Pack Animals - the 🇩🇪 German Mountain Infantry Brigade
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- The German Mountain Infantry Brigade are the last brigade in the Bundeswehr that use horses and mules. The mules are used to carry heavy loads and supplies to troops in the mountains. To work together as successfully as possible, the bond between soldier and animal must be very strong. Previously, the brigade was deployed on NATO missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Learn how man and animal work together while out on deployment in the mountains.
Footage includes various shots of members of the German Mountain Infantry Brigade working together with their mules during exercise Mountain Lion in the Alps.
For more info and great stills, visit: bit.ly/2Pt6zLJ
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"If you are good to the mules, the mules will be good to you." Some pretty good advice right there.
Well that's true, sometimes -painfully true.
My Uncle served with the 🇩🇪 Gebirgsjäger and a comrade of him had a - let's say pretty tricky relation with "his" mule.
One day on an excurse this guy didn't care right about that blanket under that wooden abholstery frame where they carry all the weight and carriage with and the mule showed and marked that and pleaded for a fix but this guy didn't care.
In the evening in the Biwak this mule bit his leader *t h a t bad* he had a serious bruise-injury one muscle was nearly torn and he got to be flewn out.
My Uncle had handover that mule and it took him nearly 1,5 month to reinstall a trustfull relation.
But in the end it worked so well this mule saved some lifes. They were on a mountain path around a corner late spring and it had rained badly the days previous plus heavy snowmelt set in.
So on a sunny day they came to a corner into shadow overcast steep terrain on a pretty wide new hiking path. My uncle had the leading mule, it stopped all of a sudden laid it's ears back and didn't move a single step forward, stood across the path letting *nobody* pass.
My Uncle talked calmy to him petted him, tried to motivate him and tried to build trust, but this mule remained, stood back and started to sweat ears all back.
So they finally decided to walk back to take another route and some 10 minutes back down that road they heard a roaring rumble and shaking behind and right on that path a few hundred meters ahead the first route a mud avalanche went off and burried the entire path over several hundred meters.
That mule stopped again looked back ears all front up, *snorted* loud, shook his had and dipped the sidepocket of my Uncles Parka with his nose and lips, where he always got those green eukaklyptus-menthol Pastilles for having a treat to the mules as to say:
"See?!
I told You!!
So give me a treat => I've done *well!!* 😊😊😊
@@wertfreund2480 Thanks for sharing this wonderful story!
Common equine sense
As a former Italian Mountain Artillery soldier I really understand and appreciate this video.
This is a great video filmed In absolutely beautiful country. My grandad helped teach soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division the art of mule packing at Camp Hale in Colorado. He would wholeheartedly agreed that treating mules well leads to a solid relationship. Again, great video and god bless our NATO allies.
Probably the most beautiful video from NATO.
Massive respect for these guys and their Mules!
What an absolutely beautiful piece of cinematography that shows great insight into these special soldiers. This video taught me about the extremely vital job that a mountain infantry brigade accomplishes in times of war when no conventional supply chain is available. Thank you for the insight!
Politicians and Generals always go on about cutting edge tech, drones and robots but sometimes the old ways can’t be beat.
I love you Germany .. a country of Geniuses
Thx from Germany brother!
❤❤
Gebirgsjäger 🇩🇪
Got to be an amazing unit to be in.
Alpini + Gebrigsjäger = ❤️ love from Italy
of course the Germans named a mule fritz
Americans: Spend billions of dollars on development of exoskeletons to carry heavy loads over difficult terrain.
Germans: Mules are cute!!!
The US military has a literal pack animal training course for special forces, rangers and marine reconnaissance soldiers go through, a program that was heavily reinforced and expanded after the experiences in Afghanistan.
The course is part of the Special Operations Mountain Warfare Center and is run by the US Marines.
I served with the Germans in Afghanistan. Good guys that’s for sure.
Mules are maintained so nicely.
