I will never forget the night I mounted a new Piton thermal camera on my M-16 A4 rifle, loaded my GPS with my infiltration route, adjusted my latest-model radio and was fully prepared for the operations, equipped with the latest technology. I walked to the head of the column, receiving envious and admiring looks from the peshmerga, and met her for the first time: a 14-year old molly who was going to lead my way for the next eight hours.

My first experience with mules in the military was in April 2000, during an operation in northern Iraq’s mountainous terrain known as Metina. At that time, as Turkish Special Forces teams, we used to participate in Kurdish peshmerga operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to provide liaison for close air support and air medical evacuation.

The budget lists the physical characteristics of the animals needed. Each mule will cost no more than 1,800 Turkish lira ($600). Each one must stand at least 4 feet tall and have a chest span of 5 feet.

But there is already a legged support system, one that has been in service for thousands of years: mules. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) still pays attention to these "organic cargo carrier systems" that provide support to commando units and teams operating in dangerous or difficult conditions. The TSK's 2016 budget has provisions to procure about 900 mules for the army.

Military forces the world over devote massive amounts of time and money to develop technology that will give their soldiers the edge. For example, US military contractors came up with the LS3 ( Legged Squad Support System ), a robot designed to transport the cargo of army squads operating in rough terrain and bad weather. The United States spent millions of dollars to develop the horselike concept before putting it out to pasture recently because it was too noisy.

Her name was Kader (Fate in English). I closely learned her ways during the eight-hour march. That is when I decided that the words "silent, powerful, stubborn and resilient" were probably coined to describe mules. She carried a 77-pound Dushka heavy machine gun, 110-pound tripods, at least 220 pounds of ammunition, and rations for the whole unit, totaling almost 500 pounds for eight hours without a complaint. During the entire march she drank water twice and once ate a couple of pounds of barley.

When we reached our destination the next morning, I heard her owner say with a smile, “Kader is not as cute as her donkey father and doesn't have the nobility of her mother, the mare. But you see, nobody else can cope with these mountains. She is the commando of mountains."

Mules are born soldiers. They eat little and can survive without water and food for days. They make very little noise and are more stable and sturdier than horses and donkeys. You can trust a mule on the worst terrain and steepest climbs. Follow them when ascending or descending and, purely on their instincts, they will lead you on the safest and easiest route. They will find the most level paths and minimize your fatigue.

Unlike horses, mules are not afraid of heights. They don’t fear a precipice of any kind. Their training is simple. They understand all commands. You say stop, come and go, and that’s what they do. Interestingly, they are never angry with their masters. They are loyal to the end and will never escape. At times of danger, they will find the safest location and wait for you there. In clashes with the noise of firing and explosions, they never rear and throw off riders. They don’t like snakes but are not afraid of them. I have participated in dozens of operations with mules where I listened to endless tales of how mules crush snakes and even challenge wolves and bears.

Mules are ideal soldiers: They are perfectly adapted for rough terrain and weather conditions, disciplined, strong, resilient, courageous, easily trained, have an innate sense of direction and never give up.

They were used widely in the 20th century. In his book "Animals in the Military: From Hannibal's Elephants to the Dolphins of the U.S. Navy," author John M. Kistler writes how legendary British Gen. Edmund Allenby formed a 5,000-mule logistics supply line along the Palestinian and Syrian fronts during World War I. Kistler also notes how Lawrence of Arabia operated long-range reconnaissance teams with 50 mules and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia relied on mules to move his heavy Krupp artillery. The US army deployed 80,000 mules during WW I, and in WW II mules were dropped by parachute from specially modified C-47 Dakota cargo planes.

In Turkey’s southeast region, the PKK frequently uses mules for logistics purposes. Rations for the PKK mountain cadres are loaded onto 10-15 mules in villages, and these trains are then sent off without a human to guide them. The trained mules, who wear special footgear instead of metal horseshoes and whose tongues are usually removed to prevent them from braying, are sent off all on their own. By following creeks and riverbeds, they reach the mountain camps and return to the village all by themselves. They are perfectly capable of ensuring a logistics flow over a distance of 15 miles. The only thing that can disrupt their amazing journey is meeting large herds of boars, which terrorize them. In such cases they scatter, but eventually head back to their starting point.

A retired UN official who served many years in south Lebanon told me how amazed he was when he saw these mule trains crossing over the tough terrain of Jabal al-Sheikh to Syria from south Lebanon, smuggling cigarettes and thousands of dollars' worth of electronic goods. Different smugglers would form a single mule train heading to Syria without anybody minding the animals because their path — through the front line between the Syrian army and the occupying Israeli army — was unsafe. These mules would start off together but split at certain junctions in the path to head to their different destinations. They weren't confused; nobody went off with the wrong train. Deliveries were on time and accurate.

Sometimes when untrained soldiers first see a mule train without a master, they will try to scatter the mules or detain them. Wise and trained soldiers, however, follow the mules to discover their destination.

In 2011, the PKK loaded up a mule with more than 300 pounds of explosives to use in a "suicide" attack against a Turkish army outpost. This explosives-laden mule, equipped with a radio-controlled detonator, was shot and killed by soldiers. A captain who witnessed that attack told me, “The mule appeared to understand that he was carrying explosives. He was restless. We first thought he was an excited smuggler’s mule.

"We would have wanted to keep him. If he had not been so restless, we would have never realized that he was laden with improvised explosives.”

Despite all their superior characteristics, the mules have one serious flaw: a tendency to kill themselves. On a march during the unbearably hot days of 2002, when our column suddenly halted, I asked a concerned peshmerga why we had stopped. He said: “It is the mule. He threw himself off the cliff. He was carrying all our ammunition.”

Mules defy hunger, thirst and fatigue on the worst terrain and weather conditions, without showing any signs of exhaustion. But when it becomes unbearable, they jump off a cliff and commit suicide. Of course this trait makes them unpredictable. That is why I was told that their owners have to know the limits of their animals and keep an eye on them under extreme conditions.

Turkey’s willingness to spend half a million dollars to procure mules is the best proof that the soldier-mule relationship remains strong in this era of robotics.

By the way, to say "like a mule" about someone in that part of the country may actually be considered praise.