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    2-8 CAV Tankers Lead the Way

    2-8 CAV Tankers Lead the Way

    Photo By Ron Lee | Tank crewmen from Bravo Company “Eager Arms”, 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, 1st...... read more read more

    DRAWSKO POMORSKIE, POLAND

    07.03.2018

    Story by Sgt. Lisa Vines  

    382nd Public Affairs Detachment

    ZAGAN, Poland – Tankers from Bravo Company “Eager Arms”, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division exercised their operational abilities in preparation for Saber Strike during their company-level situational training exercises (STX) in Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area, Poland, June 12, 2018.

    Training on company attacks, hasty defensive operations and counter-attacks were a successful part of the Eager Arm’s company-level STX. Retaining the skillset required to operate in a field environment is a major focus of training outside of garrison.

    “Everything is amplified in terms of its level of difficulty,” said U.S. Army Capt. Thomas Comer, the company commander of the Eager Arms Company. “Maintenance on a tank is easy when you’re in a motor pool. Maintenance on a tank becomes very difficult when you’re in the field. Preventative maintenance becomes even more important because the fixes aren’t as readily available.”

    It takes four Soldiers to maintain and operate an M1A2 Abrams tank. Armor crewmen positions are the tank commander, gunner, loader and driver. These Soldiers’ duties include target detection, operating the turret and fires, loading, firing and clearing the guns, and operating communications equipment.

    “Each position is vital,” said Comer. “Ensuring that the tank is continually able to operate, as well as the relationship between those four personnel, is truly what the field environment brings out, and that’s what makes this such a great opportunity.”

    Armor crewmen are subject matter experts on the maintenance and firepower of their tanks.

    “It’s not anything you can learn from a book. You’re not going to learn how to maintain a tank unless you’re working on it,” Comer said.

    Maintenance goes a long way in the battlefield, especially when the tank is the most instrumental part of an attack.

    “When you look at the firepower that exists on just one tank alone, and the amount of space it can cover, you realize that if you want to seize terrain, if you want to hold terrain, having a tank in the battle, it not only sends a tactical level message but it sends a strategic level message of where the U.S. Army and military is placing its influence,” Comer said.

    The firepower of the M1A2 Abrams tank is formidable, but within a combined arms battalion assigned to an armored brigade combat team, the power is multiplied.

    “When you combine a tank, with its main gun and two machine guns, with its ability to close distance with the enemy and use its armor for protection. Put that in open terrain with a few infantrymen in key spots,” said Comer. “There’s really nothing that can stop a combined arms battalion.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 07.03.2018
    Date Posted: 07.10.2018 12:04
    Story ID: 283713
    Location: DRAWSKO POMORSKIE, PL

    Web Views: 374
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN