Chandigarh: The ongoing induction of robotic mules into the Indian Army (IA) to replace live ones to logistically sustain troops in inhospitable terrains, is yet again another inevitable instance of modern-day technology stripping the age-old force of its rapidly vanishing unusual and appealing features.
After almost two centuries of yeoman service in logistically sustaining troops in inhospitable terrains at home and abroad, including the two World Wars and the Burma campaign, the Indian Army’s (IA’s) current 4000-odd strong pack mule contingent is being replaced by artificial intelligence-enabled robotic clones, as part of the military’s overall modernisation.
These creepy and frightening-looking 51 kg matte black robot substitutes, eponymously named Multi-Utility Legged Equipment or MULEs that were displayed at the Army Day Parade in Pune on January 15, were gradually being introduced into service to provide army units rations, fuel, medicines, ammunition and sundry supplies in challenging environments, largely in the Himalayas.
But a cross-section of army veterans, who had served in high altitude regions, sentimentally remembered the sure-footed and hardy mule trains, which for decades were their logistic backbone and virtual lifeline. Many recounted tales of how, on innumerable occasions, these valiant mules had saved the day, by delivering vital supplies when all other means had failed. They collectively admired and generously commended their fearlessness, resilience and above all, doggedness on treacherously precipitous mountain tracks to successfully complete their missions.
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“In an era dominated by technology and networked warfare, IA mules evoke a sense of nostalgia, romanticism and timelessness,” said former Major General Amrit Pal Singh. They represented a quiet and unsung flesh-and-blood part of military logistics that is in sharp contrast to their modularly-designed mechanical substitutes, also known uninspiringly as Quadrupedal Unmanned Ground Vehicles, he added.
“Mules have been major force multipliers in both World Wars by ensuring uninterrupted supplies of stores and ammunition to frontline troops,” said a retired one-star Army Service Corps (ASC) officer whose Animal Transport (AT) battalion of mules was awarded the army chief’s citation during the 1999 Kargil War for exemplary bravery under enemy fire.
Other than carrying assorted loads of over 80 kg over dangerously steep and icy terrain, mules needed minimal infrastructure to function compared to vehicles, or now their robotic replacements, he said, declining to be named. But above all, the ‘special bond’ muleteers developed over time with their mules, looking upon them more as comrades than mere animals, the officer said was widely celebrated in the army. Heroic tales of mules braving gunfire, harsh weather and treacherous mountain paths to complete their delivery assignments only amplified their quixotic and romantic profile, he added.
And to humanise their relationship, muleteers amusingly named their charges – each duly identified with an embossed hoof number-based on their physical and behavioural characteristics – like Kalu (black), Chotta (small), Tez (fast), Golu (chubby) Dhidh (stubborn), Bhola (simpleton), Nakhrewala (fussy) or Dabang (fearless). More feisty mule monikers, reflecting long-standing IA tradition, included Bandook Singh (rifle king), Shaktiman (all-powerful), Sheikh Chilli (nitwit) and Majnu (lover), amongst others.
But one legendary IA pack mule was Hoof Number 15328 – later named Pedongi after the hill town of Pedong in West Bengal near Kalimpong – who featured in the 1997 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest serving military mule, shortly before she died a year later. Her 25-year chequered service of regularly ferrying artillery pieces, ammunition and supplies up to heights of some 17,000 feet, included capture by the Pakistani Army during the 1971 war, along with other IA transport mules. However, a few days later, she cleverly escaped from captivity and trudged 20 km across the mountains, carrying boxes of Pakistani ammunition and a machine gun, ultimately making her way back to her unit, who were delighted to see her and her cargo.
Pedongi was duly decorated for her accomplishments and in 1989 became the 53 Animal Transport (AT) company’s mascot, with her photograph featuring on the unit’s seasons greeting cards. Thereafter, she was retired to Bareilly and a life of grazing and warm affection from local soldiery but three years later, in 1992 was taken to Delhi and conferred with a bravery citation and a blue velvet ceremonial rug for her exploits. And, in 2017, almost two decades after her death, Pedongi was honoured once again when a plush new lounge at the ASC Officers’ mess on Polo Road in Delhi Cantonment was named after her.
The IA inherited its structure, including AT units from the British Indian Army which at the time were integral to the forces logistics chain, especially in mountainous regions as mechanised transport was limited and roads non-existent. And though their exact numbers are difficult to track, estimates suggest that at independence in 1947, the IA had over 20,000 mules, a number that steadily more than doubled, largely in support of the newly emergent Mountain Divisions, which were responsible for safeguarding and conducting military operations in challenging high-altitude terrain.
In recent years, however, these mule numbers had reduced, with the ASC managing some 6,000 of them, organised into 15 units, with each company comprising three troopers and 96 animals.
Mule logistics units played a critical role in all the many wars India fought from 1947-48 onwards, right up to the Kargil operations, despite the emergence of modern logistic delivery solutions like helicopters and multi-terrain vehicles. They still continue in this role, though in far lesser numbers, due to the advent of roads, across Ladakh, the formidable Siachen Glacier and the northeast and other less-developed regions.
All IA mules were categorised as General Service (GS) and Mounted Artillery (MA) mules, with the former tasked with carrying stores like food and fuel, while the latter, hardier animals were mostly employed till the mid-1970s in exclusively transporting ammunition and dismantled parts of the 25 Pounder artillery guns, weighing more than 1,600 kg, to high altitude locations, where they were then assembled. Till it was phased out in the 1970s, these 25 lb pounder guns were the mainstay of the IA’s artillery units, whose employment the MA mules ensured via their load-bearing tenacity.
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Collectively, all mules were and still are managed by the ASC whose multiple Remount and Veterinary Corps or RVC centres at Meerut, Saharanpur and Babugarh in Uttar Pradesh, Hempur in Uttrakhand, Hisar in Haryana and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh were responsible for both their breeding and training. Their former programme focused primarily on mating hardy Indian ponies with donkeys to produce high-endurance mules with calm temperaments and high levels of adaptability to harshly cold climates.
In conclusion, no IA mule report is complete without the quaint account of a veteran two-star artillery officer and his one-ton Shaktiman truck driver who, on a winding hill road in Sikkim, would pucker his lips and make kissing noises whenever he braked whilst negotiating curves, which was often. After numerous road bends and incessant loud air kisses blown by this burly Sikh, the intrigued officer finally asked him why he intoned these inexplicable sounds whenever he braked.
“Sir ji, aadat pai gai (It’s become a habit sir),” replied the driver, who it transpired was earlier a muleteer, before transferring to the army’s motor transport unit, “Khachar nu rokan lai puch-puch karana penda si (To control and arrest my mule I needed to make a kissing sound to coax and restrain him),” he added, as an explanation for his somewhat kinky driving behaviour. “Oh khacahr time bahut yaad andene (I remember those mule times a lot),” he added, as testimony to the gradual passing of a poignant chapter in the IA’s history underscored by these pack animals’ loyalty, resilience, pluckiness and quiet heroism, akin to that of its jawans.
“The mules’ imminent phasing out represents more than just a shift in logistics,” said major general A.P. Singh. It is the fading of a tradition that embodied the resourcefulness and adaptability of the IA in times of need on the backs of these mules he declared, but modernisation invariably accompanies a bittersweet farewell to the old ways.
