re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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The most common term uttered by tank mechanics:

“That’s crew level maintenance” 

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Absolutely truth. Like I said, the only thing they do is drive the M88 with the sling on the boom. The crew even hooks the 3 pt. sling to the pack after the crew disconnects the final drives and all harnesses. Find that in a -10 TM. Good luck.

The turret mechanics especially did nothing. You have an issue with your Thermal Imaging System? "That's 3rd shop." Everything's either crew level or 3rd shop to them.

Likely hiding that his real name is Wile E Coyote of Roadrunner fame and used to ordering Acme products

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Having them in a motor pool then shooting a gunnery is not the hard part. It's the daily grind of combat operations that makes it a pain. In combat environments, most of your crew maintenance is done when you're supposed to be "sleeping". Often that means no rest for days and the maintenance then becomes dangerous and sloppy. Unlike most vehicles, mechanics don't do anything except drive the M88 Hercules to lift the power pack out.

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I asked this question a few days ago and you did not answer. WTF do you think the Ukrainians have been doing to keep their 50 year old tanks running for almost a year of combat?

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That being said, the Ukrainians can operate them, no doubt. However, keeping them combat effective is a hard task for anyone even if they've been on them for years.

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Do you think it is easy to keep a 50 year old T64 or 40 year old T72 running? The Ukrainian tankers that will be transitioning over to NATO MBTs have more hours in combat that you and Darth combined. Most of them will be coming from the T80 which also has a gas turbine engine. The tankers that operate the T80s are professional soldiers who were in the army before the invasion and the call up of reserves. Ukraine also requires the driver of the T80s to be a certified mechanic who has graduated from university with a degree in engine mechanics and focused on gas turbine engines specifically. It will take some getting used to but they will adjust to them just fine and they will adapt to them much faster than you expect. The tankers of the Ukrainian are not the tankers of the Iraqi army that you faced 32 years ago.

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I hope you seriously don't think this is what would happen if we didn't help Ukraine if so you need help.

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If the USA and NATO had not helped Ukraine they would not have been able to fight Russia for more than a month. Putin has been telling anyone that will listen that he thinks that the fall of the USSR was one of the biggest tragedies of the 20th century. He has been saying that he wanted to rebuild the Russian empire or the Soviet Union. That means bringing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania back into the fold and he would have moved on them as soon as his forces had secured Ukraine. Estonia, Lativa, and Lithuania are NATO members and can invoke Article 5 which means the USA would be at war with Russia. If you think that Putin would not move on the Baltic states then you are the one of needs professional help.

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You're going to have a hell of a time keeping the driver awake. Damn near everytime you stop, that a-hole goes to sleep. And you can't reach him with the gun tube over the front, you have to traverse over the left side which is obviously not ideal. So we used to rig up cattle prod type devices. Good times.

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Some of the best sleep I’ve ever got was in the drivers seat of an Abrams. I always said if they didn’t want the driver to go to sleep, they shouldn’t have given him a recliner for a seat.

You're extremely emotionally involved in this conflict; I would be as well if I were in your position. I'm just stating what I know from firsthand experience from years of depending my life on that weapon system in combat environments.

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You're extremely emotionally involved in this conflict; I would be as well if I were in your position. I'm just stating what I know from firsthand experience from years of depending my life on that weapon system in combat environments.

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yea weewee came off realyl emotional right there and kind of like a bitch.

if you havent been apart of that part of the military you dont understand.

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You're extremely emotionally involved in this conflict; I would be as well if I were in your position. I'm just stating what I know from firsthand experience from years of depending my life on that weapon system in combat environments.

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I get that same vibe from as well. As a fellow old tanker, I agree with all the points you’ve made. I have no doubt the Ukrainian tankers and mechanics can be trained to operate the Abrams. They’ll do fine. But there will be a learning curve. Sometimes it’s easier to train someone who is brand new and knows nothing than it is to train someone who already knows how to do something one way but now has to do it a different way. Basically they have to unlearn what they’ve known and replace that knowledge with how things are to be done going forward.

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The problem of a sleepy driver can be solved by Adderral.

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Falling asleep is a time honored tradition for Abrams drivers and is not to be trifled with.