Just because the hulls are available, doesn't mean that they are "runners". The M24/M47s haven't been operated since the late 1950s/early 1960s. They are slowly being stripped of parts and then sent to the smelters/gunnery ranges.
Outside of the military, there simply are not a lot of operational tanks (mostly in the hands of various reenactors or collectors) these vehicles are demilled, usually with the breechs being removed (or welded in place), the barrels having three holes drilled through (they can and are often plugged but only a fool would try to use the main gun). So you are left with a vehicle that might mount a machine gun or rifle. Still, as long as it runs, it will be a formidable vehicle.
The static display vehicles are normally stripped of anything usable and then demilled. They might be of use as pillboxes...or even as a bluff.
But then there is the flaw of tracked vehicles, they require an enormous logistical chain to keep them operational, POL-wise, the average tank gets really horrible mileage (along the lines of 1-3 gallons per mile), spare parts are also a problem, there is a reenactor in Jackson MS with a M-24, his tank has sit in his garage, lacking fuel pumps for its engine as well as a blown transmission. And as the years go by, parts are getting harder and harder to acquire, which means that you need some superb mechanics and a very well equipped workship to manufacture parts.
In a Twilight world, at least in the US, you are more likely to see bank armored cars, with jury-rigged mounts, or even gun trucks with "sandwich" armor.
__________________
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.
|