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Have you ever driven a military tank?

I have been in military tanks but have never driven any.


Chrissy

Too many times to count. But I lived on tanks for 14-1/2 years. They are fun to drive, but so much more fun to shoot.  ;D

https://imgur.com/4K9hNh5

Nope.  My hearing is bad enough after 5 years flying jets.  I'd hate to think what it would have been like if I'd driven tanks.  I suppose doing both would have evened out my hearing loss between high and low frequencies. 

Besides, you can't do a loop in a tank.

Quote from: KathyLauren on March 23, 2025, 02:42:30 PMBesides, you can't do a loop in a tank.

Hold my beer.  ;D

Them tanks have big guns.

Quote from: ChrissyRyan on March 23, 2025, 03:00:08 PMThem tanks have big guns.

The M60A3s we had were 105mm cannons.
The M1 Abrams tank also had 105mm cannons, but the M1A1 and M1A2 were upgraded to 120mm cannons.

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 23, 2025, 03:23:26 PMThe M60A3s we had were 105mm cannons.
The M1 Abrams tank also had 105mm cannons, but the M1A1 and M1A2 were upgraded to 120mm cannons.

Boom!

They are still finding WW I unexploded shells in Belgium.  The local farmers put them in roadside metal containers every so often and ordinance specialists pick them up to safely dispose of them.

I wonder how many live landmines are in the former battle fields.


Chrissy

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 23, 2025, 02:43:35 PMHold my beer.  ;D

Hee-hee!  :D

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 23, 2025, 01:18:07 PMToo many times to count. But I lived on tanks for 14-1/2 years. They are fun to drive, but so much more fun to shoot.  ;D

https://imgur.com/4K9hNh5

...and guess who had to cleanup after Lori's fun  :D  ;D  ::)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54405191707_1d2b10cb83_z.jpg) (https://www.flickr.com/gp/156388176@N05/2M3a605404)Untitled (https://www.flickr.com/gp/156388176@N05/2M3a605404) by Ashley (https://www.flickr.com/photos/156388176@N05/), on Flickr

Onward!

A 💕

Quote from: tgirlamg on March 23, 2025, 06:56:20 PM...and guess who had to cleanup after Lori's fun  :D  ;D  ::)

Thank you for your service, Ashley!

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 23, 2025, 08:36:33 PMThank you for your service, Ashley!

😅👍 💕

I have driven a few military vehicles to include some tanks and other specialized vehicles.

I served in the infantry but I did not get to do any of that until after I was out of the Marine corps and working as a contractor for BAE systems.

And while working for BAE systems I mainly worked on the new amphibious assault vehicle for the Marine corps which I got to really get my hands dirty with that and even got to spend a total of 12 hours driving that thing around in the Pacific Ocean testing it.

Other vehicles that I got to play around with through bae was the Bradley Fighting vehicle, the new amp v which is replacing the Bradley. The Hercules. The cat ammunition hauler and mobile howitzer variations.

And then obviously the old Humvee.

No, but I've driven a Navy Ship (Cruiser).  😃 😊

I very much envy people who have. People like Lori. I only ever was responsible for undersea leviathans but damn, those giant guns look like so much fun! Would have liked to be in one of those behemoths. ;D

Quote from: Annaliese on April 24, 2025, 03:49:23 PMNo, but I've driven a Navy Ship (Cruiser).  😃 😊

Anna, massive Kudos. <3 Navy gal... I love you by default. ;D

Sadly, no. Being an MP, I would've had a lot of explaining to do. I did get to see them doing field trials of the ASV while I was at Hood, before it was adopted.

US Army tank commercial from about 40 years ago:

https://youtu.be/SBnv4-X03RI

Here is a place you can go to drive tanks or actually, armored personnel carriers.

Tank Town USA
https://youtu.be/5j5IdXDfUA8


A more complete list of places to do this is at this link:  https://www.travelawaits.com/2690315/places-where-you-can-drive-a-tank/

I had a bumper sticker on my tank that read:

DRIVE DEFENSIVELY
BUY A TANK!

Thanks for the videos, Chrissy!
Now I need a cold shower.

