military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) (01/19/89)
> > I've had the dubious pleasure of 'breaking track' (ie taking off a thrown > track, repairing the shoe, 'walking' the track back on). It is no fun! > If all you can do with light anti-tank mines is knock a track off - > if nothing else - you've *really* upset that crew! > > > major > > "Armor, the combat arm of decision" As a former tank commander, I agree -- 'breaking track' is definitely NOT FUN. Whether you throw a track, the 'pins' break in one, or it's just time to remove old to replace with new, it's a real pain -- but somebody has to do it. It's one of the jobs on the 'down side'; on the 'up side', WHY WALK WHEN YOU CAN RIDE? One time, a pin broke on my right track during some unit maneuvers. (actually, the maneuvers were 3-day Operational Readiness Tests) The maneuver ended the next day around noon, when the units in- volved were to meet at a Rally Point (RP) to perform after op checks. During 'after op' checks, one of the checks performed is track tension -- which means placing a small (1" x 1") block of wood above the #2 support roller, running a piece of string from that block to the #3 support roller, & measuring distance from the bottom of the track to the string at the halfway mark between #2 & #3 rollers. Using a tankers bar, my men and I could not lift the track to get the block in place. Our battalion commander ob- served this. (note: as an armor officer, he didn't know a whole lot about his job -- he would read up on a specific FM and go try to find someone who didn't "know what he knew") Upon observing our inability to lift the track enough, his comment was, "Either you men are getting weak, or your track is too tight. No wonder it broke yesterday." I didn't have the heart to tell him that 'after op' checks were performed AFTER washing the vehicle -- there must have been several hundred pounds of mud on the track in addition to the normal weight of it. SHEEEESH!