Lifestyles
Beans, Bullets And Band-Aids
The big burly Retired Marine Master Sergeant leaned against the fence and gestured at the shaggy long-eared mules within the corral as he explained the beginnings of the Mule Packing Course at the Marine Corp Mountain Warfare Survival Training Center (MWTC) near Bridgeport, California. Anthony “Tony” Parkhurst started working with the mule program in 1987 when it was more of a demonstration rather than hands-on training. Today, this program has expanded to 24 mules and six horses, upon which Marines and Special Forces Units are taught mule packing techniques in an intensive ten-day course at the MWTC.
“Mule packing is a different means to show these guys how to get access to areas where helicopters and trucks cannot go,” Parkhurst explained. “The mules or donkeys can carry weight. The more weight we can take off an infantryman the better he will be when he gets to where he needs to go. They are a beast of burden; we burden them down and send them up the trail. We just need people to know how to pack.”
On the other side of the world, Marines and supporting members of the Afghanistan Security Forces crept through the high desert mountains in the Paktika Province of Afghanistan, closely followed by a donkey “the size of a small deer,” a camel, both laden with supplies, and an Afghan native who was hired by the Marines to handle his animals. The motley crew was on a four-day mission to remote villages, where travel is difficult and unforgiving in this arid region—rocky and barren except for a few pinion-type trees and low growing shrubs. The trek is even harder when you must carry food, water and ammunition to support your crew. Sgt. Chris, one of the men on this mission, admitted, “The pack animals are a definitive force multiplier. We covered our intended distance in two-thirds to one-half of the time. They cut off a considerable amount of work for our men.”
Staff Sgt. Bruce Lincoln explained further, “The life expectancy of a Humvee is very short in these areas because of the poor roads and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The roads are narrow, steep and often non-existent.” This leaves the Marines with no option other than to put supplies such as water, food, ammunition and weapons onto the backs of their men or, preferably, donkeys and camels, making the Marines more mobile. Donkeys can carry heavy loads on treacherous terrain for long distances on little food and water, so they are vital when pursuing the enemy in mountainous combat zones like Afghanistan.
History Of Pack Animals At War
Pack animals, whether they were mules, horses, oxen or camels and donkeys, have long been used in warfare for carrying troops, guns, ammunition and supplies. With the modernization of warfare came tanks, trucks and airplanes, so pack animals were phased out as being too slow and obsolete. But the armed forces quickly realized that not all areas of the world are accessible to vehicular traffic. Even helicopters become risky to use at heights above 9,000–10,000 feet, and even riskier in heavy fog conditions that are common in the mountains. A renewed interest in pack animals began with the Korean War, where much of the terrain was forbidding to anything but foot traffic. Today, pack animals are considered to be combat multipliers within the armed forces, proven to work where modern technologies fail.
The Marine Corps used pack animals from its inception until retiring its last pack mule in 1953. They renewed their relationship with the hardy animal in 1983 at the MWTC when it started an experimental program to test the value of pack animal transportation. Termed a success, this program continues today as the only authorized pack station and school in the Department of Defense. According to the Small Wars Animal Packers Manual, the mission statement is: To aid the Marine Corps as an alternative method for transporting crew served weapons, ammunition, supplies, and wounded personnel to and from areas inaccessible to mechanized and air mobile transportation.
The manual also states “The mode of surface transportation most suitable to any deployment environment is that which is used by the people who live there. Often this means use of pack animals to transport supplies as the most effective method of transportation in remote areas. In fact, the pack animal may be the only way that you can support operations far into the interior of a mountainous or remote area.”
Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center
The MWTC is located at Pickle Meadow on 46,000 acres of the Toiyabe National Forest through an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service. Just up the road from the base towards Sonora Pass is the Leavitt Meadow training area. Tourists drive past as Marines scale the rocky cliffs nearby and glide on their backs, anchored to a single clip on a rope suspended high above a rapidly flowing stream. The MWTC was established in 1951 as a Cold Weather Battalion with a mission of providing cold weather training for replacement personnel bound for Korea. This base is on the same latitude and longitude as the DMZ in Korea, with the same weather patterns and terrain, so it properly prepares the men in what to expect once they arrive on foreign soil. Rock climbing, rappelling, skiing, swift water rescue and sniper training are just a few of the skills taught at the MWTC.
Tucked into a corner of the base next to the helicopter landing pad are barns and corrals containing horses and mules which are used for teaching the basics of animal packing. Parkhurst states, “For every battalion that has gone to Afghanistan, we have taught a section of that battalion how to handle pack animals.”
The full mule packing course starts with classroom studies on general care, anatomy and handling of the mules. They then proceed to hands-on training by saddling and packing the mules using a variety of hitches, commencing with an overnight stay and bivouac when the battalion does final exercises for a period of 3–10 days. The packers, with an instructor and mule string, travel into the mountains and support the battalion by resupplying them with food and water. In order to make the training as realistic as possible, the troops acquire the animal by bartering, often through a translator to simulate what they would encounter in Afghanistan.
