Drivers Test: Tiger Tank

[Anonymous]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY_5c0mBXok[/youtube]

 

[bluecoconuts]

There were a few missions I went on in Iraq that required us tank support, and I rode in the loaders hatch a few times back to base. They let me drive the tank on the FOB a few times to try it out, and I drove on a mission once as well. It was pretty fun, but doing maintainence on Abrams is horrible, those things practically break down just sitting there. It's weird to think about how strong they are, they can take IED's and RPG's no problem, but they break down if you don't replace the oil every few hours.

Incredible machines though, really fast and stop on a dime. There was one mission where a tank got hit by a powerful IED, then took an RPG right next to the drivers hatch, and nobody was hurt at all. Really cool.

Yours truly enjoying his first tank ride. There's a 240 machine gun on the loaders hatch, that I got to shoot when we had a few pop shots taken at us. It was fun, but I wasn't that good with it, I had to walk up to the target to hit it. There was one of the tankers who was like a surgeon with it though, a guy shoot at us with an RPG and ran across a field about 600 yards away and he dropped him with 4 shots. When we went to check the body, he was hit by all 4 shots. Amazing skill, but that's what they train to do.

Some damage after an IED. Those boxes on the side aren't really strong, just plastic really, they use them to store different things.

What a direct hit from an RPG did to the front slope. Basically nothing. I did have a good friend who was killed in the turret when an RPG hit a lucky spot where a weld was, and punched through hit him in the chest. One in a million shot really, it was a shame. Really good guy.

Rolling over an IED, no injuries to the crew, but there were some damages to the track. They were able to get safely back to the FOB to fix everything. The crew worked for about 6 hours repairing it, so not too bad.

 

[-X-]

Wow, BC - really cool! Thanks for sharing that stuff - that's a rare glimpse into what you guys do.

And of course - as always - thank you for your service.

 

[superfan24]

Wow, BC - really cool! Thanks for sharing that stuff - that's a rare glimpse into what you guys do.

And of course - as always - thank you for your service.

+1 on both parts, can't be thanked enough

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, BC - really cool! Thanks for sharing that stuff - that's a rare glimpse into what you guys do.

And of course - as always - thank you for your service.

+1 on both parts, can't be thanked enough

Same here! Change oil after a few hours use? Damn. How hot does it get inside there?

 

[bluecoconuts]

Wow, BC - really cool! Thanks for sharing that stuff - that's a rare glimpse into what you guys do.

And of course - as always - thank you for your service.

+1 on both parts, can't be thanked enough

Same here! Change oil after a few hours use? Damn. How hot does it get inside there?

The tankers would do 12 hour OP's where they would guard a section of the city for 12 hours, obviously. When they came back they would pull out these cans of oil, actually it was jet oil if I recall correctly. They had these little one quart cans, and they'd stab two holes in the top of it with a knife or screw driver, and pour them both in. I guess changing the oil would be a bad choice of words, but they had to replace usually 1-2 quarts every 12 or so hours. Some tanks ran better than others though.

I went on a few missions in the summer, it wasn't fun being stuck inside the turret. Riding out of the hatch wasn't as bad when you had a breeze, but inside wasn't fun. They do have an AC unit inside the tank though that can keep it a little cooler, but it still gets hot. They have to run the engine to use it though, so most of the time they didn't run it, and it would get to be 120+ inside them most times. I know the crew I was with said during July they did an OP and the temperature inside the ready rack (where they keep the ammo) said 140 degrees, and usually the inside of the turret is 10-20 degrees hotter than the ready rack. Needless to say, I wouldn't want to be in there for repeated 12 hour shifts in the middle of summer. It was fun to ride around and play with them for a few missions, but otherwise I was happy to be on foot usually.

I did get to load a tank round (which they laughed at me taking 15 seconds to do so, they could do it in 4-5 seconds on average.. Meaning a round is fired, they can take a new one of the ready rack, put it in the breach, and have it ready to fire another round in 5 seconds. Rounds are about 40+ pounds a piece) and they let me shoot a 120 round at the range in exchange for us letting them shoot the mini gun off our humvee.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, BC - really cool! Thanks for sharing that stuff - that's a rare glimpse into what you guys do.

And of course - as always - thank you for your service.

+1 on both parts, can't be thanked enough

Same here! Change oil after a few hours use? Damn. How hot does it get inside there?

The tankers would do 12 hour OP's where they would guard a section of the city for 12 hours, obviously. When they came back they would pull out these cans of oil, actually it was jet oil if I recall correctly. They had these little one quart cans, and they'd stab two holes in the top of it with a knife or screw driver, and pour them both in. I guess changing the oil would be a bad choice of words, but they had to replace usually 1-2 quarts every 12 or so hours. Some tanks ran better than others though.

I went on a few missions in the summer, it wasn't fun being stuck inside the turret. Riding out of the hatch wasn't as bad when you had a breeze, but inside wasn't fun. They do have an AC unit inside the tank though that can keep it a little cooler, but it still gets hot. They have to run the engine to use it though, so most of the time they didn't run it, and it would get to be 120+ inside them most times. I know the crew I was with said during July they did an OP and the temperature inside the ready rack (where they keep the ammo) said 140 degrees, and usually the inside of the turret is 10-20 degrees hotter than the ready rack. Needless to say, I wouldn't want to be in there for repeated 12 hour shifts in the middle of summer. It was fun to ride around and play with them for a few missions, but otherwise I was happy to be on foot usually.

I did get to load a tank round (which they laughed at me taking 15 seconds to do so, they could do it in 4-5 seconds on average.. Meaning a round is fired, they can take a new one of the ready rack, put it in the breach, and have it ready to fire another round in 5 seconds. Rounds are about 40+ pounds a piece) and they let me shoot a 120 round at the range in exchange for us letting them shoot the mini gun off our humvee.

OK using oil....that's better than changing. I'm sure there's a rhythm to loading those rounds too. Good stuff!

 

[bluecoconuts]

Yeah I think they straight up changed all the fluids every 3 or 4 months, something like that. I remember seeing the mechanics bay by where the tanks were all stationed, every few months the tanks would roll in, they'd take out the entire engine (which is a jet engine) lift it out with another vehicle, and let everything drain out for about an hour, they replace it all. Not 100% sure how often they did it, probably quarterly though.