50th Anniversary Reunion 1st Battalion 70th Armor

 

Fifty years ago Brigade 76, 4th Brigade Mechanized, 4th Infantry Division, flew to West Germany. Four thousand soldiers left Fort Carson, Colorado, to establish an mechanized brigade on the former air base in Wiesbaden, West Germany. Two mechanized infantry battalions (one of the infantry battalions was from Fort Riley, Kansas), an armored battalion, an artillery battalion and a support battalion along with brigade headquarters moved en masse across the ocean. 

I was the commander of tank Bravo 13 in 1st Battalion, 70th Armor, the tank battalion. Within 48 hours of arriving, the brigade headed for the East-West border at Fulda.  Most of us were in Wiesbaden for two to three years training to fight the war that never happened between NATO and the Soviet Union.  

Beginning last Sunday about 20 veterans of 70th Armor returned to Fort Carson for a reunion on the 50th anniversary of our Cold War service.  

Sam Rushing, who took the lead in organizing nearly a dozen 70th Armor reunions between 2009 and this year put together an excellent event. 

We spent Monday on Fort Carson with:

A Fort Carson Museum tour

Hands-on experience in a Stryker (Armored Fight Vehicle) simulator, 

Lunch in a dining facility  

Presentations on the Stryker and weapons by a Stryker battalion.

After the day on Fort Carson we had dinner in The Airplane restaurant.  It is a 1950s vintage KC-97 refueling plane with booth seating replacing the interior of the airplane. The cockpit and the refueling boom area at the rear of the plane are intact.

On Tuesday we took the cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak.

The final event of was the reunion banquet. The speaker was Lt. Col. Jonathan Patten, commander of the Stryker battalion who hosted us on Fort Carson. Four soldiers from his unit were the honor guard for the event and joined us for dinner.  

After the dinner Sam Rushing read a letter from Col. Richard Goldsmith. He commanded 1-70th Armor for two years between 1977 and 1979. 

The next morning we left Colorado Springs on planes and in cars to destinations from Seattle, Washington, to Sturgis, South Dakota, to Kansas, Minnesota, Arkansas Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

My son Nigel and I were delighted with the event as was everyone I spoke to.

Thanks to Sam, Kirk Wood, Bill Betson and the other organizers for a great event.  

"Never Eat With Dirty Hands" Advice I Didn't Follow

 

In the 10th grade at Stoneham High School near Boston our biology teacher, Sonia Jones, told us "Never eat with dirty hands!" She explained all of the germs we were learning about would sicken and kill if we ate with dirty hands.  She was six feet tall and had a regal way of speaking. Her advice was memorable.

That class was in the 1968-69 school year.  Nine years later in the fall of 1977, my tank blew its engine in the early morning in the woods near the east-west border in Germany.  My crew and I got down in a hull full of oil and readied the tank to get a new engine. Then we waited for the M88 tank recovery vehicle to show up with our new 1750 cubic-inch, twin turbo, V12 power plant. 

We also had no food except our emergency rations. We had been in the woods for more than a month and had eaten most of the extra food we brought with us.  

Several hours later the M88 showed up and we got a new engine.  We were covered in grease and oil from the broken V12 diesel engine.  Just before dark, the first sergeant showed up in a Jeep with the last remnants of breakfast in a Mermite can.

He had bacon and eggs and white bread.  We all grabbed bread, scooped eggs and bacon onto one slice bread, made a sandwich with the other slice and started eating.  I looked at the black fingerprints on my white bread slices and thought of our tall, stern biology teacher and how horrified she would be at our sandwiches.   

I kept eating.  

NB: I asked my classmates about the name of the biology teacher. I got five suggestions before Steve Burke identified her as Sonia Jones.  We were sure of the ID because she had a unique way of sneezing: she sneezed ten times ina row with a sound like "wheeeeeeetz!" Thansk Stoneham High SchoolClass of 1971.

 

Two Weeks of Fog Watch: There's No Boredom Like Army Boredom

In the spring of 1977, my tank unit, 1st Battalion, 70th Armor, went to Grafenwohr, West Germany, for annual gunnery training.  

Tens of thousands of tanks fired their guns every year on the huge range at Grafenwohr.  Wehrmacht tank crews trained there during World War II.  NATO crews from many nations trained there during the Cold War. 

