U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Ryan Bartolo, a mountain warfare instructor with Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center (MCMWTC), Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command, calms a Mule during Mountain Exercise (MTX) 1-23 at MCMWTC, Bridgeport, California, Sept. 23, 2022. The purpose of the animal packers course is to teach personnel the necessary skills to enable them to load and maintain pack animals for military applications in remote and dangerous environments. Horses and pack animals were used during the initial phase of operations in Afghanistan, post 9/11.