WEBVTT

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(wind blowing)

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(mule snorting)

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(mule whinnying)

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(wind blowing)

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- In the past with our
animal packing course

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we'd have operational attachments
come through Green Berets

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and then they would ask at the end

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if we could teach 'em how to ride.

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(mule snorting)

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We didn't have the equipment

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or the number of animals to do that.

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We realized that there was a hole

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in our training that we could feel.

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(mules walking)

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You know they can see the value

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of a mule being able
to move 200, 250 pounds

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across this type of terrain.

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So we take the weight off
the service members back,

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put it on a mule's back,

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and they see the value of
when they get to the objective

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that they're more prepared.

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Like 65 or 70% of the world
is mountainous environment,

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with that said,

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probably 40 to 50% of the
places we're gonna do combat

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in the next 25 years,

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there's not gonna be roads,

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so that's the importance of the program.

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Our training area kind of replicates that,

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if you take a look at the base

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and you lay a map of
the Hindu Kush over it,

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we don't have the
elevations that they have,

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but the training is very, very similar.