's draw a distinction between cavalry, mounted infantry, and pack transportation.

I consider true cavalry - that means actually fighting while mounted to me - as a thing of the past. You can always point to a few circumstances in the 20th Century where horseback shock action worked or might work again. Overall, though.....well there's those small matters like grazing fire and field fortifications, among other things.

Horses on the battlefield can and do continue to serve a useful purpose as transport for both men and materials; however, being mounted to get to the fight and fighting while mounted are worlds apart.

One successful, now defunct 20th Century horse unit that hasn't been mentioned yet: Gray's Scouts, the Rhodesian mounted reconnaissance unit.