squeaky wheel said:
superfan24 said:
StlouisramsX said:
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.