The schedule of firing was full from January 2 until the end of the year. Tanks fire cannon and machine guns every day, year round, until German weather throws a wrench in the huge scheduling machine.  

My crew and the rest of Bravo Company had zeroed our guns, fired on a stationary range and were ready for Table VIII--the annual test of individual crews firing at multiple targets while moving down range.  

We rolled to the start area, loaded our ammo and waited.  

And waited.

And waited.

For two weeks we ate breakfast, climbed aboard tank Bravo 1-3 and waited.  Fog shrouded eastern Germany near the Czech border.  We could fire in rain or snow, heat or cold, but not fog. 

So we sat in the tank.  

And sat. 

We joked about being on Fog Watch. 

We could not leave the tank--what if the fog suddenly cleared? We had to be ready. 

The fog did not move.

I am reading a book called The Comfort Crisis which talks about the many virtues of boredom as well as cold, heat, hunger, exhaustion and other stresses in life. Day after day of thick fog gave me boredom at a level I have experienced few other times in life.    

In the 20-man tent where we slept there was a green Bible. I thought it was some kind of Army Bible with its green cover.  

But it was a Living Bible, and on Amazon right now, it is still sold in green. It was not a special Army Bible.  I had never read the Bible cover to cover so I decided to relieve the days of boredom with reading the entire Bible--from Genesis to Revelation. 

It turns out, the Living Bible is a translation by Kenneth Taylor in 1971. It is labeled a "paraphrase" rather than a translation and was supposed to be more readable.  It gets a lot of criticism from people who prefer a more direct translation, but every translation of every book, not just the Bible, is an interpretation. Looking down at a paraphrase by people who can't read the original languages is sadly funny. 

And no one could ever make the insane collection of rules and tent-making instructions in Torah readable in any paraphrase, translation or interpretation. 

I plowed through it day after day. Twelve days and 1,184 pages later there was a new heaven and a new earth at the end of the book, but there was still fog at Grafenwohr. The day after that, the fog finally cleared.  I stopped thinking about scallops as an abomination and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and got ready to fire.  

Boredom, according to Michael Easter, author of The Comfort Crisis is a spark of creativity. Boredom can leave our minds open to creative thinking. Within a year after that boring two weeks, I left the tank company and worked as a writer on the base newspaper.  Maybe boredom can lead to creativity. 

Watching Ukraine Tank Battles in Panama: Maybe the Panama Canal will be the Next Battlefield

 

My AirBnB host in Panama watches a lot of tank battles from the War in Ukraine. We may go live near the Panama Canal soon if Trump carries through on his threats to take back the Panama Canal.

All my life I have watched war movies.  Tactics look awesome on screens big and small.  As a kid, I loved tanks. By age 22, I was a US Army tank commander.  Tactics make great movies, but tactical battlefield videos, tank porn, are not the way to follow a war.  

Wars are won far from the battlefield.  The bigger the war, the more the outcome depends on the decisions, the beliefs, the hatreds, the prejudices of those with power.  

When Hitler declared war on America after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Nazi leader made the biggest mistake of his  horrible career.  Millions of Germans became dead people walking at that moment. They were just waiting for their particular B-17 Flying Fortress to reduce their home to rubble three years later.  

Currently, I am sharing a house in Panama with an enthusiastic follower of the Ukraine War.  My housemate is particularly fond of tank battle videos and was delighted to find I am a former tank commander.  I watched a few, but my interest waned quickly.  

As much as I love seeing Russian formations defeated, I know the war will be won or lost in diplomatic meetings and conferences with NATO nations that support Ukraine.  Sadly, clandestine agreements among the new Axis of  Evil: Russia, Iran, China, Turkey and Jihadi Arab countries with North Korea and Hungary as appendages, will also determine the outcome.

The bravery and sacrifice of the people and Ukraine is not enough by itself to defeat an enemy much greater in population with seemingly endless supplies of weapons.  Ukraine will win or lose based on support from allies--or not.  

The smoking wrecks of several Russian tanks hit by Ukrainian drones and direct fire delights me, but reports of Britain and Germany sending more weapons and support to Ukraine delights me more.  

Tank porn, like the other kind, can be exciting, but leaves the viewer with a limp feeling afterward, and nothing accomplished.  

