Friday, June 06, 2003

IF YOU'VE EVER WONDERED what life is like from inside an M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, check this out.
Life as a tanker is anything but easy, but soldiers who sign up for the gig wouldn’t have it any other way, some said.

It’s especially hard on the knees — three of four tank commanders of Platoon Blue Falcon have had knee surgery (the fourth being a mere 23 years old).

“Give me time,” Wilhite joked, who has not put his knees under the knife.

“You gotta be hungry for what you do,” Allsup said. “And we’re hungry.”

Riding, especially shotgun in the turret, beats being infantry, they joked.

“We don’t like to walk,” Wilhite, who hails from Milwaukee, said with a chuckle.

It’s hard on the mind, especially for the gunner who sits for hours in tank temperatures that often peak above 120 degrees, said Sgt. Lindell Montgomery, the gunner in Wilhite’s tank.

“Aw, shucks, you get used to it,” Montgomery said of the sweltering, cramped gun pit.

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