Posted on 09/06/2010 9:10:24 PM PDT by castlebrew
FRANKLIN, Ind. — Soldiers at Camp Atterbury are getting some help staying in the saddle before they head to Afghanistan.
Three instructors are helping train 60 soldiers and airmen at the Indiana military training site to ride horses before they head to Panjshir Province, where mountainous terrain makes it easier to travel by horse.
The 189th Infantry Brigade at Atterbury is paying for the lessons.
In addition to riding, the soldiers learn grooming, handling and how to put a saddle and bridle on a horse.
"We're a security element, so we have to learn this stuff," Senior Airman Justin White of Henderson, N.C., told The Republic newspaper of Columbus.
(Excerpt) Read more at therepublic.com ...
Yeah, those horses will be great when they encounter an IED. This is crazy.
Clark AFB in the PI had a horse patrol in their Security Police Squadron.....I think Vandenberg AFB still has such a Security Forces unit.....
This has been going on for several years...nothing new here.
Good deal. In some terrain, a horse is still one of the best ways to get around.
BTW...interestingly (or not), Georgi Zhukov made effective use of Kossack horsemen in the early days of WW II. Ralph Zumbro covers it in his book Iron Calvary.
Don’t think they’ll get much saddle time this year. By the time they get over there, winter snows will have shut down the mountainous areas where they are supposed to operate.
I was stationed at Subic Bay in 91 (or was it 92) when the volcano erupted. For the three weeks preceding the eruption, they evacuated everything and everyone from Clark. One day while sitting at my desk, I saw a bunch of horses being walked down the street. I said to my staff, "Where did those horses come from", and somebody yelled out "Clark". Now, almost 20 years later, I know why Clark had horses. Thanks.
General Wainwright’s statements are coming true. I was giving a lecture to some USMA students when I repeated his statements and one girl (?) remarked that I was stupid to suggest that horsemanship would be an important asset to the modern warrior. Wainwright stated (1949) that the Army would regret losing its knowledge of horses and pack if we ever encountered an enemy that was in terrain that motorized vehicles and aircraft could not traverse or patrol.
US cavalry charged Japanese forces in 1942.
http://www.westernshootinghorse.com/wshcontent/2008/09/04/the-last-cavalry-charge-in-us-history/#
You beat ne fair and square.
I always appreciate seeing the Army horse detachment in the Rose Parade.
Cubi Point had horses in the seventies, but AFAIK they were just for recreational riding.
Here is a little known film on the topic of the end of the horse cavalry:
“In Pursuit of Honor”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113399/
One advantage this has over helicopter resupply is that an observer miles away can see where a helicopter is dropping off supplies and reinforcements, but a mule train is very hard to spot from the ground, and then you don't know if it's friendly or hostile.
“Horse Soldiers” was a book about the Special Forces troopers and FAC guys who liased with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in 01’ to call down the damn-damn on the Tallyban.
They had to learn how to ride in a hurry on local mounts with the hideous local saddles.
I think there was a commemorative Frederic Remington-styled sculpture of a modern SF troop on an Afghan horse sold to commemorate the episode.
I recall an SOF article a few years back about the Israeli Border Patrol. They use llamas in their traditional pack animal role. It seems llamas give a superior power-to-weight ratio and as camel relatives they need less water per pound of body weight than equines and more important, they are vewwy, vewwy quiet (ha ha). No ringing hooves, neighing or heehawing.
John used to live out in Utah about 5-6 years ago, and he loved to go hunting. One time he was out hunting for mule deer and he heard something coming up the trail. He got into position to take the shot, looked through the scope, and saw a llama coming up the trail. He doesn't have any idea where it came from, obviously from somebody's farm or ranch, but there weren't any for miles in any direction.
John pulled out his digital camera and snapped a couple of shots as the animal continued on up the trail without a care in the world. He showed me the pics and there really was a llama.
Where is our cavalry? We need to start bringing back the horse soldiers. Other nations have them—we should lag behind.
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