PanzerMuseum East Gift Shop

The Gift Shop at Panzermuseum East, Slagelse, Denmark, is crowded with uniforms, gas masks, models, spent brass, radio equipment, flags and more.

 

Museums, like their creators, have personalities. Panzermuseum East in Slagelse, Denmark, is neat with immaculately restored guns and vehicles and displays.  And it is very crowded.  Tanks, trucks, guns, armored vehicles, tank engines, radios, field hospitals, field kitchens, missiles, missile launchers, helicopters, a transport plane, and decontamination equipment crowd the buildings and the area around the buildings.  

I wrote about the museum two weeks ago.

The neat, organized, crowded feel of the museum displays carries over into the amazing gift shop near the entrance. In the photo above, are full uniforms, jackets, spent cartridges from every kind of gun: rifles to howitzers.  The snack bar table is atop 55-gallon oil drums.  

Near the entrance, by a window is a display of dozens of scale model tanks and armored vehicles, soldiers and toy helmets.  

There are hundreds of scale models of planes, ships, tanks and trucks from World War II to present day equipment.

Even landing craft....

Along with the models are racks of uniforms.

Spent cartridges up to 105mm cannon ammo. Radios, field mess kits, cases and other gear. 

Gifts and toys.....

Even toy guns!!!!!

Maria, who runs the gift shop, said  they sell nine of these Soviet era replica gas masks each week to kids who want these masks!! 

Hundreds of packs and pouches.....

Lots of belts......

And uniforms.......

A long rack of dress and fatigue uniforms and hats from various armies and eras.

Flags and canteens....

Hats....

Top Gun gear....

Flight suits......

Tank Museum Designed as a Warning: Panzer Museum East, Denmark

Most military museums, particularly tank museums, display the best and most lethal weapons of their country. Part of the intent of these museums is to say,

"Look at the awesome firepower our soldiers had." 

When I visited the Deutsche Panzermuseum, one hundred years of German innovation and technology was clearly on display. The Armored Corps Museum at Latrun, Israel, displays tanks Israel fought with right up to the Merkava (chariot) developed and built in Israel. 

So I was quite surprised when I toured the many exhibits of Panzermuseum East in Denmark. All of the exhibits are of Cold War Soviet weapons and equipment.  The museum was designed and built as a warning to what could have happened to Denmark if the Soviet Union had invaded.  Their official intent: 

At Panzermuseum East we tell the story of the Cold War and our focus since its inception has been to show visitors from around the world what would have been seen on the streets and in the air if the Warsaw Pact, led by Russia, (The Soviet Union), had attacked Denmark during the tense and heated period leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union. We also document what would have happened if nuclear weapons had been used, and the terrible consequences of this, namely that there would have been a total Ragnarok throughout Europe, with millions of dead and destroyed.

The collection is several buildings crowded with Soviet tanks, trucks, missiles, guns, motorcycles, radar stations, ambulances, field kitchens, and other equipment. 

BMP armored personnel carrier 

T-72 M1

T-55 AM2

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the museum has been tagging displayed vehicles, like the BMP and T-72, that are being used by the Russian invaders of Ukraine.

Here is what the head of the museum says about the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

Regarding the horrific and heinous attack on Ukraine. 

Ukraine is being brutally attacked right now, with a lot of material that the Panzer Museum East has on display, which the heroic Ukrainians are also using to defend themselves. Unfortunately, the brutal superpower also has far more modern equipment than the Ukrainians, so it's an unequal battle. That is why it is so important that we all support and help the Ukrainians in their fantastic fight for freedom and democracy. 

On 28 February, Tank Museum East asked the Danish army for a donation of 1,200 boxes of field rations for the brave soldiers of Ukraine. If they are donated, we will immediately drive to one of the major border crossings between Poland and Ukraine and hand them over to all those who enter Ukraine to fight for freedom and democracy and a happy future. Right now, as you read this, what I myself was terribly and cruelly afraid of when I was young is becoming a harsh reality. I myself, together with my wife, visited Chernobyl and experienced Kyiv, and we had only positive experiences and great respect for the people in their struggle to build a healthy democracy and live as free people. 

