Posts
No shit, there I was...
We were finished with gunnery at Graf and were loading the tanks onto the tank transporters.
This is the most nerve wracking thing I've ever done with a tank because you cannot see where you're going.
The nose of the tank is WAY up in the air and all you can see of the ground-guide* is their hands as you creep past the center of gravity and the bow falls back down to normal.
I hear they replaced the trailers we used with better designs that take more weight and have a shallower angle so you can see what the ground-guide is telling you better.
So...
With the nose in the air, hands just barely peeking above the bow, sliding back in the seat... There's a strong temptation to pull oneself up to see better.
The only thing to pull on is the steering bar.
Me? I'd listened to the pre-load brief and adjusted my seat so I didn't slide back and could still see.
But someone from 1st platoon didn't.
They pulled themselves up on the steering bar and managed to gun it AND steer hard to the left! Now there's an M1(IP) on its side next to the tank transporter trailer.
Worse, the impact tore open the front skirt section and the Chobham armor within was exposed for all to see.
I seen't it!
We all got rounded up, once a tarp was put over the exposed, and classified, armor, and got briefed on how we never saw that.
Everyone in the battalion knew 1st platoon had dumped a tank and exposed the armor. So, of course, everyone asked, "what'd you see?"
We were sworn to secrecy and we kept the secret! It did not stop us from making shit up.
Our favorite story was how there was a pink, toothpaste-like material in there and that was the secret. "I saw the pink goo oozing out!"
Or we mentioned that it was just sand in there.
One guy said it was Styrofoam with black flecks.
I sure hope we messed with the Soviet espionage efforts!
* A ground-guide is a person on the ground giving the driver hand signals to maneuver the tank in tight spaces or with precision because the driver cannot see where they are going.
I used to move heavy mining machinery, and we had guides. In situations like that, a basic walkie talkie is super useful. You do need a bit of sense, though. We figured out quick that you have to say "cab right" lest someone overthink and go right.
ReplyDeleteDaosus
RE Chobham composite armor: way cool! Is it available for those of us forced to drive through the kinetically-active parts of town?
ReplyDeleteOnce saw an Army ground guide waving his hands around as a big-ass truck backed up to a big-ass trailer. It were a thing of beauty. Divorce lawyers would be bankrupted if the system were widely known.
Aside: my former landlord's brother was a tank recovery specialist. He briefly parked a trailered tank in our driveway muzzling the road. There were complaints... Ha! Oh, I forgot to mention he rigged some kinda POOF! smoke generator in the barrel.