Skills learned on the larger mules at the MWTC are easily converted into use on the smaller native donkeys readily available in Afghanistan. A donkey is a hardy animal related to the horse family and widely recognized for their long ears and ability to do well on poor feed and little water. A mule is a hybrid cross between a donkey stallion (commonly called a jack) and a female horse (mare).
Parkhurst asserts, “Special Forces units have used these packing techniques quite a bit in the Afghanistan mountains. They move 8–12 man teams and can’t pack enough supplies on a man for the length of the operation, so they buy or rent indigenous donkeys, which are smaller than our mules, from locals in the country. They often get local packers to lead them around to save on our manpower.” Parkhurst adds, “The donkeys work well. While they are smaller and can only carry 150–175 pounds compared to 300–400 lbs. carried by the mules, our mules can’t subsist on the forage over there.”
Instructor Training
New instructors initially go through the Animal Packing Course and learn via hands-on training by senior instructors. Each year, the MWTC sends a Marine who will be instructing the Animal Packing Course to a two-week basic horse shoeing course in Oklahoma. Instructors perform all of the shoeing and trimming on their livestock at the MWTC. The Marines also perform 90 percent of their own veterinary work, with support provided by the Northern California District Veterinary Command US Army coming once every quarter to check out the stock.
The instructors were previously sent to outfitter guide programs for additional training, which would cost approximately $1,000 per man for 4–6 days of training. Now the instructors are sent to Outfitter Warren Johnson near Jardine, Montana, for packing training while he sets up his camp for the season. Parkhurst asserts, “He teaches us the ropes. It’s a good deal. He gets free help and we get free training.” The Marines also purchase many of their mules from Johnson.
Johnson teaches the Marines a series of knots tied in ropes, called hitches, that are used to secure loads onto the mules, such as the basket hitch, barrel hitch and Decker Diamond Hitch. They also learn the timber hitch from Johnson. Johnson uses the timber hitch for packing in fence poles, but it also works well for packing long barrels. The barrel hitch is used to pack mortars. Many of the hitches used by outfitters are readily adaptable to packing any supplies needed by the Marines.
- In Tribute
- Sgt. Phillip A. Bocks, 1979–2007, was a MWTC instructor for three years before volunteering to become an embedded trainer with the Afghan army. He was killed in action in the Nuristan Province of Afghanistan.
Parkhurst enjoys working with the mules and states, “There isn’t anything that can’t be packed on a mule if you know the basics. They teach an improvised packing course here so you can pack with what is available at the moment. But there are not enough people that are proficient in mule packing, and it is a perishable skill.”
Intangible Training
Parkhurst is proud of what the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center offers and explains, “There is no other place within the US Department of Defense that can train to the level we can train to here. I truly believe in what we teach here at the MWTC, including the mountaineering courses. Within a week that commander knows who will make it in the mountains and who will step up and be a leader.”
Sgt. Arlan Gentert, an instructor for the Animal Packing Course, appreciates the opportunities gained at MWTC. Gentert was in Iraq January through September 2003 during the initial invasion, and was in Baghdad when they took control of the city, along with a second deployment to Iraq in 2004. He enjoys the advanced training received at MWTC in backcountry guiding, rock climbing and advanced skiing. “The trainers they provide for us are top notch. There are all kinds of opportunities with the Marines.” He adds, “I have three years left. I’ll figure it out in three years what I’ll do then. I can’t find anything that would compare to what I’m doing now—everything else would be boring. Not too many people get to go skiing, riding and climbing for a living. Being in the stables is like being home. You forget you’re in the Marines.”
Staff Sgt. Mike Pietras, another instructor stationed at MWTC, echoed thoughts of many at the base by saying, “The best thing about this place is not all the neat and cool things we get to do. It’s the intangible stuff. One thing you have to say about MWTC, what you learn here isn’t in a classroom. It’s the experiences, the hardships, cold and snow. Some people cocoon when the going gets tough, while for others it brings out the best in them. You find out who the people you can count on are.”
A Key Asset
Gunney Sgt. Amos Hollar, a chief instructor at MWTC, served in Afghanistan and contracted local Afghans with four donkeys to make two trips a day to resupply operations with food and water. Hollar emphasized, “The training here at MWTC helped. It familiarized you with the basic knots and care and handling of the animals, and helped you know what to expect.” He added about how another platoon of 25 people used donkeys on a weeklong operation, traveling with the patrol and maintaining supplies. “The donkeys are a key asset for that type of patrol. Using the locally available donkeys frees you up to move to where the enemy is. You can get into his backyard where he is comfortable and has his guard down a bit. You can get to them easier on foot while the donkeys are carrying the heavier supplies.”
Shaggy, long-eared mules are looked at with curiosity and disbelief when they are located on a Marine Base right next to a helicopter landing pad, especially in today’s world of advanced technology. But the Marines and Special Forces units that have put animals such as these to actual use in remote combat situations speak in glowing terms of their benefits in the war efforts. Retired Marine Master Sergeant Tony Parkhurst sums up the mules’ usefulness by stating, “We can pack anything on a mule, and we’ve packed it all. Guns, water, food, generators—anything they need moved we can pack on the mules. We also do Medivacs on mules and, unfortunately, we have packed bodies, but our main operation is logistical resupply of the battalions…carrying beans, bullets and Band-Aids.”