Out of my pacifist ideology and to point out that war and enmity can and will never lead to anything good for humanity, I have founded my very own private tank museum East. That is why spreading the word about history is so important, even if it seems that at the moment no one cares about the atrocities of the past. Of course I have deep contempt for the cruel and blunt attack on Ukraine.

Best regards 

Owner of the Panzermuseum East 

Allan Pedersen and staff

BMP armored personnel carrier

PRAGA M53/59 "Lizard" with 30mm anti-aircraft guns

Tank transporter flatbed truck with a T-72 tank on the end of its bed.

War and Wooden Shoes

Sabot is one of the names for the wooden shoe that in the Lexicon of War.

One of the reports I heard about the Invasion of Ukraine talked about Russian saboteurs sneaking into the capital Kyiv.

The word saboteur is French using a Dutch word for wooden shoes.  The sabot was a wooden shoe worn by Dutch workers, either the single piece of wood as in the photo above or a wooden sole with various materials forming the upper part of the shoe.  

Sometimes angry workers would throw these wooden shoes into machines and stop work at factories.  One who breaks a machine by throwing a wooden shoe into the mechanism is a saboteur.  

Long before I learned the source of saboteur, I learned about the Sabot armor-piercing cannon shell fired by all tanks in all armies to defeat enemy tanks.  I was at Fort Knox in 1975 and was surprised to learn that the main round we would fire at enemy (Soviet) tanks was not explosive.  The Sabot round travleed a mile-per-second to target and destroyed enemy tanks with impact, not explosion. 

The way sabot came to be used as a name for armor-piercing cannon shells is that the wooden shoes were very easy to slip off. This characteristic led to calling a small armor-piercing round fired a big gun a Sabot round. Since the military always uses a long name reduced to an acronym, the technical description was Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS) round. 

BEFORE: 25mm (1-inch) projectile wrapped in 120mm cylinder

 

AFTER: 120mm cylinder breaks away at the gun muzzle, 25mm projectile flies to target at 1 mile per second.

The simple, deadly design of Sabot rounds fires a 25mm projectile from a 120mm gun.  With the full force of a five-inch cannon pushing a 1-inch projectile, the tungsten carbide round travels more than a mile a second to target.  There is no explosive charge, the impact of a 5,700-foot-per-second round can punch through more than a foot of armor plate and destroy a tank.  

The humble Dutch workers shoe has become a metaphor for very destructive weapons of war.  Language can be so strange. 

Fighting Frigates and Main Battle Tanks Have Some Things in Common

B-13, "Bad Bitch" my tank, 1975-78

The Movie Poster

Royal Navy frigates in the early 1,800s and modern main battle tanks have a few things in common. For instance, if you want to increase morale on a fighting ship do more got to re-practice. Firing cannons and small arms makes the crew happier.  For the past year I have been reading the Master and Commander Series of novels by Patrick O’Brian. I am now reading the 20^th novel in this series which is the last novel by O’Brian himself. There is a short 21^st novel. O’Brian died while writing it in the year 2000. It was finished by a friend of the author.

I watched the movie long before I knew that the novels existed. The movie Master and Commander starring Russell Crowe debuted in 2003. I have watched it several times sense including just last week. Now that I have read nearly all the books the movie is a pretty good summary.

As I read the novels, I thought a lot about life in a tank. Asked with the frigate the crew is very close together. Both of the main battle tank and a frigate are fighting machines designed around getting their cruise to the battle with as much firepower as possible. As with the movie Fury, many crew members of frigates Think of sailing a fighting ship has the best job they ever had.

In sea battles between wooden frigates can last for hours, but they can also be as short sharp and violence as modern tank battles. The battles are often at very close-range including boarding and fighting hand to hand until one ship surrenders.

In the 4000+ pages of the 20 novels the author spends a lot of time describing sailing in excruciating detail. He knows how every sail on the ship is rigged and used to make the ship faster and maneuver it. He also follows the two main characters through their entire professional lives. Capt. Jack Aubrey and Dr. Steven Mathurin are very different man who develop a lifelong friendship that the novels follow. They go through great ups and downs of fortune and love and loss in success and failure.

And as with the sailing novels my best friends of my life I met while serving as a tank commander.

I had no particular interest in sailing before I read the first novel. But after I started reading the story was so good, I read 20 novels inside of a year. I could not recommend more highly. And if novels are not your thing the movie is wonderful.