U.S. Marines Use Donkeys To Go Places Their Humvees and Other Modern Vehicles Cannot

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U.S. Marines Use Donkeys To Go Places Their Humvees and Other Modern

Vehicles Cannot

 

/August 15, 2005 -- By Daniel Cooney, Associated Press/

 

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.

 

/Source: Associated Press/