Friedberg tank crew hits perfect 1,000
 

By Ben Murray, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, May 12, 2005



GRAFENW?HR, Germany ? Like a perfect game in baseball or a flawless 10 in gymnastics, the 1,000-point score on a top-level tank range is a rare accomplishment that few tankers will ever achieve.

An errant round, a slow reaction to a target or a tiny mechanical problem during the 10-step scoring process will instantly ruin a run at the perfect score, and years often go by between 1,000-point gunnery displays, tankers at the Grafenw?hr training area said this week.

So when the newly formed Tank Crew 34 from Company C of Friedberg, Germany?s 37th Armored Regiment started their testing regimen on Monday, crewmembers admitted that a flawless run didn?t occur to anyone as a possibility.

?We didn?t expect it,? said the crew?s tank commander, Sgt. 1st Class Christopher La Noue.

The gunner was a novice in his first live testing situation, the loader just joined the Army eight months ago, and the crew was using a pair of borrowed M1A1 Abrams tanks in the ?table eight? scenario, the highest-level training run for individual tank crews.

?It?s the Super Bowl for tankers,? using all weapons systems on multiple moving targets in both day and night scenarios, La Noue said.

But when the smoke cleared after the first six daytime engagements, their score stood at an unblemished 600 ? all targets hit in the narrow time limits allowed for the tankers to engage and destroy them as the targets pop up on the range.

?We were in shock and awe after our day run with 600 points,? La Noue said. But with a score that high, pressure started to build on the four men as their remaining night engagements loomed, crewmembers said.

?We tried not to think about it,? said Spc. Allan Sammons, the new gunner, who took a simple approach to succeeding in the training mission: ?I shot everything I saw.?

Things went well for a while, but then in the eighth engagement of the day, just two away from the perfect score, disaster appeared to strike: Crew 34 thought it had missed a target, and re-engaged it for a second shot ? ending its run at 1,000, members thought.

The apparent miss was almost a relief, La Noue said, because the pressure was off to hit the benchmark.

?All eyes on us for the 1,000 were gone,? he said. But after two more perfect engagements, the crew found out in its review that the team had hit that elusive eighth-round target after all. La Noue, Sammons, driver Pfc. Hien Mai and loader Pfc. Adam Blair had scored 1,000 points.

?The adrenaline was still running through us? well after the announcement, La Noue said. For their achievement, the four tankers will receive a special award from the their commander, and will paint gold teeth into the skull emblazoned on the unit?s tanks as its mascot.

Strike Hard Tanker