Transporting Tanks
Photo: Army tank leaving Germany
A little video entertainment for you this morning. Frankly, I prefer to see tanks and heavy vehicles transported by rail instead of on the highways, for many reasons, one of them being the damage/repair end of it.
Army tanks being moved through La Grange, KY. Video is sped up a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSHCNWP9cQc
Tanks on a train moving through New Orleans in 2017. WWIII is right at hand, right? Right??? Priceless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvn4MkPJ8SU
If you have any tank videos, or tank/heavy equipment transport, we appreciate the entertainment and seeing our tax dollars at work.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Army
The vehicles being carried by the train in the second video are not tanks, but are in fact M109A6 Paladin SP guns and M992 FAASV SP ammo carriers. The civvies are always mistaking arty SP guns and infantry APCs/MICVs for tanks…
If it is armored, and moves on tracks, and has a turret, it must be a tank. At least that is my experience with civilian knowledge of AFVs.
Howitzer be their name. Nothing quite like a really large caliber shoot and scoot big gun!…..fapfapfapfapfapfapfap
Didn’t get to play with too many SPs in my day. Mostly tubes. Woulda seen more if I’d been ended up in a gun Battalion v Missiles.
Good to see the King of Battle with a semi feature presentation. Thanks Ex-PH2. It’s obvious who loves us most of all.
those are M109 Paladin howitzers if i am not mistaken…
ok, before anyone slams correct nomenclature is Paladin M109A7 since they are the new BAE upgraded versions
I have no experience with the Paladin. When I was comm chief for Btry B, 1-143d FA, they had just upgraded to the M109A5.
In some cases just being olive drab is sufficient to qualify as a tank.
Not being armored or infantry, I can’t tell the difference without a guidebook.
But ask me about photo equipment. Just ask me. I dare you.
At the conclusion of an operation in the spring of ’67 the 1st ID was convoying through Saigon on the way from Dau Tieng to Di An. Previously we convoyed through Saigon at night, but this time we were coming through during daylight. My friend and I were driving a float M109 SP howitzer, which made things a little more interesting than usual. A tank (M48A3) in a serial ahead of us lost steering and ended up pinning a bus between it and a cement utility pole. The tank crew told the MPs to stop the next M88 (recovery vehicle) that came by. I’m not sure how they described an 88 to the MPs, but they stopped us and asked if we were an 88. Maybe they had seen too many war movies because when I explained we weren’t an 88 they asked was I sure. I told him, yeah, I was sure because the M109 has a 155mm tube and the 88 has a boom for lifting. My friend and I were track mechanics but we weren’t equipped just then to help with the tank and the MPs finally let us go. By then the rest of the convoy was two blocks ahead of us. Catching up was real interesting and a whole ‘nuther story.
M48A3 Tank
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M48_Patton
M88 VTR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M88_Recovery_Vehicle
M109 SP Howitzer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M109_howitzer
“Catching up was real interesting and a whole ‘nuther story.”
Okay, then SPILL!!!
Okay, when the convoy was moving through Saigon we had VN police blocking traffic for us, but when we got stopped it opened a gap that local traffic instantly filled. Saigon traffic was like an ameba and close tolerance driving with an M109 without a ground guide is dicey under the best of conditions. No dismount, so instead of walking ahead I sat behind the muzzle brake and talked Fisher through the tight spots. Still managed to run over a few things. No people, though. We finally got to a point where we had a clear shot at catching up with the convoy but there was a Navy carryall blocking our way. I kept motioning for them to pull over and the guys inside kept laughing and waving. I finally got pissed and got off the howitzer and went over to the passenger’s side of the carry all and stuck my M16 through the open window. I told them to pull the sonofabitch over so we could get by. I hadn’t notice before but the passenger happened to be a Navy Lieutenant (O2). His eyes had gotten real big and he was going yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got back on the howitzer and saw the left lane was clear because the police had allowed cross traffic up ahead. I told Fisher to get in the left lane and haul ass. The policeman directing traffic had his back to us and looked over his shoulder when he heard us coming and did a memorable double take. It wasn’t just us, it was the rest of the convoy coming through on the wrong side of the road. The poor man just about went nuts stopping traffic in all directions and waving us through. The rest of the trip to DI An was kind of boring after that.
Outstanding! I hope you keep track of these events!
I have some old AVID (armored vehicle identification)flash cards floating around at the bottom of a box someplace. 19D’s (cavalry scouts)were required to know all of their nomenclature on sight. To this day, if i seen armored vehicles on the news, movies, TV, ect.. I can usually tell you what it is. It drives my wife nuts, lol.
Nice pic, Ex!
