And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Tanks stuck in mud
Hard to believe, but they did it. The first rule of mudholes is don't go slow - momentum is your friend.
C.W. RULE ONE! for carrying infantry guys on the deck of your tank is DEAD SLOW AT ALL OBSTICALS , lest you throw your troops off and under your tracks. Pissing off 10 trained killers by stupidly killing some of them is not conducive to longevity---Ray
True, but those boys shouldn't have been on the tank while it was going through the mud hole. After all, they ended up having to get off and walk anyway. Kick em off, get through the hole, then load em up again!
Been there. Done that. US army has not allowed infantry on the backs of tanks since we bought the M-1 back in the 70's. The M-60 series had infantry rails on the side and a phone box on the back. The M-1, M1A1, and M1A2 do not.
It is best to avoid mud holes since you can't tell how deep they are and recovery operations can take time. But in training areas, you are forced to stick to the same trails and the 5 tanks in front of you already chewed it up. Most of that mud is caused by poor drainage on the land specifically because of deep tank ruts holding water. Going too fast into a hole is how drivers and gunners loose teeth.
The worst though is the flat welded bottoms on the M-1 can get high center easily and then suction lock on the mud. A real pain to pull out then. So, you learn to not only avoid the mud holes, but also avoid driving in the same ruts as the tanks in front of you.
C.W. RULE ONE! for carrying infantry guys on the deck of your tank is DEAD SLOW AT ALL OBSTICALS , lest you throw your troops off and under your tracks. Pissing off 10 trained killers by stupidly killing some of them is not conducive to longevity---Ray
ReplyDeleteTrue, but those boys shouldn't have been on the tank while it was going through the mud hole. After all, they ended up having to get off and walk anyway. Kick em off, get through the hole, then load em up again!
DeleteBeen there. Done that. US army has not allowed infantry on the backs of tanks since we bought the M-1 back in the 70's. The M-60 series had infantry rails on the side and a phone box on the back. The M-1, M1A1, and M1A2 do not.
ReplyDeleteIt is best to avoid mud holes since you can't tell how deep they are and recovery operations can take time. But in training areas, you are forced to stick to the same trails and the 5 tanks in front of you already chewed it up. Most of that mud is caused by poor drainage on the land specifically because of deep tank ruts holding water. Going too fast into a hole is how drivers and gunners loose teeth.
The worst though is the flat welded bottoms on the M-1 can get high center easily and then suction lock on the mud. A real pain to pull out then. So, you learn to not only avoid the mud holes, but also avoid driving in the same ruts as the tanks in front of you.
It amazes me how many tankers read this, and the depth of experience there is floating around out there.
Delete