FORT STEWART, Ga. – I’m standing inside a heavily armored beast that stampedes through the land on its mechanized tracks. The tank commander sits to my right and directly in front of him is the tank gunner. The gunner hunches over with her eyes piercing the reticles of her sights, ready to fire the tanks guns at a moment's notice.
The crew waits for instructions from the tank commander, which we can only hear through the radios attached to our helmets.
Suddenly, he shouts and signals to load the main gun. My heart begins to race and I rush to load a round. I open the ammunition bay and with all my strength I sling a round into the breach and then brace myself for the gun to fire. The sound of clashing metal fills the tank, like a goliath striking a hammer on an anvil, and afterwards, there’s a slight taste of gunpowder in the air.
Most U.S. Army tank crew members would agree that the best part about their job is being inside a tank when the main gun is fired. After spending two weeks in the field embedded with the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, I can wholeheartedly agree.
My job as a public affairs specialist doesn’t usually have me inside a tank. My responsibility is to tell the Army’s story and to capture the story of the Soldiers in the field. In turn, my assignment this time had me embedded with a tank crew who trained to complete their tank gunnery.
A tank gunnery is a fundamental test where tank crew members verify the lethality of their crew. They demonstrate that they have the required knowledge to navigate and operate a tank in conjunction with the rest of their crew. It is set up in different phases and the last phase is known as Table VI.
“It’s kind of like our culminating event as a tanker. It’s like being able to qualify on the Abrams, it brings everyone together,” said Sgt. Mason, Doege, a tank gunner with 1st Bn., 64th AR.
For Soldiers to successfully qualify on Table VI, they must demonstrate their lethality as a crew by destroying simulated targets on the range with both speed and accuracy. My test, on the other hand, was to document everything and to be a valuable asset to the tank crews.
It was difficult at times to perform two jobs at the same time but in the end I’m glad I had the opportunity to do so. I learned skills which shaped me into a better Soldier and I experienced a unique camaraderie that can only be built from being a part of a tank crew.
Now that the gunnery is over, Soldiers with the 1st Bn., 64th AR, prepare for their next training, a platoon situational training exercise. Tankers train year round which ensures they are prepared to deploy anywhere in the world if needed.
I now know first hand about the challenges tankers must overcome but I also know that for them, it’s all worth it in the end.
“I saw that tanking was for me and was also really good. I just continued to strive and the more I do it, the more I love it,” said Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Roper, a tank commander with 1st Bn., 64th AR.
In the end, my brief time with a tank crew taught me valuable skills which I could’ve never learned without experiencing first hand the challenges tankers must overcome to prove themselves in the world’s greatest armed force.
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