*grin*
Thanks! There’s a bunch of freebie stuff on the web.
And the Blackbirds are Back In Town! Spring IS here!!!
“Tanks! There’s a bunch of freebie stuff on the web.”
Fixed that for you.
Tank you! Tank you very much!
I just might get a “Tank Girl” t-shirt and another one with a black & white bird sitting on the legend “MAGPIE”.
My favorite tank girl:
We had a really bad tornado here in east alabama at least 24 dead 6-8 children. a lot of military and veterans here. I am heading to VFW 5228 Phenix City/Smith Station To Help The needy. We ask for your prays and assistance.
VFW Post 5228 9810 Lee Road 240
Smith Station Alabama 36877 334-297-6493 Wait until 1100 to call everybody. Thank you folks for your honorable service.
When did we start painting every vehicle with the same exact cammo pattern?
It’s in preparation for World War III, Olaf. It’s coming. Batten down your hatches, or something!
“start painting every vehicle with the same exact cammo pattern?”
My bet is those M-1’s passing through La Grange are on their way to Fort Knox coming from the factory in Lima,Ohio and that’s why they have the exact same camo pattern./smile
As far as the Paladins passing through New Orleans, maybe they are high usage/mileage returns from Germany that are going to Red River Army Depot in Texarkana for overhaul.
Just speculation, no concrete basis for facts.
” are on their way to Fort Knox ”
Interesting, I thought all Armor moved to Benning when they ripped out the Armor School, and just when I thought the Army was incapable of realizing they did something stupid in the first place, they go and do this:
https://www.army.mil/article/208936/armor_comes_back_to_knox
The Armor and Cavalry schools moved to Benning, and there they will stay- I don’t s e that changing any time soon. It was Congress, through BRAC, not the Army, that made the decision.
However, there are Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCTs) all over- Hood, Stewart Riley, Carson, etc. the tanks at Knox in the article are National Guard. There are no FORSCOM combat units at knox
That pattern is only user by our ‘allies’ in the Middle East. That and other differences points them out as export models. Not US variants.
I remember mountain biking down a tank trail north of Ft. Bliss, thinking that AC/DC’s bass was really shaking. A muzzle came up beside me and I found myself getting passed by a platoon of Cav (Blood and Steel!) M1s. I arrived at work totally caked white from all the dust kicked up and hacking up white lungers the rest of the day. Good stuff.
I always liked the range at Camp Dona Ana, but I believe after the first trip in Riding an M-109A5, one would be diagnosed with silicosis of the lungs. I can still smell that dust.
Between sucking up dust in El Paso and asbestos from the removal teams in Germany, I am always pleasantly surprised when I take a deep breath.
Back in ‘05 I was at Benning learning how to be sneaky. Being a Light guy from Hawaii I knew not-a-damn thing about armor.
So there I was, on my belly just off a tank trail, working some math, minding my own freaking business:
‘Is that a really rusted chainsaw screaming through the woods?”
“Why is my belly and junk vibrating?”
“Ok, that chainsaw is angry and just turned into a P-51 Mustang with sticking valves and rods”
“That P-51 is being carried by a T-Rex that is shaking the ground like Jurassic Park and he’s dragging 55 gallon drums full of trap rock, doing about 50 mph!!”
“It was a good life…”
“Now I’m this I great, I’ve lost a filling and the ability to think.”
Brads are f**king loud.
I remember Graf, “The Land of Always White ; Mud, Dust, or Snow.”
Next thing you know they’ll be calling M551 Sheridans “Tanks” 🙂
I’m sure the M56 SPAT confused a lot of folks, too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M56_Scorpion
Waits for a Marine to post a picture of an Ontos…
Lemme see, we get six shots then SOMEONE has to go stand on the back and reload.
A couple of tread oriented experiences;
Crossing a creek on Ft Lewis at just the right speed to FREAKING SOAK the TC and Loader with the bow-wave…(I paid hard for that one, but it was worth it)
Hauling some serious ass across Gowan Field and seeing the TC ahead of me rise out of the cupola…and the loader grab his commo cord to keep him from flying out…
At Armor Officer Basic; why oh why is Kentucky build on top of that goddam red clay…
KY lost the coin toss.
More tank pron……
Abrams M1 to the latest Abrams M1A2 SEP V3 just starting to be fielded to the Army.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz1GhSPf9D8
https://www.armyrecognition.com/united_states_army_heavy_armoured_vehicles_tank_uk/m1a2_abrams_sep_v3_main_battle_tank_technical_data_sheet_specifications_pictures_video_11710154.html
The first video looks like the Yakima Firing Range.
