Fort Hood Sentinel (Fort Hood, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 11, 2016 Page: 6 of 24
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www.FortHoodSentinel.com
NEWS
A6
August 11, 2016
Rounds: M1A2 Abrams still going strong
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An M1A2 Abrams tank crew from Co. B, 3-8 Cav. Regt., 3rd BCT, 1st
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ing iteration during the company’s gunnery. During one gunnery itera-
tion, a company of tanks can expend anywhere from 400-500 120mm
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.<22:
Michael Brazel, a tank commander
assigned to Co. B. “That’s what
we do.”
“I have 11 Soldiers here that
graduated (One Station Unit
Training) three weeks ago, and
they are here firing gunnery,”
Tucker said.
Upon arriving to the unit, those
new troops are assigned to a crew,
and the work of training begins.
“We have to get them up to par
with our
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“At the end of the day, we are
very confident in our ability to
put steel on target,” said Staff Sgt.
■U..T,
standard and get them
working as a crew, not
as one person,” said
Spc. Matthew Jar-
dine, a gunner with
Co. B. “It’s kind
of like trial by fire.
They throw you in
there, and you have
to learn fast. It’s
not all in the book.
You can learn the
basics of how to put
a round in the tube,
but until you actu-
ally do it, you don’t
have it.”
It takes trained,
confident troops to
manage and maneu-
ver more than 65
tons of compos-
ite armor decked
out with an M240
machine gun, a .50
caliber machine gun
and an M256A1
smoothbore gun.
“These vehicles
are amazing,” said
Sgt. 1st Class Jer-
emy Ricketts, first
sergeant of Co. B.
“It just blows your mind when you
get in them and realize what they
can do.”
Moving at a maximum speed of
45 miles per hour, one tank has a
maximum fuel capacity of about
500 gallons. To put that into per-
spective, a standard bathtub holds
about 70 gallons of water, so it
would take about 1,000 bathtubs
full of JP8 to fuel all 14 tanks in
the company.
It takes an hour and half to fuel
the whole company, Smith said.
That full load of ammunition
could consist of any combination
of various types of rounds, rang-
ing from high-explosive anti-tank
rounds to canister rounds, which
each contain more than 1,100 3/8
inch tungsten ball bearings, so it’s
essentially a massive shotgun shell.
With ammo loaded and adrena-
line pumping, the crews wait their
turn to qualify on each of 12
gunnery tables, all testing various
levels of skill and proficiency from
team level all the way up to pla-
toon level engagements.
While scoring 700 is passing
and the maximum score is 1,000,
the teams bring out their competi-
tive natures and attempt to one up
each other.
“There’s a lot of smack talk of
who’s going to get best platoon
and best crew,” Smith said.
“We want to be proficient,” Jar-
dine said. “We want to be good at
our job.”
When all the tank crews have
qualified and all the after-action
reviews have been completed,
the time in the field comes to a
close.
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company of tanks can expend
anywhere from 400-500 120mm
rounds.
“You sharpen your axe here,”
Tucker said. “You don’t have time
to sharpen your axe out there (in
combat).”
The troops practice firing
silhouettes meant to
personnel at ranges
between 200 and
800 meters away
and at tanks and
other vehicles at
3,000 meters and
while moving.
“You gain a
of experience, a
of knowledge,” Sgt.
Gerald Smith, a
gunner and assistant
tank commander
assigned to Co. B,
said. “After all the
training I’ve had, I
can basically run my
tank by myself.”
Proficiency and
readiness require
tough training, and
these Soldiers often
spend weeks in the
austere field envi-
ronment to build
team cohesion and
solidify those criti-
cal skills that will
make all the differ-
ence in a combat
environment.
The tanks are run by four-man
crews, and everyone in the crew
learns everyone else’s job.
“It’s not four people; it’s a crew,”
Smith said. “The crews want to
stay together. It’s a family”
Since the company regularly
receives brand new Soldiers freshly
graduated from One Station Unit
Training, gunnery also serves the
purpose of bringing those young
tankers up to speed.
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Pruden, Todd. Fort Hood Sentinel (Fort Hood, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 31, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 11, 2016, newspaper, August 11, 2016; Fort Hood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1205041/m1/6/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Casey Memorial Library.