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sweet thursday posted:Libertarians vs Librarians 
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Jun 4, 2019 22:15
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 05:15 |
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MightyJoe36 posted:Dude in San Diego stole a tank from the Army National Guard. Ended up being shot by a cop who crawled up on the turret and opened up the hatch. I was stationed at Camp Pendleton (north San Diego county) at the time. I was a tank and armored vehicle crewman. The guy who stole the tank was a former National Guard tanker, so he knew how to drive. He just wasn't very good at it; he managed to wedge the tank onto a concrete highway median and high-center it. (His mistake was crossing it at an angle, if he'd gone at it straight on he could have gotten over it.) He was in the middle of trying to get himself off the median when, like you said, a cop got on top of the tank and pried open a hatch. It is my understanding that the cop was himself a former armor crewman, so he knew how to to this (there's a technique to it). My unit (3rd Armored Assault Battalion (USMC)) got some phone calls from the police that day. I wasn't on the call (obviously, I was just a sergeant) but from what I heard the police were asking our command "so how do we stop a tank anyway?" I don't know what they worked out. I suspect that they wouldn't have sent our tanks after it - a tank shootout in city streets is a bad idea. They also probably wouldn't sent a helicopter, as there's too much potential for hitting something else. But I could see them sending a humvee with a TOW (anti-tank missile) team after it. Shut up Meg posted:I know the US military has the 'made by the lowest bidder' mindset, but I am guessing that most tanks can't be defeated by opening a door handle and shooting the driver with a pistol. Real tanks in combat can shoot at things. That is, one of their best tools for keeping the enemy away from them is to shoot them. Tanks aren't stored with the machineguns mounted or any ammo aboard, so when the guy stole the tank it didn't come with any ammunition. This meant the cops could follow him closely and wait for him to screw up, which they did. Hatches are locked from the inside. There's a handle that swings in to close the hatch, and you lock it by swinging a little bar in place to keep it from being pulled open. If you've got a crowbar and a bit of time it would be possible to break it open. (Don't count on doing this in combat; if you get near a tank it will call "scratch my back" over the radio and every other tank nearby will spray it with machinegun fire to keep the enemy away/off of the tank.) Edit: Video of the stolen tank. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmFiZoe-7P4 Cessna fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Jun 6, 2019 |
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Jun 6, 2019 16:00
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skooma512 posted:What about molotovs? I suppose it would stop the tank eventually, but burning a guy to death on live tv makes for bad PR. skooma512 posted:I also remember a scene in I think, Saving Private Ryan, where they opened a German tank's hatch and shot everyone inside, but that was A. a movie B. if it happened they got lucky because someone forgot to lock it I guess. I don't know how German tank hatches were secured. Also, you don't always want your hatches locked - what if you have to get out in a hurry?
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Jun 6, 2019 16:46
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Shut up Meg posted:I get your explanation, but I still find it odd that something that is designed to be a really, really effective safe can be opened by someone with a bit of bent metal and some determination. Here's the best pic I can find of an M60's hatches open (the stolen tank was an old M60A3):  The Loader's hatch is the one closest to the camera. You can see that it has two little levers. The one on the bottom is to secure the hatch in position - part-way open, open, locked back. The one on the top of the hatch is the lever that locks the hatch when it is closed. Same deal with the TC's hatch. It's just physics - if you can bend that lock with a crowbar, you can pry open the hatch. Again, this isn't a big deal in combat because - well, try it and you'll get machinegunned. A tank's strength is in its armor and its mobility, not in the hatches - and like I said, you really don't want that hatch to get stuck if you're stuck inside and there's a compelling reason to get out, like a fire. To secure a tank when it isn't in use you lock all of the hatches [Edit: except the loader's hatch] from the inside, then lock the Loader's hatch from the outside with a padlock. Tanks (like most military vehicles) don't have ignition keys, so if you want to steal a tank all you have to do is open that padlock with a pair of bolt cutters. Because this is so easy all of the tanks on the USMC's ramp (tank parking lot, a "motor pool" in the army) are guarded by jarheads with loaded rifles, even in peacetime. Obviously the National Guard didn't follow this, which is how you end up with a stolen tank. Edit: This is going to lead to a wave of goon-tank-theft, isn't it? Cessna fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Jun 6, 2019 |
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Jun 6, 2019 17:33
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Burt Sexual posted:How do you lock all the hatches from the inside, then get out? Sorry, I should have been clearer. You lock all hatches except the loader's hatch from the inside. Then you exit through the loader's hatch, and lock that from the outside with a padlock.
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Jun 6, 2019 18:16
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