Military Yaks

One of the famous photos of the early Afghan war showed Special Forces types riding a horse along with the Northern Alliance tribal army against the Taliban (who were mainly Pakistani supported Pashtun, but never mind: few MSM bother to tell you the complicated tribal politics of that country). the episode was later made into a book and then a movie "12 Strong".



However, this is not the only time modern armies have relied on old fashioned animals.

StrategyPage has an article on the Chinese military use of Yaks in high altitude border areas.

China has the longest high-altitude borders in the world and uses a variety of methods to effectively patrol them and control smugglers and other illegal border crossers (like Islamic terrorists).

For most of the border troops on foot, vehicles or aircraft can keep an eye on things. But in some of the more remote areas, the smugglers use yaks, a sure-footed high altitude animal native to these areas and used by the locals for thousands of years. That means local smugglers use them as well. So the Chinese maintain several units of border troops who are trained to ride yaks though the same border areas the local smugglers still use.

ABC News (Australia) has more about the history of China and why there is a need to protect their borders in their southwest and western areas.

PHOTO: Yaks are used by China's military across its mountainous far-western borders. (Weibo: PLA Daily)

The use of animals in war has a long history, and the above cited StrategyPage article goes on to discuss the use of horses and mules as pack animals in the 20th century, and why they are still in use today in a few rugged areas, which is why the US military continues to train soldiers on their use:

In many parts of the world the easiest way to move goods, including food and ammo for troops, is via pack animal. Depending on what part of the world the troops are in, the animal can be a dog, elephant, llama, camel, horse, ox, donkey, mule, reindeer or yak. In many areas, you can hire local animals and people to handle the animals. But in some situations, you have to bring in your own animals and handlers. The training courses show troops how to care for the animals and how to load (“pack”) cargo on each species. Usually, a pack animal can carry about a quarter of its own weight as cargo and the most common ones encountered are horses, donkeys, and mules. The need for these training courses is one reason why the military still recruits large-animal veterinarians.

military dogs, of course, continue to be used in Iraq and Afghanistan, both for guard duty and to detect mines/IED's.




and then there is the use of homing pigeons in war, to carry messages.



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update: Mental Floss on 12 Amazing dogs.