Respect to all you guys and these awesome animals. Amazing Mules, Amazing People.
Italian Alpini retired the mules in 1993. They were deemed as needing way too much additional care (especially since the Alpini had helomobile support since the mid 1970s) and thus they were sold; nowadays only one, called "Iroso" remains alive and has recently celebrated his 40th birthday.
Artillery and sanitation were the main units in the Alpini using the mules, much rarely the Supply btns., because Alpini were already supposed to carry more than double the standard marching load of a regular infantryman in their packs
Iroso passed away last spring. As a former Italian Mountain Artillery I really understand and appreciate this video.
In WW2 the mules proved theirselves for the Gbjg.
When a war goes down, Italy has it under control like they always have. Because anti air isn't a factor when trying to take a hill right? Italy is awesome but please keep mules. Too much upkeep doesn't equate someone taking your land.
Respekt an euch jungs. #WeAreNATO
Wow i didn't know that mules are used in the army. Greetings from Spain!
Las mejores mulas tienen raíces andaluzas, aunque su numero ha disminuido bastante durante las ultimas décadas debido a su esterilidad y la modernización de los ejércitos no te sorprenda conseguirte mas de una mula en alguna unidad española.
Props to the Mountaineers! Majority of them are hunters or from rural areas, hence their cool, laid back and down to earth attitude. !NATO OTAN!
This is the first feel good vid I've seen in a long time
This is fascinating, had no idea such units still existed
The only do in the Bundeswehr
There are that kind of unit in Switzerland too.
.... and Austria.
Every german speaking country has Gebirgsjäger with Mules.
...and Italy
I have not spent a lot of time with mules, but I have spent a lot of times with horses over the years, and I think the sentiment is the same in that you do form a bond with the horse or mule if you spend every day together, and sometimes the night as well. Mules in particular are intelligent, and easy to train. They are stubborn at times when working, but it appears that that is because they can be a little smarter than their handler, if the situation seems unsafe to them. They are well suited to this work, and obviously well cared for and dare I say loved by these tough soldiers.
Got to be a real morale boost for the troops to see the delivery mules showing up.
What a beautiful and touching video. You can really sense the closeness between the mules and the soldiers.
Awesome relationship between human and animal.
Respect from Spain!.
Cuántos recuerdos me traen los mulos.....se parecen a los nuestros, aquellos qué en los años70, en la unidad de cazadores de montaña, portaban armas y vituallas por la parte más agreste del pirineo español... Estaban tan acostumbrados , qué ante los morterazos y ladridos Dr ametralladora....no se inmutaban....les felicito...
Only countries with mountainous borders can relate
The Gebirgsjäger troops fought in WW2,and they defended West Germany in the Cold War.Two exellent snipers in WW2 belonged to the Gebirgsjäger troops.Josef "Sepp" Allerberger had 257 confirmed kills on the eastern front.Matthäus Hetzenauer had 345 confirmed kills on the eastern front.His longest kill was from 1100 meters.
Keep it up boys ❤❤❤
I was part of the mountain infantry brigade as a conscript, but i was not part of the deploymemt and Training Center for Pack animals 230 in Bad Reichenhall, i was part of the Mountain Reconnaissance Battalion 230 in Füssen
Gebirgsjäger vor! As a ww2 Gebirgsjäger collector this is so awesome to see!
ruclips.net/video/Xz1NgNGo7Wc/видео.html Here is more to see..
They can be your best friend, or the most stubborn animals in the world, but they will never cease to be useful.
I loved being introduced to the mules ... and NATO. Wonderful story of respect, love and care for fellow workmates across species. Imagine what the world could be like if every human can experience this? The last few seconds of the clip were destryed by "What's coming up next" panels. Some NATO clips really manage to engage deeply. Hence these types of stories must be allowed to finish as their impacts only settle in minds After it finishes. That's why they are made. I expect better attention to detail from NATO web.
Thanks for your comment. We have adapted the end screens.
