"Now where did I put that darn canteen????"
Obviously, this is me in a large green rock
with a 12 cylinder diesel engine. You can have your hot rods, this baby has REAL
power. This was at Fort Hood, Texas a couple of years ago when I was the
Executive Officer of "C" Company, 1st Batallion, 112th Armor, 49th Armored
Division, Texas Army National Guard.
Is there such a thing as a "Mud Submarine???"
One thing about big green rocks, they will sink if you put them somewhere and give them the chance. Did I get this one stuck, or what?
"Luckily I don't have to take all the blame... I had a crew to share with..."
The funny thing about this one was, that I went to help another vehicle get unstuck just a few feet away, and got stuck myself. We had to have MAJOR help to get out of this mudhole.
"Now I know I had that list of tank jokes here somewhere..."
Here we are up on the high hill behind Black Jack Multi-Use Range at Fort Hood. Myself, the Company Commander, and the Company First Sergeant are watching another company from the Battalion go through their paces down below and learning from their mistakes. One thing most people don't know is that tank crews in the reserves have to qualify on the exact same ranges as the active duty troops, and are scored the same way, and must pass at the same levels as active duty troops. The only problem is that we only have 11 weekend drills and 15 Annual Training days in order to train up to that standard, as opposed to the active component having all year.
"I am the 2nd from the right, next to Groucho..."
This is a picture of the Company "C" staff, 1992. The Company Commander, Executive Officer (me), and all three Platoon leaders.
"I hope they remember to come get me for chow...."
That head you see peeking out of the driver's hatch of a M60A3 in Germany in the early 80's is my younger brother, PFC Jerry G. McKinney. He attended the same Armor School I did a few years after I was there. He passed away from lung cancer on December 3, 2000.
"Anyone remember "Little Joe"?
The first detail I performed in the U. S. Military was to have to pull the flash suppressor off the end of the 90 MM gun of a M48A3 similar to this one back in 1975. I was in the Tennessee Army National Guard and had not even graduated from High School yet..... did I ever have something to tell the other guys at school after that weekend....LOL.
"A cold war warrior, and we won, didn't we?"
I spent a lot of weekends for several years riding in, on, or around a tank just like this, the old M60 Slick..... manual coincidence rangefinder, analog ballistic computer... lousy coax machine gun.... and that damn M85 50 cal. When that puppy worked, it was a blast, but most of the time it was the most frustrating thing about the tank, except for the coax of course....LOL.
"Acres and acres of solid steel and diesel fuel!!!"
Now where else can you go and have someone let you sign for a 62 ton vehicle that can crush trees and cars and not even ask you if you know how to drive it? Fort Hood, of course!! Well, we signed out about 60 of them for the battalion and went to war.... My last qualification with the M60A3 (Thermal) was a rank of "Superior" with a loader that I have been working with for three drills, a borrowed driver, and a borrowed loader.... and we had a BLAST!!!!!!!! No pun intended......heheheheh. (That's me in the middle, by the way).
"The last type of tank I served on, the M60A3 Thermal"
As I come up with some more images, from my service, my
father's service, my brother's service, my sister's service, and my son's
service, I will add them and let you see how one family has done, is doing, and
will do it's part to protect the U.S.A.