It’s amazing what can happen at a bar. A few weeks ago I was sitting at a bar in North Carolina when an old industry friend asked me a question about a product he was looking for to go camping with his family. I rattled off an answer and he said that I should start a weekly feature. Well Patrick, you’re right, “Ask SSD” would be a great weekly feature but since I answered your question, I though I’d kick it off with something that I couldn’t answer. Another industry friend sent me this photo wondering who these guys were. Since crowdsourcing is the future, I take it to you, my readers, to help identify these modern-day horse soldiers.
god damn mongolians!
Am I the only one who got that South Park reference?
*Mongorians
Stay away from my “city beef” !
They would appear to be Chinese.
http://bbs.tiexue.net/post2_5719012_1.html
Or Mongolian.
http://undestnii-uzel.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post_18.html
Odds of at least one of them being a descendant of Khan are pretty high, and considering what the Mongols did with horses and bows, I would say the world is in trouble should gasoline somehow disappear.
+1 for Mongolian. I’ve seen that capes demo.
The Chinese now have a digitized pattern.
Interesting. The picture toward the bottom (soft hat w/ green star) is found elsewhere on the web, identifying as Border patrol.
http://i.imgur.com/7GqLC.jpg
Some Mongolians use stirrups, and others don’t?
The stirrups could be folded over the saddle
Mongolian army who patrols along the sino-mongolian border. The Chinese article is about the Mongolian border patrol soldiers.
Looks like chinese camo and horse tack.
The horse tack (“Portugese” stirrups) is common to Mongolian and PL armies (at least the PLA cav that traces its heritage to the Gobi frontier).
Most PLA now have a digital flektarn camo family that I would hate to try to discriminate on THEIR turf.
I’m going to hazard a guess and say Chinese patrol working out in the northern/eastern wilderness.
Anybody know the name of that 3d leafy suit? want, want, WANT!
USGI camo “Diamond” and “Repair Kit”–favorable NIR, Radar and FR characteristics and surplus store cheap.
I can’t find any English sources, but it would appear that they are definitely Mongolian Cavalry.
Sad to say the Mongolians were the most professional soldiers at the ISAF Joint Command.
CSM (ret) J.
For the size of their contingent, 1,000% true.
May be closer than you think. I suggest a look at Camp Lejeune’s
Installation newspaper last week.
Referring to this?
http://www.camplejeuneglobe.com/news/inside_lejeune/article_49de9450-3100-11e3-96f7-001a4bcf887a.html
SF-types rode horses in the mountains of Afghanistan when the war first started… there’s an interesting section of the Special Forces Museum at Fort Bragg about it.
http://www.amazon.com/Horse-Soldiers-Extraordinary-Victory-Afghanistan/dp/1416580522
Thank you for the link to that one, much appreciated.
But the picture everyone is familiar with is a USAF CCT.
I lived in Mongolia for 3 years and based on the sadles, the plait rope and especially the stirrup those are Mongolian warriors.
Im guessing they sliced the horses open to keep their buddies warm
“And I thought they smelt bad on the outside”
Straps
Thank you, very cool article I thought.
Do the horses do a “sniper crawl” or do they lay there until the coast is clear?
those guys really earn the spurs
They’re Mongolian guards at the Chinese-Mongolian border
So nobody else thinks it’s ridiculous to get on a ghillie suit and lay behind a gigantic brown horse? No cam for the horse, but for yourself BEHIND the horse, how does that make sense?
1. Hopefully you’re aware that horses lay down to sleep. Concealment.
2. They also die in that position. Concealment.
3. In a standup fight, they will use the horse for cover. A Mongolian on his feet is only slightly less dangerous than a Mongolian on a horse. Especially if you shot his horse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry-OuWGhjVg
4. Horse burns zero JP4, and produces all the cooking fuel the trooper will need to boil down the same grass the horse eats to sustain him.
Those dudes are hard. They send their best to be trained by the US, the Russians, the Chinese, the Commonwealth, old Europe, new Europe and everyone else who has ever had success on a battlefield. Then they pick, choose and whittle into doctrine that works for them. It’s a veritable Mongolian BBQ of theory and doctrine. They got it like that because they are sitting on energy and mineral wealth beyond estimation.
It is AWESOME to pick the brain of a professional warrior that has been to EVERY C&S course worth attending ANYWHERE–assuming you have a taste and tolerance for vodka, after which, well, see the above YouTube link.
So yeah, keep on laughing…
Oh, and one more thing: They are to date the ONLY men to have EVER truly pacified Afghanistan.
Well said sir.
Very well said. I think Canadian made some good points though. Three horses laying with saddles are obviously not wild horses sleeping in the grass so it would make sense to use some of camo on them. With that being, I dont think they are using this method on a SR mission or as the brits call it, close target recon. Merely for scouting things out while on a patrol. I didnt know the Mongolians were on good terms with China or Russia though.
They’re not – there is some bitter hatred between Mongolians and the Chinese.
I always wanted to know how to get my horse to lay down like the can did.
*CAV
I have seen some similar pictures of PLA horse cavalry doing a similar tactic..either way it is cool to see that Horses are still used.
Unlike the DNPR motorcycle combo these transports keep you warmer on those balmy Gobi Winter nights.
The Rhodesian used cav with great success the Grey Scouts.