@@NATO Thank you!
There are addons for some web browsers that block those panels. I've used them for a long time now.
Great video. Was very interesting.
Germans has always been special , i salute all Germans the most smartest people we have on the planet
Great 👍 Beautiful images.
these guys will be the last standing in a conflict. mountains offer tons of protection
Love this.
Many think tier 1 units like seals, delta, etc do the heaviest duty, but in reality those to do it are mountain soldiers. Of course they are more trained and risk more, but mountain regiments are the ones who march more, are probably the last to be rescued and have to do a lot all alone
Funny cause most tier 1 and other special forces unit are trained in mountain warfare or have a special brigade within the unit for that kind of stuff. None the less, i respect the mountain soldiers
pure respect for the mountain units but special units go thru hell that no other human ever experienced
This is why many spezial units from all NATO states are trained by (german) mountain soldiers.
well they have mules to do the heavy lifting so in reality they are mostly hiking in relative safety while the tier one guys often get put behind enemy lines against overwhelming amounts of enemy's its not really comparable
@@3gunslingers Like whom?
Meine alte Einheit.
What a fantastic video... 👌🏻
The American Marines enlisted a four legged recruit during the Korean conflict. Sergeant Reckless. The Sargeant was originally a race horse but she became famous for supplying recoilless rocket rounds.
Thanks for sharing this! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant_Reckless
the polish had a similar experience with a bear ruclips.net/video/twr38iHXYVw/видео.html
@@flacons2110 thank you for this great share!!!
Very interesting!
Thank you for your service.
Long live sacred Germany!
Incredible.
Excellent idea
I'd love this job
Reminds me of how Mountain Howitzers in the old days used to be classed by how many mule loads they were.
Beautiful!!!
Da ex alpino vi invidio molto, a quanto mi risulta noi i “mussi” li abbiamo mandati in pensione.
Fuarce Cividat!
Funny..I just watched the US movie "The Mule" with Clins Eastwood and now this RUclips video..Different kind of "mule" though in the movie :-)
Canada was training a unit to handle mules for Afghanistan, but then some bright spark decided that 'hey let just get a million dollar Chinook instead.
Was it harper?
1) Chinooks were bought in 2013 - after out involvement finished
2) They may be nice for carrying gear, but a heavy lift element is always helpful for medevac and rapid infil/exfil
The famed Gebirgsjager!
Can we get a movie about this certain type of infantry?
What do react to contact drills look like?
For this topic, the Video is always much to short!
Sevillana was the name of one of this mules bought by german army in Spain.
These mules are probably the only Bundeswehr asset that's in deployment condition😅
I suspect that this mountaineering unit might be a very old unit, and it's interesting that after all these many years (probably pre-WWI) that they still use mules as an integral part of their unit
The Gebirgsjäger troops fought in WW1,WW2,and they defended West Germany during the Cold War.
The war in Afghanistan had taught a lot of NATO countries the importance of using mule's in combat logistics. Most countries in NATO after WWII stopped using mule's because of helicopters and airdrops but since the 2000s many countries are returning to and appreciating the use of these animals once again because they can work in environments that most vehicles including helicopters can enter into. A mule can walk with about 200lbs of gear for hours without taking a break unlike almost all humans
I salute the mule, objectively not as beautiful an equine as the horse, but he mule is a smart, brave and noble animal. I am so sorry that some, actually more than twenty years ago, the Italian Alpini corps "retired" all the mules (some veterans chipped in to save as many of the younger ones as possible, but most of them were butchered, what a pity. They should have phased them out gradually and maintain a cadre component. Glad to see the Gebirsjaegers still keep them on.
oh sorry, I rushed to make my post, had not realized that compatriots had already mentioned the mule being retired from the Italian army back in the 90s
sehr beeindruckend 🇮🇱🇩🇪🇮🇱🇩🇪🇮🇱🇩🇪
Had to e chance to deploy to Iraq and train some of their highest tech operators and some of ours (US) as well on horseback assault. Not sure why they needed to as we trained in urban combat with horses and does not make much sense. But in the end they were great tools they used for action
Wait, is this the actual official channel of NATO?
