Steel Horses- Learning to Ride the Abrams Tank

Here I am, another Saturday night spent crazy partying with all the other 20 somethings in the city of Columbus, GA. Oh wait. That’s not quite it… Let me rephrase. Here I am, another Saturday night spent packing and getting to bed as early as possible, not quite looking forward to the 0300 wake up for another long Sunday. Oh well, such is life? At least we’ll be doing something that can only be described as truly awesome: Abrams tank live fire. I’ll let you know how it goes afterward, but I can assure you it’ll be pretty darn cool.

As for this past week, we’ve been learning everything there is to know about tanks. We started with the driver’s position, learned the loader’s trade and spent the most time on the two most technical jobs, gunner and tank commander (TC). In the new M1A2 SEP (the Abrams version currently being operated by our Regular Army units) there are all sorts of computers, buttons, knobs, switches, touch screens, and sights that need to be identified and learned. In order to do this, we spent countless hours in and around the Abrams at the motor pool fiddling with the instruments and putting the tanks through their paces in order to prep them to fire. We were tested on loading the 50-70 lb. ammunition into the breech (in less than 7 seconds, no less) and various emergency procedures such as what to do in case of fire (slightly more complicated than simply running away screaming, tempting though that may be). Perhaps the easiest drill we had to learn was the rollover drill, which involved trying to turn the main gun to act as a tripod and, failing that, simply waiting upside down until someone comes and pries you out. Not a whole lot of fun, I imagine, but easy to remember.

Beyond the practical drills we spent another 20 or so hours in the AGTS (Advanced Gunnery Training System) or, the ultimate computer game. You and your partner (a fellow LT) spend hours in a very detailed M1A2 simulator running engagement after engagement. As both a gunner and TC, you fire multiple engagements in all sorts of scenarios dealing with all sorts of malfunctions, enemies, and munitions. By the last few iterations, the computer generated enemy was almost certainly wishing they’d stayed home. LT Matt Condon (my partner) and I were a lethal team, blasting troops, Soviet personnel carriers, Soviet tanks, and Soviet helicopters out of the sky with frightening regularity (thank goodness for the Cold War- nothing like a standardized enemy). But the Red e-Horde kept coming, thankfully in manageable twos and threes, and we scored an endless series of electronic victories for democracy. The final engagement was against an onrushing group of T-72 tanks, no doubt infuriated by the predictable, yet senseless demise of their digital comrades. Unfortunately, after this engagement both Matt and I realized we have a long way to go to be anywhere near as good as our instructors…

During all of this excitement and excellent training, there was an incident that surprised me to no end, but that very short story will wait until my triumphant (hopefully…) return from gunnery. Goodnight, and have a good weekend! Go Jags…