why so high?

[dlazov]

Oh yeah back in '87 there were height restrictions, I think it was 6'1 I don't ever recall seeing any tall guys in the tanks, other then those giant 6.0 and 6.1 dudes.

 

[Proff3RTR]

Oh yeah back in '87 there were height restrictions, I think it was 6'1 I don't ever recall seeing any tall guys in the tanks, other then those giant 6.0 and 6.1 dudes.

I joined in 88, I am 5'10 and was fine, clearly Brit Tanks have a bit more room in them than some I can mention.

 

[Hovned31]

A family friend who served as an armored infantryman and was wounded in WW II told me a few things about the war (he rarely talks about it). He is a short guy and we were talking about how he wanted to be a police officer after he left the Army but he couldn't get hired because he was too short so he worked for the post office for 33 years. I asked him if he was a tanker and he said no, but he rode on plenty of tanks in the war. He said he would never get inside anything that had a closed top (too hard to get out of), he preferred riding in halftracks over riding on tanks but (and he was very serious when he told me this), he said when they start shooting at you "you get the hell off of whatever you are riding and you get down on the ground".

He is still alive (in a nursing home with a failing body but his mind is still sharp). A couple other bits of life advice he shared with me are: That he never expected to live so long and that he has been retired longer than he worked so he figures he's won in the game of life. The other thing he told me regarding work was that his biggest regret was staying with the post office for 33 years and not retiring when he had 30 years of service. He said he regrets not having those 3 extra years of retirement and advised me to retire as soon as I can. I plan on taking his advice and walking out the door the day after I become eligible (6 years 10 months to go).

 

[Yuri0352]

A family friend who served as an armored infantryman and was wounded in WW II told me a few things about the war (he rarely talks about it). He is a short guy and we were talking about how he wanted to be a police officer after he left the Army but he couldn't get hired because he was too short so he worked for the post office for 33 years. I asked him if he was a tanker and he said no, but he rode on plenty of tanks in the war. He said he would never get inside anything that had a closed top (too hard to get out of), he preferred riding in halftracks over riding on tanks but (and he was very serious when he told me this), he said when they start shooting at you "you get the hell off of whatever you are riding and you get down on the ground".

He is still alive (in a nursing home with a failing body but his mind is still sharp). A couple other bits of life advice he shared with me are: That he never expected to live so long and that he has been retired longer than he worked so he figures he's won in the game of life. The other thing he told me regarding work was that his biggest regret was staying with the post office for 33 years and not retiring when he had 30 years of service. He said he regrets not having those 3 extra years of retirement and advised me to retire as soon as I can. I plan on taking his advice and walking out the door the day after I become eligible (6 years 10 months to go).

Sage advice.
I couldn't agree more on all points!

 

[Proff3RTR]

A family friend who served as an armored infantryman and was wounded in WW II told me a few things about the war (he rarely talks about it). He is a short guy and we were talking about how he wanted to be a police officer after he left the Army but he couldn't get hired because he was too short so he worked for the post office for 33 years. I asked him if he was a tanker and he said no, but he rode on plenty of tanks in the war. He said he would never get inside anything that had a closed top (too hard to get out of), he preferred riding in halftracks over riding on tanks but (and he was very serious when he told me this), he said when they start shooting at you "you get the hell off of whatever you are riding and you get down on the ground".

He is still alive (in a nursing home with a failing body but his mind is still sharp). A couple other bits of life advice he shared with me are: That he never expected to live so long and that he has been retired longer than he worked so he figures he's won in the game of life. The other thing he told me regarding work was that his biggest regret was staying with the post office for 33 years and not retiring when he had 30 years of service. He said he regrets not having those 3 extra years of retirement and advised me to retire as soon as I can. I plan on taking his advice and walking out the door the day after I become eligible (6 years 10 months to go).

I like the man already.

 

[Ray Woloszyn]

Ditto on bailing out but also in reference to retiring (almost four years now) as soon as I could from the corporate world.