The one and only... except for the featured channels (News, History and language channels) you can find on the top right corner of the channel page.
Alpen Jager 💪🏻
Muletreiber
Check out the invaluable service mules provided the British in Burma during their fight against the Japanese.
British did not fight in burma , british indians did
Olé esas mulicas españolas
Just like in WW II the usage of horse should never be counted out from how useful they can be,
Hoffe das Ihr erhaltet bleibt. Die Erfahrung sollte dringend gepflegt werden. Maschinen fallen aus, Bio Lösungen sind weit flexibler.
The old ways are always the best, horses have been used in warfare for 1000s of years, so why change a good thing?. we just dont eat our horses anymore thankfully but its a dying art sadly. Germans know there stuff .high tech and low tech
Katırlara vurulan semer bile kaliteli. almanlar yapıyor aga.
In Brazil they use buffalos.
I hope that the Italian Army will decide to reintroduce the mule in the Alpini
There are more Videos about Mulis from the Bundeswehr available:ruclips.net/user/results?search_query=muli+bundeswehr
USA uses pack mules too. Alot of militaries in NATO do.
Old school
Aww
so are they trained to not panic when under attack?
Yeah, they are taken to shooting ranges for exactly that reason, I think there is a Video about this on the Bundeswehr YT Channel ( in German unfortunatly)
The rationale behind being a soldier is being resourceful irrespective of the means of how the job can be done!
😀😎😉🐎
Мы в Чечне сами всё таскали по горам. Просили командование дать лошадей или ослов. Но нам сказали, что это анахронизм, таскайте сами.
This reminds me of hoi4.
I hope these lads and ladies don’t have to face down Putin’s legions any time soon.
During the German deployment to Afghanistan, an infantry unit bought a donkey on the local market and called him Hermann.
He was supposed to carry their ammo and other heavy stuff - but he was stubborn and didn't want to go.
In Germany today very few people know how to work with donkeys - we use cars for decades. Every German knows - without the key even the best car won't go.
The key to a donkey is trust. They are not stubborn - they are smart. They don't go with everybody. You need some time to gain his trust - then, he will follow you almost everywhere.
In Afghanistan, everybody knows that.
It's sad to see the smart idea of using local proven means of transportation go bad this way. But hey, invading Afghanistan was a bad idea in the first place and did not do any good in fighting global terrorism.
In which century are we ?
In one where we are smart enough to use the most efficient tools for a task. Sometimes that is working together with mules.
ATV get hit ATV might still run. Mule get hit mule incapacitated.
But a mule can go where an ATV cant
True, but an ATV will happily drive into the abyss if you steer it towards it. The mule won't. And also it's ironic to compare an ATV to a mule, the true ATV. :P
ATVs need a wider path than Mules though - and are considerably louder and thus easier to spot
Lessons we have learned from WW2: A mule runs without fuel and if you have to fight to the last bullet and you are out of food you can still eat it.
anachronistic
effective
This would not be practical at all in a real world war scenario.
How so? I mean, "real world war" would probably mean everything getting nuked anyway.
Perhaps not for the next one, but the one after that is a different story. ;)
The Gebirgsjäger used them in WW2 also. And they were one of the most succesful troops.
@al rode *angry finish and russian noise in the distant*
But seriously,these are important skills when you are working in such a niche environment. If they are not, why would Gemanic countries still train their mountaineers to use mules and Nordic countries to have ski infantry.
You have no idea how this would go then, look at the terrain in the mountain and they wouldnt be effective? How would you handle logistics cheaper and more effective in there? Animals are alive and they have the survival insticts that your fuel driven death trap dont. When the bullets are smacking against/through your windshield, you'll wish you had a mule