Page 416 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021
P. 416

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
the Local Solution. It is relatively silent and does not leave a huge signature giving away the location being resupplied, like helicopters or wheeled vehicles will. Pack can move across rough broken ground, through vegetation and up narrow tracks that cannot support a quad bike. It can move with, or close to, dismounted units, and could, for example, deliver reserve ammunition to a Mortar platoon. Each animal can carry a usable load of 160lbs (74.58 kg) in addition to the saddlery and can routinely cover 22 to 34 miles a day when fit and trained.102 Loads can be easily dispersed across an area with their handlers to support positions and units. Pack would be supplementary to other forms of transport, not a replacement. It would have to be integrated into the wider logistic plan in order to add capability.
In addition to the advantages listed above, there are also some disadvantages. It is manpower and animal intensive. For example, a typical planning figure for moving the contents of a fully loaded four-tonne truck would be forty mules. Also, the animals need forage, hard feed, shelter, and care for Pack to remain a viable capability. However, used intelligently, the use of Pack transport can still contribute greatly to Operations, where there is no other solution except for man-packing.
Three possible options for the use of Pack:
1. Do Nothing: The status quo remains as it is and the Army can only hope that if the capability is ever needed it can be created quickly, that the residual corporate knowledge has not retired and that it can all be done on time! This option has a high likelihood of failure.
2. Forming a Pack Transport Unit: While this is the ideal solution the only way that it is likely to happen is if there is a requirement for Pack on a new deployment or the use of Pack is suddenly required on current Operations, which is unlikely. This is a costly way of keeping a basic capability alive and that was used up until the 1970s. There are still some people in the Army with the appropriate equine and Pack experience that might be able to resurrect this capability as the knowledge is not entirely gone. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen unless required for immediate use on a large scale.
3. Pack Transport Cadre: Form a cadre to keep the skills alive. There are a small number of people still serving who have completed the Animal Transport Familiarisation course and have equine experience, and others who have now retired could be used to restart the cadre. As a minimum this would be one x SO2 Animal Transport plus three x SNCOs but a range of other configurations are also possible. This is a simple and cost effective103 way of keeping a seed-corn capability that can rapidly grow into an Operational capability if
required. Their tasks would include:
a. Small permanent staff to keep knowledge available, current, and maintain links with other armies that have a similar capability. Use of FTRS personnel would ensure continuity.
b. Use of Reservists to form an instructor pool, either as their main role or a secondary skill and commitment.
c. Specialists such as vets, farriers and saddlers could be called in from Mounted Duties when required to support training and trials activity.104
d. Training Regular and Reserve Volunteers, i.e., the RLC Mounted Sports Club could, with limited voluntary training, maintain a pack handler capability and awareness. The training gap and training time could be reduced by using people who know horses to some extent, thereby allowing them to concentrate on pack-specific training.
e. Pack horses could be procured when needed, either by having dedicated ride and Pack horses stationed at service Saddle Clubs, but with priority use to Pack (keeps a fit stock of horses available at no manning cost), or by having a series of agreements with trekking centres to block-hire their ponies as and when required.
f. Maintain links with suitable civilian volunteers who may be of use; ex-pack handlers (Bristol Horse world), re-enactors etc.
g. Maintain International Links i.e., India, Pakistan, Austria, Netherlands, USA and Canada. Scope the possible sources for UOR equipment and training.
h. Equipment – at least know where to procure suitable saddlery (ASC in India use Pack GS, Canadian civilians use a similar modernised version etc). Use of modern, lightweight materials may be beneficial but would need trialling. To have any chance of rapid UOR procurement, the groundwork needs to be done well in advance and the design and possible manufacturers held ready, on file, for possible use. This would require a set up with sufficient experience to do the practical work. The team would also need to develop loading schemes for different types of current equipment that are potential loads.
i. Maintain up-to-date course plans and
  102 See both, Horsemastership and Animal Transport 1937; and DAC Training for Military Pack Transport Handlers, the planning data remains unchanged.
103 ROM cost would be £200K per year.
104 11 Berridge, Major C T OBE RASC, With Pack Mules in the Apennines, British Army Journal, page 79, recommends that farriers and saddlers are essential
on the march.
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