re: Remember When We Were Told Abrams Battle Tanks Would Change The Trajectory Of The War?

I will say, we trained the frick out of our tank crews. As a Tank Commander, I was always running my guys through crew drills. Always.

Even when it was 100 deg at Ft Hood, I'd take my 19 year old loader down to the motor pool with a training sabot round. We'd sit there in the heat for hours while I would show him how to "feed the beast" . Break out a stop watch and get after it. Then I'd train him up on proper air security techniques (that's the leader's 2nd job when not loading big bullets) with his turret mounted M240.

I'd spend hours going over proper stopping techniques when you unmask yourself over a berm, so that you give the gunner the most stable shooting platform possible. I'd go over Sagger drills (avoidance of wire guided missiles) with that fricker until he dreamed about it.

And countless hours in the old UCOFT, now AGTS (Advanced Gunnery Training Simulator) on target acquisition and inducing lead on moving targets, etc.

We trained like our lives depended on it, especially in the 1st Cavalry Division. And when we had to show it on the battlefield, we were prepared.