BG Don Bolduc – Horse Soldier?
There is a controversy that has been brewing in regard to retired Brigadier General Don Bolduc, who is running for Senate in New Hampshire. Apparently, there is a strong suggestion he was a member of the famous “Horse Soldiers” unit that had a book of the same name. Also, this unit and its exploits were depicted in the movie “12 Strong” which came out in 2018.
What is at the center of the controversy is whether this suggestion was intentional or not.
The Washington Post writes:
Campaign for Senate hopeful from N.H. uses photo trickery to hoodwink reporters
The article goes on to claim that two misleading still photos were used in the video to promote this narrative – one depicting the incorrect uniform and the other that cropped out a man wearing modern gear.
Many print and broadcast news outlets picked up on and carried this narrative – all listed at the end of the WP article.
Another video titled “Ready to Ride” talks more about Bolduc’s horse soldiering and can be found here:
So, at the risk of using a metaphor, is this another case of leading a horse to water, looking the other way and not taking responsibility while it drinks?
Category: Afghanistan, Politics
Isn’t it simple and easy to prove whether or not Bolduc was part of that group?
It’s a simple thing to ask any one of them still living whether or not Bolduc was “there”. If the answer is “yes”, fine. If “no”, then he’s got that whole SV sitting in his lap, doesn’t he?
What an idiot!
“He served 10 tours in Afghanistan”…
How long were these “tours”, 30 days?
Probably 3-6 months like most of the SF tours.
rotations were 7 months long except for higher command/staff positions. 7 months in, 7 months out, back in for 7 months. Normally did two rotations in then got a 14 month break from the box. During these 14 months, continued to do theater engagements (JCETs).
Length of deployments based on the ability for a average guy to perform well before burn-out set in. The teams were alone with local villages/local troops with a high ops tempo. After 6 months, the guys were burned-out resulting in increase casualties and long term mental issues. The length of the deployments was designed to reduce the stress of each deployment and knowing the team will be back in 7 months after getting home for another rotation.
I served with Don and he is a straight shooter.
https://www.concordmonitor.com/After-the-violence-on-screen-a-general-tells-his-own-story-14977691
From the link above: “Then, just days after the mission that was depicted on screen Wednesday, Bolduc and his men were sent to Uzbekistan to train, then flew to southern Afghanistan to begin their mission to liberate Kandahar from the Taliban. They began shortly after the Special Forces shown in the movie had finished their drive from the north.”
From donbolduc.com: “He led one of the first groups in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, riding on horseback to take control of the southern Afghan region from the Taliban.”
I was in OSUT at Benning at the time, so who am I to say, but I don’t see fault in the claim. If horseback was the preferred means of transportation, who’s to say (besides those present at the time) that BG Bolduc didn’t take part in a lesser known mission.
I once knew a former 18D who was the PA in our National Guard Infantry Battalion (I was in the medical platoon). He worked at a “Department of Energy” facility somewhere and used to talk about how much he got to shoot at work (which seemed odd for a Physician’s Assistant who worked for DOE). Anyway, in December 2001 I got an e-mail from him with some pictures of him in Afghanistan. It turns out his DOE job was a front for some CIA shop and he had been sent to Afghanistan as part of a CIA operation. Based on that it would seem that the claim by BG Bolduc might be very hard to prove one way or another.
Southern Air Transport, anyone?
I honestly don’t know. i’m reluctant to use his name to avoid any trouble for him. He sent me a picture of him crouching behind an artillery piece clutching an AK and then another of an Afghan who had stepped on a mine and whose foot he had to amputate. That’s all I can remember after all these years.
I was being a little sarcastic, Southern Air was a CIA operation as well…
Their motto, anything, anywhere, anytime…
They had a great little airline that did side jobs for the CIA but actually carried regular freight as well as part of the cover. Their pilots had company ID, the whole works….the CIA is very good at front operations and has been for some time.
I would never expect you tell me your friend’s company name…I apologize if you thought I was seeking such a thing.
Southern Air was my best friend in Somalia. Used to keep me stocked with Coca-Cola. My CSM heard I was friendly with them, whispered “those guys are CIA!” Like it was some kind of secret.