 

[Hovned31]

A family friend who served as an armored infantryman and was wounded in WW II told me a few things about the war (he rarely talks about it). He is a short guy and we were talking about how he wanted to be a police officer after he left the Army but he couldn't get hired because he was too short so he worked for the post office for 33 years. I asked him if he was a tanker and he said no, but he rode on plenty of tanks in the war. He said he would never get inside anything that had a closed top (too hard to get out of), he preferred riding in halftracks over riding on tanks but (and he was very serious when he told me this), he said when they start shooting at you "you get the hell off of whatever you are riding and you get down on the ground".

He is still alive (in a nursing home with a failing body but his mind is still sharp). A couple other bits of life advice he shared with me are: That he never expected to live so long and that he has been retired longer than he worked so he figures he's won in the game of life. The other thing he told me regarding work was that his biggest regret was staying with the post office for 33 years and not retiring when he had 30 years of service. He said he regrets not having those 3 extra years of retirement and advised me to retire as soon as I can. I plan on taking his advice and walking out the door the day after I become eligible (6 years 10 months to go).

An update on my friend: William Turney passed away last week. He was the last WWII veteran that I knew and they said he was one of the last in his locality. He was a good friend and he will be missed.

William C Turney

[May 9th, 1926 to April 4th, 2019] - William Charles Turney, 92, of Port Huron, died Thursday, April 4, 2019. He was born May 9, 1926 in Flint to the late William and Ellen Turney. He married Barbara O’Rourke on September 16, 1950 in Port Huron. Mr. Turney was a decorated WWII Army...

pollockrandall.com

 

[BigAl737]

An update on my friend: William Turney passed away last week. He was the last WWII veteran that I knew and they said he was one of the last in his locality. He was a good friend and he will be missed.

William C Turney

[May 9th, 1926 to April 4th, 2019] - William Charles Turney, 92, of Port Huron, died Thursday, April 4, 2019. He was born May 9, 1926 in Flint to the late William and Ellen Turney. He married Barbara O’Rourke on September 16, 1950 in Port Huron. Mr. Turney was a decorated WWII Army...

pollockrandall.com

William gave some good advice about retirement. Thanks for sharing his story. May he rest in peace. o7

 

[Paul S NJ]

While it's fun to cut down that bailing out panther crew who's been knocking out your Shermans, the whole crew survival mechanism really shouldn't be in ASL. Tank crews grabbing PF, making DC runs, manning heavy mortars/machine guns posts, or making last turn VC dashes are just silly. With the exception of perhaps some heavy weapon halftracks/carriers, vehicle crews shouldn't even be in the game. BTW I don't buy the 'Japanese exception' either. Too late now though.

 

[Robin Reeve]

The SK don't include CS.
Their streamlining things can be seen here as a progress.

 

[Justiciar]

While it's fun to cut down that bailing out panther crew who's been knocking out your Shermans, the whole crew survival mechanism really shouldn't be in ASL. Tank crews grabbing PF, making DC runs, manning heavy mortars/machine guns posts, or making last turn VC dashes are just silly. With the exception of perhaps some heavy weapon halftracks/carriers, vehicle crews shouldn't even be in the game. BTW I don't buy the 'Japanese exception' either. Too late now though.

Agree. But you should make the CS DR when applicable for the then "concept" of the crew escaped (or not) and have CVP credited accordingly.

 

[jrv]

All surviving vehicle crews should be 8-3-8s with a DC and a flamethrower. Anyone who got into one of those things in the first place has to be dangerous. Design for effect.

JR

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Anyone who got into one of those things in the first place has to be dangerous.

They were drafted.

 

[Nineteen Kilo]

The scariest part (even in training) as a driver is trusting the gunner to NOT traverse the turret, when exiting. However, death is a great motivatior...