🤣

I guess one may wear a tank top at these commercial places where you can drive a tank or an armored personnel carrier.

I drove one of these around West Germany.

Quote from: Devlyn on September 13, 2026, 11:23:32 AMI drove one of these around West Germany.

Gotta love the Chappie!

Yeah, we live fired them in Crete. Got to watch a Hawk launch too. And loads of Redeyes and a few Stingers.

Quote from: Devlyn on September 13, 2026, 12:55:25 PMYeah, we live fired them in Crete. Got to watch a Hawk launch too. And loads of Redeyes and a few Stingers.

I always enjoyed the Combined Arms live fire ranges. I have seen Stingers fired, but I think those are the only missiles. Usually, it was artillery fire first, then us in tanks, then Warthogs overhead, followed by infantry moving up.

US Army tank hunters commercial


https://youtu.be/pie9M12BI7E

Another two US Army tank videos!

https://youtu.be/0whZ15TJMn4


https://youtu.be/zPSVcwshqqI

Quote from: ChrissyRyan on September 13, 2026, 06:37:37 PMUS Army tank hunters commercial


https://youtu.be/pie9M12BI7E

My last assignment from 1985-1990 was doing classified testing of new weapons systems.

You see the round structure above the rotors? I was part of the team that tested those before the Army bought them. It is part of the HUD (Heads-Up Display). You see the weapons move as the pilot turns his head. That frees up his hands for flying.

I didn't get to do the flying part. We were the targets.

For training, we wore Russian uniforms and used mock-ups (plywood) to make our tanks look like Soviet tanks. Then we used Soviet tactics against other units, usually tank battalions from Texas. And we would do battles against each other. Of course, we always won because we were on our own turf and knew the land better than any visiting unit.

So when they needed tank targets to "fight" against to test the Apache weapons systems, that was us. It was a lot of fun trying to hide our tanks so we could shoot them before they shot us.

It is a good system, so we passed it with a "Go" status.

OPFOR 🙂

I will share my experience with tanks, other than trying to avoid them in conflict areas.

On the time I was in Libya, during the war, I had a very funny moment because I was 1 day behind the front line while Libya was being "liberated" into their "freedoom" as they called it. (as you know I am a nurse and worked with cicil companies, which sometimes worked in conflict areas).

One of the days my team passed a military tank camp which the rebels had raided. The rebels tried to take some of the tanks for their cause, but they have had no training, so they did a hands on approach.
The tanks were small-medium ones...I do not know the names they have.

You could see some tanks that had bumped into the ones in front. Others that had crashed into other tanks or the buildings surrounding the space where they were parked...you could really see their trial and error and tank driving tests...so, of the 150 tanks that were available I do not know how many they were able to use, but we kept finding tanks by the hills and sides of the road for over 20 km out of the base. You could see them lying around.

We had a laugh imagining what might have happened...looking for the keys (under the seat?, do tanks have start keys at all?) and that button what does it do?...Booom!...Oopsie. And that lever?....Uuuuuu!, cool 😂

That made us have a laugh for part of the trip that day and every time we passed by going back and forth to our base, I would smile of the thought... 😃

For those of you who have enjoyed them, I believe they are fun.

Quote from: Devlyn on September 14, 2026, 05:05:49 AMOPFOR 🙂

That was us. 😁

US Army tank training:  Abrams Tank Commander Training: US Army TCC Live Fire [4K]


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxz65ujEBKo

Nope,

But my unit protected them – from a recruiting poster from the 70's picturing a grizzeled paratrooper in winter:

QuoteDec. 23, 1944 - "Battle of the Bulge" - An entire U.S. armored division was retreating from the Germans in the Ardennes forest when a sergeant in a tank destroyer spotted an American digging a foxhole. The GI, PFC Martin, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, looked up and asked,
"Are you looking for a safe place?"
"Yeah" answered the tanker.
"Well, buddy," he drawled, "just pull your vehicle behind me...

I'm the 82nd Airborne, and this is as far as the bastards are going."
(https://www.susans.org/Users/richard/Desktop/82d_poster_photo.gif)