[AT] OT A squid mechanic was Abrams tanks

[szabelski at wildblue.net]

We, as well as most military vehicle manufacturers, sent a good portion of our mechanics to Iraq. They weren’t aloud to travel with the tanks, and were kept mostly in the rear or a depot. I
They weren’t aloud to carry weapons, but knew that if anything broke out, they would hop into the nearest tank and, if necessary, operate it manually. Even a totally dead tank can still put up a good fight if it has to. All tank crews are taught how to fight manually in case a system, or systems, go down.

About the only time you would have an issue fighting a tank would be at night if the thermal imaging system was out and you couldn’t see your target. In a case like that all you can do is fire at barrel flashes and hope you were shooting at a stationary target and guessed right on the distance, since you wouldn’t be able to accurately lase a target.

One instance like that happened in Iraq when a platoon of tanks was stationed to guard the left flank of an engineering brigade during the night. They heard what turned out to be two Iraqi light armored brigades (tanks, personnel carriers, miscellaneous vehicles) advancing on the engineers. They immediately came on line and engaged the Iraqis, except for one of tanks whose thermal sights would not function. They were ordered to back out, but stayed on the line, firing as best as they could and drawing some enemy fire away from the other three tanks. After several reset attempts their thermal sights finally became operational and they were able to kill one of the last Iraqi tanks in the attacking brigades. Both brigades were totally destroyed.


----- Original Message -----
From: James Peck <jamesgpeck at hotmail.com>
To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sun, 22 Sep 2019 19:00:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [AT] OT A squid mechanic was Abrams tanks

My coworker finished his tank mechanic Army enlistment and headed home to stay with his dad, stepmom, and maybe some siblings. He didn't find a job so this time he joined the Navy. 

During the effort to topple Saddam Hussein, the Army needed more tank mechanics in Iraq. The sailor was hoisted off the heaving deck of a ship at sea by a helicopter winch. He was taken to Iraq and embedded with the Army. He worked on tanks until his enlistment was up.

[cecil Bearden] I remember many years back when they were trying to liberate some hostages ( I think I remember it right ) they lost over 1/2 of the helicopters during the mission to dust in the turbines.  At the time I wondered why it could not be filtered out.  We have a commercial a/c manufacturer, Temtrol,  in Okarche,  a few miles West of here.  They had a contract to supply air conditioners to Iraq, they had to use a hard stainless steel for covers, coils and everything exposed due to being in a constant sandblasting from the wind and sand.

[szabelski at wildblue.net]  The sand in Iraq was a big problem. It’s a very fine dust and gets into everything, clogging filters and causing premature wear.
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