No worries VOv-I never thought any such thing, just wanted to give context to any interested reader.
So are we questioning whether he was one of the first SF troops to enter the country and lead the fight? Or a member of the specific team depicted in the Movie and Book?
From what I can tell, he was a member of the same unit, and eventually was in doing the same stuff. Was he one of the first…probably not. Was he in Mazar-i Sharif when the fighting in the book went down, probably not. Was he doing similar things in another part of Afghanistan, probably!
That kind of warfare went on for several years in AFG. It was still going on when I was there in 2003, but changed by 2008 when I went back. We finally had enough troops on the ground to clear out nests of fighters, but by then the suicide bombers and armor penetrating IED and RPGs were also there. It was a different kind of fight.
I don’t recall this guy being a part of ODA-595.
Splitting hairs. Spent time under his Command to include being one of the Lions of Kandahar. Was he there the whole time during OP Medusa? NO. Was he there to do an on ground assessment and help make a decision to change the plan of the Operation? Yes. Did he do a mounted patrol during OP Medusa? Yes. Did he ever ride a horse in battle? No idea before my time. I think he was the B Team Leader for the A Teams at the time during the initial invasion.
He was a green beanie and rode horses in Afghanistan. I don’t think it was the slightest bit misleading. Ham fisted and over the top? Yes. Clearly playing the current climate that liberals are setting.
IMHO any stink in the media about this is politically motivated and enabled by the propensity of the veteran community to turn on our own.
I’ll agree 100%, very over the top. To the average reader and some military, the way it’s written makes his record seem a little too spectacular to be true. Especially when viewed in the light of some truly bad posers.
I rode a horse while serving in Germany.
It was along side a local farmer pulling a liquid manure tank
out to the fields of our massive antenna farm.
No shit, the antenna farm was in the middle of a cow farm.
I can document I was there and even dig up witnesses but
I would never try to run for office on it as part of my
assigned duties. Well, maybe.
Hope he wins. If only to piss off “helicopter” Shaheen.
Now there’s a combat story for ya right out of Massachusetts.
Actually if you ran for office you should use that experience…
You could honestly claim thanks to that experience you’ll absolutely know a load of shit when you see it and best serve the people of your great state.
Ironically, I later lived on a dairy farm for eight years.
That farmer though used one of the solid manure flinging machines.
His daughter rode a horse but that’s a whole different thread.
So yeah, anybody tells me I don’t know shit I just smile.
Pictures of him and Constance Towers or it never happened! Did the section hand get into a fight with the croaker. Any deserters from the GA 10th? These Horse Soldiers burned down Jackson Station AND blew the River Bridge.
Seems only appropriate that horses are mentioned for his campaign since he was a Mustang. Thank You Sir, for your 36 years of service.
As a quick side note, how many of you out there knew that being the Company Farrier was part of a Supply Daddy’s responsibilities?/s
Did not know that Claw. Is there an NSN for the pin that
goes at each end of the horse shoe pit?
Old truck axles work pretty good.
Nope, not a separate NSN. Officially, the pins only come as a component of 7820-00-234-8461, Game, Horseshoe Pitching. The Horseshoe Pitching Set consists of 4-2 lb. 8 oz Solid Steel Drop Forged Horseshoes Colored (is that Racisssss?) into two pairs and 2 Solid Steel 24″ long regulation stakes.
However, the Torsion Bars (2510-00-703-5899/5900) of an M88 Recovery Vehicle can be substituted for the stakes when needed./smile
I knew you would have an answer before sundown Claw.
Thanks, had not considered there was an actual set.
As a former horse cavalry re-enactor and the father of a professional farrier, I would beg to disagree. It took my son a six month course and quite a few years to become the competent, full-time professional he is today. I also have the shoulder sleeve brassard of an Indian Wars cavalry farrier. It is depicted as a yellow horseshoe with gray toe and heel calks. I can’t speak for the Army after the Indian Wars, but before WWI a horse cavalry unit farrier spent most of his time shoeing horses and as the unit blacksmith. He wasn’t responsible for issuing blankets and gear.
