While teaching young Second Lieutenants the fine art of driving a tank.....
A officer finished the basic driving course at high speed, smoothly dipping and rolling over the obstacles and pulling to a halt that left dust bellowing over the next drivers. As the officer dismounted his M-60A1...there was a loud POP, followed rapidly by several more and the tank first listed to one side and then adapted a nose up angle.
To the delight of the watching crowd, eight of the torsion bars on the rear of the tank chose that moment to break.
Why the delight you ask, Armor Officer's Basic had one firm rule, if you break it, you fix it. And there is nothing like raising a supension arm, sledging out the broken pieces of torsion bar and then sledging in the replacement bar....and getting to watch a Second Lieutenant doing it!
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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