Tag Archives: armor

Tanks for the Memories

1-148 FA HQ in Pocatello, Idaho, got hit with a wind/snow storm, 14DEC2021, giving a new look to their armor displays.

Wind & snow storm hit Southeastern Idaho on 14DEC2021. Sustained winds hit 42mph, wind gusts hit 68mph, at the Pocatello Airport (which is actually in Power County, not Bannock County). HMMWV at the Idaho National Guard armory in Pocatello (Bannock County), 1-148 Field Artillery, 116th Cavalry Brigade.

It should be noted that many of the militia members of the Army National Guard’s 116th Cavalry Brigade are currently spending the holidays somewhere in the Middle East.

A Paladin self propelled artillery system freezing to death in Pocatello, Idaho.

These M577s are facing West, you can tell by the snow accumulation that the storm blew in from out of the West-South-West.

Cold War era M548 ammo carrier, knows what it’s like to be cold.

See more during warmer temps: 1-148 FIELD ARTILLERY GATE GUARDS

The World War Two era M1 57mm anti-tank gun.

World War Two era M4 Sherman.

Cold War era M109 SP-gun.

Watching over the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck, Bannock County, Idaho.

Cold War era M60A3.

Conducting ‘bounding overwatch’ of the cities of Chubbuck and Pocatello.

U.S. Marines Corps LAV lit-up for the Camp Fuji, Japan, xmas tree lighting ceremony, 12DEC2021. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Katie Gray.

Arriving a little early, Santa rode onto Camp Fuji, Japan, on a Light Armored Vehicle, 12DEC2021. USMC photo by Katie Gray.

M1/M116 Pack Howitzer, 2nd Cavalry Regiment at Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Christian Carrillo.

Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Cory Reese.

2nd Cavalry Regiment decorate dozens of tactical vehicles on Tower Barracks, Grafenwoehr, Germany, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.

M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.

M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.

M3 Scout, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Stryker, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Stryker Snowman, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Stryker Grinch, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Dragoon Ride Holiday Parade at Rose Barracks, Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Gertrud Zach.

Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Specialist Nathaniel Gayle.

Vilseck, Germany, 07DEC2021. USA photo by Markus Rauchenberger.

The M4 Sherman display, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Black Horse), Fort Irwin National Training Center, California, 08DEC2021. U.S. Army photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.

M26 display, 11th ACR (Black Horse), Fort Irwin NTC, California, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.

M48 display, 11th ACR, Fort Irwin NTC, California, 08DEC2021. USA photo by Sergeant Bradley Parrish.

Bradley Fighting Vehicle nicknamed Bob Ross, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment (Quarterhorse), 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Hohenfels, Germany, 05DEC2021. USA photo by Staff Sergeant George B. Davis.

New Hampshire Army National Guard High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during the Queen City’s holiday parade in Manchester, New Hampshire, 04DEC2021. New Hampshire Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Charles Johnston.

Ādaži, Latvia, 30NOV2021. Actually, this 3rd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment (Burt’s Knights), 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division’s M1A2 SEP Abrams isn’t trying to look like an Xmas Tree, but ’tis the season. It’s all part of the war game Winter Shield 2021. USA photo by Corporal Max Elliott.

From xmas 2019, German Tiger Tank holiday lights on Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

USMC photo by Gunnery Sergeant Durie.

21DEC1965, ten Marines spent 36 hours dressing-up this amtrack for xmas.  Many of the people in the Southern part of Việt Nam where Catholics.  The information that came with the photo says that after the parade the LVTP-5 went sailing on the Han River, the crew handing out gifts to children living on sampans.

Vehicle I-D: Type 7-4 invades Evergreen State! Preps for war with China?

For the past 23 years, the imperialist Japanese army (Japan is a Constitutional Monarchy) has been training for war on the U.S. Army’s (USA) Yakima Training Center (YTC), in the state of Washington.  It is officially called Exercise/Operation Rising Thunder.

Yakima Training Center, Washington, 2017. Photo via U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Division.

Japan Ground Self Defense Forces (JGSDF) use many different armored vehicles during the war games, including the Cold War era Type 74.