Shoeing a horse requires a great deal of training and experience. The unit farrier may have been under the command of the unit’s supply sgt., but the supply daddy did not have the skills of the company farrier. I might add that the British Army’s Household Cavalry still has full-time farriers; and all they do is shoe horses.
Although experienced cavalrymen were trained to nail on a spare or lost shoe on the march, they did not have the training nor skills to pull worn shoes, trim the hoof, craft a properly fitting shoe, and then nail, clinch and finish it, let alone forge one from bar stock. So, I question that a “Supply Daddy” was the cavalry unit’s farrier. I believe the unit Quartermaster Sgt. did not act as its company farrier.
PS: I just saw your /s, so as Emily Latilla would say “never mind.”
The movie “12 strong” depicted actions that took place in the Mazar-e-Sharif area which is North of the Hindu Kush mountain range and borders with the former Soviet Union.
Kandahar is in Southern Afghanistan bordering Pakistan and several hundred miles from Mazar-e-Sharif. I’m sure there was likely some horse soldiering going on down there but to say he was “part of the same group” is stretching the truth at the very least.
It’s also unnecessary. Bolduc has a record to be proud of, so linking it to a not-very-good movie that few people even remember doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do politically.
OK. Read everything, then read it again.
What is the issue? That he may or may not have been the star of a movie? That his horse rode in from stage left instead of stage right??
These D’s are getting so desperate that they will try anything now. To a point well beyond credulity.
But they can be pretty funny.
So, who is garbage like this supposed to play to?
I don’t know shit about SF, but I would like to say something out of my ass and see if it sticks.
Political hit job by leftist media to reduce the chances of a combat veteran challenger going against a leftist demonrat incumbent. No surprises here…
Ten tours, presumably as an officer, him being a general, and only five Bronze stars? What happened on those other five tours?
(sarcasm)
Kinda shaky using horseshit from hollyshit as a reference.
When I first started my long career back in 1970, the driver was in the Army Horse Cav back in the 1930’s. Used to sing little jingles that were made up from the bugle calls. The only one I remember he sang was the payday bugle call that went like this: Payday payday what are you going to do with a drunken Soldier, payday payday roll him over until he becomes sober. My Uncle Harry was a Brooklyn NY guard horse Soldier that relieved Pershing down Mexico way and on the way to France in WW1, they just missed the Halifax explosion.
I don’t care if he rode a horse or a miniature pony – a very accomplished operator indeed:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_C._Bolduc
The military works in mysterious way.
I still have my drivers license from 1993, for a golf cart (Harley Davidson at that!), for when I was in Luxembourg transporting tools and parts to the forward storage sites.
Had to be licensed for a damn golf cart…
There is a tendency among far too many folks…and that unfortunately includes far too many in our military and some folks here at TAH…to see issues in terms of “either/or” in “black or white” rather than a much more realistic “both/and” in myriad shades of grey.
Using the latter method, as is my usual tendency, Lars opinion be damned, I think it’s quite probable as some others here have said, that Bolduc legitimately served as a horse soldier, just not with the better known “Horse Soldiers.”
FWIW, young Poe, as a member of the 327th Airborne Infantry once utilized members of the Genus Equus in military operations in Turkey, up near the Bulgarian border. I was the command RTO and ass’t commo chief in our infantry company and purchased a couple of donkeys to carry our Prick Tens and spare batteries on a long road march. Those damned donkeys were so damned mulish we’d have been far better off carrying the stuff ourselves, saving ourselves much anger and frustration as well as the four dollar purchase price.
Horses and mules make better pack animals. Donkeys tend to have a mind of their own and are frequently difficult to control. I have been on a couple of horseback pack trips with a friend’s donkey. Although he carried our gear, he was determined sometimes to do things his own way.
Somebody is going to show up here claiming to
have ridden a Water Buffalo in Viet of the Nam.
There will be photos.
Nah, I lost those Water Buffalo pictures that were stored along with the ones from Ti of the Juana. Man, that was a big donkey.
You must have loved watching “Clerks II.” Should we suppose you have no problem with inter-species love?
Seriously, if this is all Queen Jeanne the Spending Machine has left, well, here’s hoping the rest of my fellow Granite State denizens see through this bullshit.