Tank porn … can someone say something dirty to me?
They say a picture is worth 10 thousand words, Master Chief. (smile)
Good to see he’s using protection.
Loved watching a tank tear up the pavement during a Memorial Day parade as a kid.
Decades later I got fined for not “planking” my
bulldozer across a public road to work the same jobsite. No damage to the road but laws is laws.
Sometimes I think a little alt-history. I imagine the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir or the Battle of the Bulge had M1A1s been there. Kind of fun when I remember how outgunned the Shermans were against the Tigers and Panzers. But they would have been like shooting through them butter with the Abrams. In fact, with the Abrams, we never would have gotten to the Battle of the Bulge since German armor would have been gone long before then.
shooting through them LIKE butter with the Abrams.
Damn it.
Lexington with M4s, IR lasers, NODs, claymores and A-10s on station.
If you handed an M4 to a Continental Army Soldier he would have thought it was useless- to short to use in a bayonet charge, and too light and flimsy to beat someone to death.
But as soon as you taught him how to use it, I bet that he and his fellow Troops would execute some extremely nasty ambushes on the Redcoats!
Two Minuteman IIs on 8 December 1941.
Make it three, one for Rome, one for Berlin, and one for Tokyo, screw it, make it three Titan II’s, they have REALLY big warheads.
If Custer had a Huey.
If we had A10s, F/A 18 Hornets and Apache Choppers supporting the D-Day Landings…
You Tankers tell me if I’m wrong but watching the video and the maintenance part at the end, makes me think the ass of the M1 is its only vulnerable part.
I was the commo for 2nd Tank Battalion in 2005-2006. Here is some videos I shot during a FEX in Dec 2005. Keep in mind it was shot with my 2005 quality camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KCqkStEXpA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n68mezURp_M
Nice, both of them.
Having suffered a few abrasions, bruises, and cuts, and a lot of frustrations, loading armored vehicles on trains I say screw the roads. Anyway, that’s what rubber track pads are for.
After Vietnam I was assigned to an Armored Cav unit in the Fulda Gap. As an extra duty, I was one of the ‘maneuver damage claims officers’ for the 3rd AD. Being in Germany in 1971 meant field maneuvers and months at Graf and Wildflecken. The armor maneuvered through towns with small roads. There were always damage claims, and we always paid.
Graf and Baumholder for my unit, 2nd Bn/509th Infantry. Each time we went there for about six weeks. We had to load our M113’s, M106’s and other tracked vehicles on rail cars. The wheeled vehicles were convoyed to the training facility. Every aspect was nothing but work, work, and more work, seven days a week, 12 to 16 hours a day. I never had the opportunity to operate any of our tracked vehicles on paved streets, just dirt roads. But I heard stories about all the claims whenever we operated in the vicinity of the land of adjacent farmers.
Germany back then was ‘the field’. If you were a combat arms unit, you were going to spend a lot of time in the mud. Winter/summer.. it didn’t matter.
I wasn’t an armor officer, so I probably looked at claims a bit different. I know that some damage was while ‘wearing’ road wheels, but there were cases of tracked vehicles not only ripping up a sugar beet field, but knocking off the corner of a building.
Mostly Graf & Baumholder here, too. 2/13 inf. Hated loading those rail cars. Just couldn’t seem to get those tiedowns tight. Did get a different perspective on Germany, though, while riding the train. It was the only time I have ever ridden a train with a coal-burning steam locomotive. Tunnels were a bit nasty, though.
At Baumholder I watched an M-60 plow through mud up to its belly. It was really straining and had a little bow wave of mud, and left a smooth, slick trail like a slug. If there was a market for mud, Baumholder could supply the world market by itself.
We spent one training cycle in Wildflecken, which has interesting weather. It was (is?) one of the few places in Germany eligible for overseas (hardship duty?) pay. Stayed in genuine WWII surplus barracks. One squad per room, wooden floors beaten up by decades of boots, hobnail and other. Sweeping just moved the dirt into the cracks. Coal stoves in every room sitting in a sandbox in the middle of the room. Fireguard was taken pretty seriously for a change.
Nice to see real tanks getting some love here for once. Even those Paladin “tanks” are okay. Indirect fire is still fire! I’m not sure about that non-standard paint job on the Abrams. I’ve been a tanker since 1994 and only dealt with sand or NATO three-color. It looks factory-fresh and mighty regular. I’d like to know the story there.
So that first video is of M1A1s in the Iraqi camouflage. Which is also used by a few other ME nations but it is NOT used by us. Also has different bustle racks.
So those are definitely export models which will likely find their way into enemy hands in a few months.