Greywolf tank crew shoots for excellence

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Banzhaf | Two M1A2 tank crews with the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division make their way to the Clabber Creek Multiuse range Oct. 29 at Fort Hood, Texas. The monthlong field exercise gave the crews an opportunity to qualify as individual crews, platoons and companies.  

FORT HOOD, TX, UNITED STATES

11.19.2015

Story by Sgt. Brandon Banzhaf 

3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division

FORT HOOD, Texas — Moving, aiming and firing are all common tasks for tanks on a range during gunnery.

But synchronization, communication and teamwork can separate those who simply qualify from those who outperform the rest.

Against all odds, a newly assembled M1A2 Abrams tank crew with 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division achieved the highest scoring marks in their battalion during gunnery, earning them the title of 'Top Tank.'

“We spent a lot of time getting to know each other and learning each other’s habits,” said Staff Sgt. Samuel Glidewell, a Rockingham, North Carolina, native and tank commander with 1-12 Cav.

Glidewell said he considers it paramount that team cohesion is established and maintained. In an exercise where the pressure to qualify can make some Soldiers nervous, that cohesion can make all the difference.

He and his crew were together for less than a month before firing their first 120mm round, which is common but not for those who prove to be the most deadly crew in a battalion.

The short amount of time they had to become a team was mostly during recovery operations following the unit’s participation in the eXportable Combat Training Capability exercise in Mississippi. And when they weren’t in recovery, they were preparing to go to the field to conduct gunnery.

Even the first opportunity for the crew members to train together in the simulator was short.

“We were the first ones finished, because we qualified on the first try,” said Spc. Andrew Mistor, an M1A2 Abrams tank gunner, regretfully.

Mistor said he wished they had had more time to train prior to gunnery, but that didn’t appear to adversely affect the team’s performance.

After completing simulation training, the unit rolled out to the field. But for this particular crew, completing the simulator wasn’t the end of their preparation for qualifications.

“This is my first gunnery as the gunner, so I really had to step up,” said Mistor. “I read my [technical manuals] and went into the [after action review] shacks and listened to other people’s mistakes as they were getting reviewed. I just applied all of that knowledge and took a bunch of notes.”

Unfortunately, Glidewell sustained a hand injury and left the field for a couple of days before returning the night before the qualifications began.

“The whole time I was worried about who will be our tank commander,” said Mistor. “It was nerve wracking. I didn’t know if he would be back or someone else was going to take his spot.”

After a test run, going through all the motions as if they were going to fire a live round, the moment of truth came. Mere moments before his first time firing the tank, Mistor became nauseous, but once the action started, he was about his business.

“During my first main gun engagement, I didn’t think about it whatsoever,” he said. “It was as if I was there for years. I just saw the target and took it down.”

Throughout the month of being in the field and multiple live-fire exercises, Glidewell studied his crew and adjusted based on how they operated.

“For me, being the tank commander, I get to see the crew objectively,” he said. “I look at every one individually in their positions and analyze. I watch to see what everyone’s strengths and weaknesses are. I look for little things they can do to make the crew better.”

Small adjustments and multiple internal training sessions helped establish a line of trust between the crew members.

Over time, the crewmembers began to operate off of sheer familiarity and muscle memory. They got a feel for each other’s’ habits, streamlining their procedures and making their communications more efficient.

For instance, when a target is identified and the crew is preparing to engage, instead of waiting for a command to move up into the firing position, the driver would just do it as he listened to the crew talk, saving a couple of seconds off of their time.

Completing engagement after engagement, the crew was being reviewed to count up the points they earned or lost. With the very few minor infractions they made weighing heavily on their minds and overshadowing anything they excelled at, good news came down to the crew.

“They said congratulations,” said Glidewell. “You got Top Tank. I didn’t believe them, so I grabbed the paper to verify his math, but Mistor was about to cry.”

“Only because that was a terrible night run,” said Mistor, ever the perfectionist, still hyper-focused on the things they messed up.

Even with all the factors that worked against them, Glidewell’s crew demonstrated that focusing on teamwork, perseverance and mission completion, can yield excellence.

• Date Taken: 11.19.2015
• Date Posted: 11.19.2015 16:09
• Story ID: 182387
• Location: FORT HOOD, TX, US
• Hometown: ROCKINGHAM, NC, US