33rd Infantry Regiment, 10th Division, Type-74 on YTC, September 2015. USA photo by Staff Sergeant Steven Schneider.

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Steven Schneider, September 2015.

Low-Rider tank of the 33rd Infantry Regiment, 10th Division, YTC, August 2015. USA photo by Staff Sergeant Steven Schneider.

The Type 74 has a collapsible suspension.

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Steven Schneider.

16th Regimental Combat Team, JGSDF, at Yakima Training Center during Operation Rising Thunder, September 2013. USA photo by Sergeant Bryan Spradlin.

USA video interview-explainer by Sergeant Bryan Spradlin, which includes Type 74 live fire, September 2013:

Type 74 live fire on YTC, September 2013. USA photo by Sergeant Austan R. Owen.

USA photo by Sergeant Austan R. Owen.

2016: IMPERIALIST SNIPERS INVADE EVERGREEN STATE!

2014: FOR SECOND TIME JAPAN INVADES CALIFORNIA IN TRILATERAL COMMISSION WAR GAME IN PREP FOR WAR WITH CHINA!

U.S., AUSTRALIA & JAPAN INVADE VIETNAM, AGAIN! PREPS FOR WAR WITH CHINA!

Under Barack Obama’s Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Japanese Self Defense Forces ‘rescued’ a school full of children in central Thailand. Neo-imperialist Japan is now requiring that any country that requests Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan, must also allow Japan to bring in military forces!

2012: IDAHO’S MICRON TECHNOLOGY INVADES JAPAN!

Iron Ladies, Tigers and Saving Willie?

Armor Museum Restoration Shop Fort Benning, Georgia.

Video report on World War Two tank restoration ops at Fort Benning, Georgia, with a focus on an M18 Hellcat and a Jagdtiger:

In 2012, the U.S. Air Force moves a Tiger-1 from the United Kingdom to the U.S. Army Armor and Cavalry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia, for repair and full restoration.

According to the USAF, the Tiger-1 was originally on display at the United States Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground, then at a museum in Germany, before being stored at RAF Alconbury, United Kingdom, with two other tanks.

Apparently there was two years of legal wrangling before the approval was given to send the Tiger to Fort Benning, Georgia.

In September 2015, an old LVT-4 Willie was moved from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, to Anniston Army Depot, Alabama, finally landing at Randolph Hall, a Marine training facility located on the Ordnance Campus of Fort Lee, Virginia, in January 2016.

One of the many LVT-4s auctioned-off by the City of Buffalo in New York in 2016.

The purpose is to restore it and to train-up new Marines Corps welders at the same time.  Interestingly the dedicated fans of the armor display at Aberdeen were never warned and thought Willie had been kidnapped: “The question was asked about the location of the LVT that used to sit in front of the old barracks. Through various emails and phone calls, Willie was tracked down and located sitting on a storage lot at Anniston. Through coordination and agreements to provide a better indoor home, it was agreed to move it back with the Marines.”– Chief Warrant Officer-3 Joseph Bering, USMC

The City Of Buffalo obtained several LVT-4s and used them as ice breakers in the local waterways.

Once restored Willie reportedly will end up at the U.S. Army Engineer Museum at Fort Leonard Wood (Lost in the Woods, my old basic and advanced training alma matter), Missouri.

HOW TO WELD YOUR TANK

VEHICLE I-D: ARMOR MUSEUM FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI

RAT ROD 1967 BLH AUSTIN-WESTERN USN SEABEES ROAD GRADER $14,794

NATO Vehicle I-D: Challenger vs Leclerc

NATO’s 2020 anti-Russia training was held in the eastern European country of Latvia (right on Russia’s border).

NATO promo-video, NATO’s Adazi Training Base, Latvia, 23JAN2020:

LECLERC, NATO-France:

French Leclercs invade NATO-Germany, 29MAY2018. U.S. Army photo by Kevin S. Abel.

U.S. Army (USA) video by Kevin S. Abel, May 2018, France ‘invades’ Germany for Strong Europe Tank Challenge:

The Leclerc does not have a bore evacuator (fume extractor) on its NATO compatible 120mm F1 smoothbore main-gun.  It uses interior overpressure, or a compressed air system, for gun-tube fume extraction.

