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PATROL BASE SHIR GHAZAY, Afghanistan (8/19/2012) – One of a
Marine's best friends in a battle is 67-tons of steel, armor and
fire power.
In Helmand province, Afghanistan, Marines with
Bravo Company, 2nd Tank Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 6, are
using the M1A1 Abrams tank to help make the battlefield safer for
infantry Marines fighting the enemy.
Lance Cpl. Kevin
Quigley, tank crewman, Bravo Co., compared the firepower of one tank
to an entire infantry platoon. In addition to its main 120 mm main
gun, an Abrams tank has a .50-caliber machine gun and two M240
machine guns mounted.
Corporal Kevin Quigley, tank crewman, Bravo Company, 2nd Tank
Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 6, stands on top of an M1A1 Abrams
tank, July 17, 2012. Quigley, from Emerson, N.J., said “There's
nothing else like an M1A1 on the battlefield,” referring to a tank's
firepower and maneuverability over rough terrain. Quigley, and other
Bravo Co. tankers said they are excited to be in Afghanistan,
providing infantry Marines with support when they need it. Photo by
USMC Staff Sgt. Brian Buckwalter |
“There's nothing else like an M1A1 on the battlefield,”
Quigley, from Emerson, N.J., said. “It's a little bit of an
ego boost” being a tanker and knowing what the M1A1 brings
to the fight.
Capt. Mike Donlin, the company's
forward air controller, said all of Bravo Co.'s Marines feel
the same way. They are excited to be deployed and “want to
see the infantry ecstatic that ‘big brother' is there for
them,” he said.
Col. John Shafer, commanding officer,
Regimental Combat Team 6, recently spoke with Bravo Co.'s
tankers. He said they arrived in country at a pivotal and
transitional time in the fight, as Marines allow Afghan
forces to take the lead in security operations. While
Afghans will focus on maintaining security in safer areas,
Marines will operate in less secure areas of Helmand
province -- places that have had little to no coalition
presence.
“You are going to stay busy,” Shafer told
the Marines.
Captain Matt Dowden, commanding officer,
Bravo Co., said busy is how his “tougher than nails” Marines
want to be. He said prior to deployment his company wasn't
sure if tanks were going to be needed in Afghanistan any
longer. But when they found out they'd be deploying, his
Marines completed more than seven months of pre-deployment
preparations in only four months.
“They almost enjoy
breaking their backs to get the job done,” and they're happy
to be in Afghanistan doing what they trained to do, Dowden
said.
“They refuse to fail,” Donlin added.
Fourteen tanks make up Bravo Co. It's a tight fit, but a
four-Marine crew operates each tank.
“I don't think
it would be a good place for someone who is claustrophobic,”
said Lance Cpl. Joshua Felder, a tank crewman.
In
southern Afghanistan, the terrain Bravo Co. operates in
varies from fine-powered sand commonly referred to as “moon
dust” by the Marines, to coarse and rocky. Water irrigation
channels, known as wadis, are scattered throughout the
landscape and pose a hazard to the tanks.
“Being over
here is like being on a different planet,” Quigley said. The
terrain they've experienced so far in Afghanistan is nothing
like where they trained he added.
Even with the
ever-changing landscape, “the ride is really smooth,
surprisingly,” said Felder.
The ride has to be
smooth. Tanks are designed so that Marines can aim in and
fire on a target even on the move.
It's a loud ride
too. Felder, from Lake Alfred, Fl., said the 1,500
horsepower turbine engine isn't the noisy part, the tracks
are.
Responsibility for keeping the tanks running falls
on the mechanics, and it's no easy task.
Lance Cpl.
Lucas Walsh, a Bravo Co. tank mechanic, said the routine
maintenance on a tank that runs for two hours “could be an
all day ordeal.”
With a machine as heavy as a tank
crossing rough terrain upwards of 40 mph, bolts and hoses
can get jostled lose. Beneath its armored exoskeleton, a
tank is a web of wires, hydraulic lines and gear works.
“Finding a leak is like finding a needle in a haystack,”
Walsh from Canton, Mich., said.
On missions,
mechanics are never far from the tanks their assigned to.
They either drive M-88A2 “Hercules” recovery vehicles - tow
trucks for tanks – or 7-ton trucks that carry tools and
spare parts.
Both the mechanics and the operators
don't mind the long hours, or the cramped environment they
often find themselves working in. They all say they want to
make sure that the infantry Marines in a fight know that
tanks have their back.
“It's easier to replace parts
than Marines,” Felder said.
By USMC Staff Sgt. Brian Buckwalter
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
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