[mechanickeith]

I was coming back to post one evening after spending the entire day at the Munson test track with a M-1. It was night time, I had it in battle over ride, was well over the 50 mph governed speed on a 2 lane Maryland back road. A Md trooper passed me with lights flashing. Pulled in front of me & jammed on the brakes. All I could do not to run him over! Had the JP come on post, I plead not guilty. Got it tossed out. Used the excuse that I was driving a tank that weighed over 63 tons!! Couldnt be going that fast!!!

[The Boss]

Very cool photos Joe and Thank-You for your service.

MA native myself - from Palmer, been up there a lot lately too. Let me know when you get back in town - I'd be honored to buy you a beer.

[Stu Norman]

Thank you for your service Joe.

I just returned from Afghanistan last week. I spent 2 years over there as a civilian contractor, at FOB Fenty (near Jalalabad) and Camp Eggers in Kabul.

My only advice is PLEASE stay out of up armored HUMMWVs if you are off base. They are death traps when you hit an IED. Stick with the MRAP series of trucks, or one unit in the Kandahar region ditched the trucks and travels on foot. (Sounds backwards, but it works, no IED casulties).

[Kitch428m21]

Hoo RA! Awesome pics. I'd like to also spread the wealth of "thanks" for sharing and serving, sir.

[dreamingmuscle]

Originally Posted by masshole

You'll notice Army soldiers strewn about in these photos. USMC trains our tank officers at Ft Knox at the Army armor school since we are so few and the Marine Corps doesn't get nearly the funding the Army gets.

Ahh Fort Knox. Range 5 north I believe is where you are sitting. I spent a lot of time chasing butter ball luey's out there in a 1/4 ton jeep.

Some of the most fun I had in the Army was throwing Artillery simulators and CS grenades at tanks full of young Lieutenants going through the same training your going through. Big fun for a Private First class.

It also looks like the same M1 tanks I was chasing 1984. All FUBARed

[masshole]

Originally Posted by dreamingmuscle

Ahh Fort Knox. Range 5 north I believe is where you are sitting. I spent a lot of time chasing butter ball luey's out there in a 1/4 ton jeep.

Some of the most fun I had in the Army was throwing Artillery simulators and CS grenades at tanks full of young Lieutenants going through the same training your going through. Big fun for a Private First class.

It also looks like the same M1 tanks I was chasing 1984. All FUBARed

Most of the pictures are near Checkpoint 37, the big K-Span (sp?).

Yea, sometimes we went force on force, meaning Lts vs Lts, but a lot of the training involved the elusive OpFor (Opposing Force) who seemed to be invincible and have an uncanny knack for knowing exactly which way we were coming.

And yea, those tanks were haggard as hell, but they got the job done.

[Coach]

masshole,

Thanks for stirring up some old memories. I went into the service in '73 as a 63F, recovery specialist. Trained in Aberdeen Proving Grounds on pretty much everything the Army had with wheels or tracks.

Spent the 1st part of my service in the 3/64th tank battalion in Germany driving an M88 Tank Retriever. Have some old school pics from that period that you might get a kick out of!

Best regards, and Thanks for the Service,
Harry

[02Hawk]

I spent my time training and then teaching gunnery in the Canadian Armour Corps.... in Lav's (SALH ). The heavies, Lord Strats have Leopard II's (both of which are deployed in Afghanistan) ....We have lost many troopees in the LAV's mostly to the GIB's by IED;s but have had no losses with the Leopards...Also was rated as a Commander......looking at your pics , you can see the differences from my day.....we all have scars on our foreheads from the sights wacking us in the head and with the optics and automated loading and firing systems, you are saved from that.....I remember sitting under the Warrant calling the range and loading and his .30 cal dropping hot brass into the neck of my coveralls .....you learned gun tape your collar real fast

[masshole]

Hawk, Do you guys run LAV-25s? I thought Canada had a similar vehicle called something else. In regards to getting dinged in the forehead, I keep my brow pad for my Gunner's Primary Sight Extension far enough back that when my driver runs us into ditches I don't get creamed. However, my .50 cal sight has the potential to cut me good, but I'm usually only looking through that when not moving.
I envy Canada's tankers in Afghanistan. Their presence and success in Afghanistan proves the usefulness of armor in that area, but US commanders will have none of it, for some reason.

[02Hawk]

Hi Joe.
I would sell a kid to get to mount up in that bad boy in the photo. The Canadian Lav (Lav III designated Kodiak) is a Variant of your Stryker....I never got to play with a Kodiak, they entered service in 99 ...and replaced the M113 which is what I played with back in the day. I also qualified in the earlier Lav's designated, Bison ( Troop carrier ) and Grizzly (Troop carrier with turret and 25mm chain or 76mm cannon)

The new Lav's have a 25mm chain gun (M242 Bushmaster) and a 7.62 machine gun. There is another mount on the roof for a 7.62 (C6) or a 5.56. They have multiple mission capability. We have deployed recce, engineer, signals and command units to the theater.
The reason we have the Leopards there,was back in 05/06 the CO was an armor officer and he told HQ that he gets tanks or the casualties were going to go way up.