USA photo by Specialist Craig Carter, 05JUN2018.

USA video by Matthias Fruth, Leclercs blasting away during NATO’s Strong Europe Tank Challenge at the 7th U.S. Army Training Command’s Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, June 2018:

Simulated CBRN attack. USA photo by Specialist Craig Carter, 05JUN2018.

Push-me-pull-you action, towing away a ‘broke-dick’ Leclerc. USA photo by Specialist Craig Carter, 05JUN2018.

Leclerc’s butt. USA photo by Lacey Justinger, 04JUN2018.

Leclerc has a single exhaust that looks like a giant water-pipe elbow pointing skyward. The ‘things’ on the back-end of the tank are racks for external fuel drums, à la Soviet style.

CHALLENGER:  No, not my (snow)drifting Challenger!

NATO-United Kingdom:

USA photo by Gertrud Zach, 07JUN2018.

This is the Challenger I’m talking about, the United Kingdom’s Challenger-2.  The Challenger has a ‘coffee-can’ bore evacuator on its non-NATO compatible 120mm L30A1 rifled-bore main-gun.

USA photo by Gertrud Zach, 07JUN2018.

It also has fuel drum racks on its butt.  The exhaust ports are square looking boxes towards the rear on each side of the vehicle.

Pistol shoot. USA photo by Gertrud Zach, 06JUN2018.

Video, shooting a pistol from the turret of a Challenger-2, Strong Europe Tank Challenge,  Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, June 2018:

USA photo by Gertrud Zach, 07JUN2018.

Somebody lit a fire under this Challenger-2’s ass!  I suspect that it is one of the smoke grenades used to simulate a CBRN attack.

USA silent video, by Elliott Banks, of Royal Red Coats uploading their unique three-part-ammo:

USA video of Challenger-2 blasting away (this time Elliott recorded the audio), 06JUN2018:

VEHICLE I-D: MODEL T & WHITE MOTOR WARRIORS

JOIN THE U.S. MILITARY GET A CLASSIC CAR?

 ZOMBIE TANK T-55, THEY’RE EVERYWHERE! (and they keep coming back from the dead)

A flying M48A1? Or, how to paint your 1:1 scale M48A1.

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Anri Baril, 19DEC2019.

In December 2019, a serviced and freshly painted M48 Patton was returned to the U.S. Army Central HQ on Shaw Air Force Base, in South Carolina.

Arrival at the Fort Knox paint shop. USA photo by Bianka Lathan, 13NOV2019.

USA photo by Bianka Lathan, 13NOV2019.

The M48 spent about two months at Fort Knox, Kentucky, getting a make-over at the Logistics Readiness Center.

USA photo by Bianka Lathan, 13NOV2019.

USA photo by Bianka Lathan, 13NOV2019.

From this view of the engine deck you can see it’s a M48A1 Patton.

USA photo by Bianka Lathan, 03DEC2019.

USA photo by Bianka Lathan, 03DEC2019.

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Anri Baril, 26SEP2019.

In September 2019, the faded gate guard was taken away from its post in front of Patton Hall on Shaw Air Force Base.

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Anri Baril, 26SEP2019.

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Anri Baril, 26SEP2019.

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Anri Baril, 26SEP2019.

USA photo by Sergeant Victor Everhart, 13MAR2015.

It’s been guarding Patton Hall since the building’s dedication in 2011.

New clothes for the old tank. USA photo by Staff Sergeant Anri Baril, 16DEC2019.

The Minnesota Military Museum’s M48. Minnesota National Guard photo, 05FEB2013.

M48A2C ‘gate guard’ on display in Republic of Korea (South Korea). USA photo by Private First Class SeoWon Lee, 05MAR2015.

VEHICLE I-D: ZOMBIE TANK T-55, THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!

VEHICLE I-D: GIANT R-C TANKS SEEN TEARING-UP WASHINGTON STATE!

VEHICLE I-D: M4 SHERMAN

VEHICLE I-D: Idaho’s 1-148 FIELD ARTILLERY GATE GUARDS