Don I had an absolute phobia about getting into the driver's compartment. I was sure the turret would traverse and I'd get cut in half. This was the routine that repeated itself more than once.
Me: I'm going into driver's compartment, is the turret traverse lock in position?
Others: Yes.
Me: Is the circuit breaker tripped?
Others: Yes.
Me. Ok I'm going in, nobody touch anything!

BTW I'm 6' 3" and fit comfortably in the driver's seat.

 

[Justiciar]

But wasn't the getting out in an emergency worse? I have a buddy who was USMC M60Ax (in 1991)...the turret had to slewed off "centerline" otherwise you could not open the hatch....so in a bail out if the gunner did not slew the turret the driver had to go the long way around... But maybe in M1A1's it is different or some auto thing?

 

[dlazov]

On the M1A1's you can open the driver's hatch in any turret position, however getting out in any position is tricky unless the main gun was over a specific spot and max elevated or if the turret was turned to one side or the other. Back then I was 21-24 and (am still) 5'11 and weighed 175, but in emergency conditions (i.e. the tank was hit, on fire or worse) death is a great motivator to get out if possible.

In peace time I never worried about the turret being locked and I don't believe the M1's had any 'circut' breaker thing. But in general you trusted your crew you were assigned to, you trained, fought and died in them things so you tend to build up a lot of trust with one another. A more scary scenario is if your a newbie/replacement and you don't know the dudes.

 

[djohannsen]

Yes, the early and mid production 75mm Shermans had only the commander's hatch.

Though Paul knows this, I'll mention that the early hulls (57 degree hulls) had much smaller driver and asst driver hatches than those on the later (47 degree) hulls (aka, "large hatch" versions).

 

[Nineteen Kilo]

On the M1A1's you can open the driver's hatch in any turret position, however getting out in any position is tricky unless the main gun was over a specific spot and max elevated or if the turret was turned to one side or the other. Back then I was 21-24 and (am still) 5'11 and weighed 175, but in emergency conditions (i.e. the tank was hit, on fire or worse) death is a great motivator to get out if possible.

In peace time I never worried about the turret being locked and I don't believe the M1's had any 'circut' breaker thing. But in general you trusted your crew you were assigned to, you trained, fought and died in them things so you tend to build up a lot of trust with one another. A more scary scenario is if your a newbie/replacement and you don't know the dudes.

They did, just like you could trip the circuit to the ammo bin door to keep it open all the time, you could take the power away from the turret such that it had to be manually cranked by the gunner. Anyway that's the way my 30 year old memory of it is.

As for the driver's hatch, I remember it the same as you. You could get out with the turret in any of the 360 degrees, but if the gun was depressed directly over the driver's hatch it was too tight a squeeze. (Or maybe it could be done with difficulty and a lot of yoga moves, again it's been 30 years.)

 

[Kevin Kenneally]

The scariest part (even in training) as a driver is trusting the gunner to NOT traverse the turret, when exiting. However, death is a great motivatior...

I heard of a Plt Ldr in 1st Tank at Camp Casey Korea practicing crew evacuation drills at Rodriguez Range in the spring of 1994. His driver was crawling out of the Driver Station when the Plt Ldr traversed the turret over the right side of the vehicle, tearing the driver in half.

The Plt Ldr was removed and sent back to the US. Promoted to CPT in 1995 and took over a Tank Company later that year.

I found this out, due to a new arrival from Korea that was in the same Company has this PL.

The driver was a Katusa and the family was given $1million US as compensation.

 

[dlazov]

I heard of a Plt Ldr in 1st Tank at Camp Casey Korea practicing crew evacuation drills at Rodriguez Range in the spring of 1994. His driver was crawling out of the Driver Station when the Plt Ldr traversed the turret over the right side of the vehicle, tearing the driver in half.

The Plt Ldr was removed and sent back to the US. Promoted to CPT in 1995 and took over a Tank Company later that year.

I found this out, due to a new arrival from Korea that was in the same Company has this PL.

The driver was a Katusa and the family was given $1million US as compensation.

Yikers!