More Tanker Hazards......
I had the "joy" of going to Camp Shelby twice: the first to reclass to M1A1s, and the second for my BNCOC. Yuck.

Both times we had to deal with broken tanks.  This one proved memorable as we had to drag it back through the mud.

Right, the tow tank is ground guided to the tow bars. Note that no one is standing between the tanks (safety issue obviously). Instead, a rope is used to hold the tow bar up.
The tow bar is then lowered in place on the tow pintle of the tow tank. Note the exhaust shield in place to keep the 1200 degrees fahrenheit from scorching the headlights and vision blocks of the tank being towed.


Below, and off we go!  Time to take the broken puppy back to the shop.  Boy were we in for a nasty surprise.
When we got back to the maintenance building, we found that the towed tank was coated in nice, sticky, "Missippi" mud!

I was extremely happy that I was not selected to clean this thing up!
And now for a few contributions to Tanker Hazards!
This contribution is one of my favorites and comes courtesy Geoff Waldon. Here's what happened. During Constant Enforcer 79 a column of M-60s was rolling down a highway. This lady in her white VW Sirocco was darting in and out of the column as she passed each tank in turn. Well... she darted a wee bit two close to Geoff's tank (on the photo's right), and before he knew it, his tracks were all over her car!  Amazingly, the driver escaped virtually unscathed.

I first encountered this incident when my photographer friend at 3AD gave me the photos of SSG Kness's tank hitting the barn (page 1 of this section). He couldn't give me a shot of this incident, though I saw one he had.  Anyhow, Geoff saw my website and offered to send me some photos, with this included.  What a treat!
Two photos from my basic training buddy Randy Smith, who was assigned to 1/32 in Friedburg with M-60a2s. Left, crewmen prepare a tank for towing, this time with the tow cables instead of the tow bar. Tow cables were attached in an X pattern to the manufacture lifts on the hull. This was not the best way to tow a tank, but it could be done for short distances.




This photo shows one of the A-Deuces from A Co. 1/32 Armor with a thrown (but not broken!) track. The track is thrown to the inside, and while it would be possible for the crew to "walk" the track back on by slowly moving the tank until the track's center guides realigned with the road wheels, the trees behind the tank may have prevented such a maneuver. If so, they would have to break the track themselves and work to straighten it out and re-connect it once it was realigned. While this may look minor to the uninitiated, this is really a nasty situation!