My dream is to become a tank commander

In my highschool days, i wanted to become a military man, soldier tech anything, but then seeing pictures and videos of tanks changed me. I wanted to be the one driving a 100 plus tonne tank across the field, armed to the teeth with every big guns available. an armoured metal behemoth grinding everythin in your path.

I know the requirements to join the armour corps in australia and i know a lot of infromation about the Abrams, Bradley and other tanks available. so what do you think? Srange dream or what?

Inside a tank, flying a plane, commanding a submarine, or taking on the role of an infantry-man, your life will be in even more danger when and if you enter the battlefield. But if you don't mind putting your life on the line to do something that you dream of doing, and if you have a good reason to do it, then by all means, go for it.

It sounds pretty neat. Not my type of thing though. But wow, sitting in a tank, with dim light and a coffee, sounds pretty nice. But what am I talking about?

hey exterminatus, are you also a gun techie? if so im not alone here.... thank god...

if you become a tank commander can i be gunner? hehehe

oh what tank would you like anyway?
REAL (tanks i like)
M1 abrams
merkava 4
t-72
type 80
s tank
scorpion light tank
type 90
Tiger tank (WWII)
King Tiger tank (WWII)
Panzer IV Aus/F (WWII)

FICTIONAL
Apocalypse (Red Alert series)
hover tank (powered bt a nuclear core)
mammoth tank (CnC Renegade & Tiberium Wars/Kane's Wrath)
Predator (Warhammer 40k, Space Marines)
Baneblade (Warhammer 40k, Imperial Guard)
Leman Russ (Warhammer 40k, Imperial Guard)
Prism tank (Red Alert series)
Mirage tank (Red Alert series)

Well im more of an avid military historian and i know a lot about weapons and technical stuff.

My favourite real world tank would be the M1 abrams'cos its DA BESTUS BADASS TABK IN DA WORLD. My second would be the Isreali Merkava since its one of the safest and toughest tank out there.

But i also love old tanks from the post ww1 era because theyre so "exotic".

As for fiction, i love Imperial guard tanks such as The Death Korps tanks from forgeworld such as the malcador, macharius, and such. I also LOVE the baneblade, its so badass.

Yeah tank commander is a great rank. you can order your driver, gunner, machinegunner, and mechanist (if available) as much as you like (so you can win the war) and the biggest profit is you can relax knowing a sniper won't shoot you in the headl, altough you know the risk of being bombarded from air

and yeah the M1 Abrams is the coolest real tank around. If i can use a fiction tank, i will use the Emperor Overlord From the General Zero Hour.

Btw if you're really going to be a tank commander, can i be your machinegunner?? i like the sound of M2 50.cal machine gun and also shoot some people for no reason.

Normally I'd probably say something like your nuts to want to be in the military, but that actually sounds pretty cool, even if your life is in constant danger.

I understand that deeply.

You know, there is a Polish black-white TV drama "4 tank men and a dog". In my childhood it made me want to drive a tank too. But then I watched "Das Boot" and switched to submarines.

Anyhow, here's more about the show, which, I think, you might find interesting, though it's full of comunist propaganda: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120948/

A, i czy Ty przypadkiem nie jesteÅ› Polakiem? ;D [Aren't you Polish by a coincidence?]

For you to shoot the 50 cal, i think you would have to be the commander (which is me) to use the machinegun mounted outside the commander's hatch. You could be my loader though and use the smaller 7.62 M240 machinegun. But i would probally reconsider choosing you for shooting people for no reason.




Sry, im not. Im an Australian-chinese living in Australia. why do you ask btw?

You used the expression 'armed to the teeth', which I never heard in English, however there is an exacly same expression in Polish.

Well its a pretty common phrase or metaphor to say that something is heavily armed. I guess its not english is because its not really a widely used phrase in common everyday conversations. Who knows its probally polish in origin.

BEFORE BECOMING A TANK DOOD, I SUGGEST WATCHING THIS VIDEO: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/322150

Ironically, most if not all Abrams casualties are from friendly fire from our own forces. This is due to several reasons incompetenc, genuine mistake, and incorrectly labeled intel.

I've never been in a tank. But I imagine it would be stuffy in there, especially with a bunch of other soldiers.

Tankers, if trained right, are among the safest men in a ground war, but I have to disagree on the M1 being the best tank out there. The Leopard II has usurped the position, though just barely. Hey, maybe one day I'll look over to the Aussie forces and be like.

"Oh hey, that guy on Fakku. Wonder if he's there." And a tank'll roll by with "Exterminatus" emblazoned on the side

Lol, actually im going to name my tank "Rollin Thunder", sounds more epic that way.

Well, i suppose the newer variants of the Leopard are surpassing the older M1 Abrams, but more new tank kits are introduced to make the Abrams even tougher. But in todays low intensity conflicts, the role of a tank was not what it used to be lets say 60 years ago and many of its systems were never tried in combat.

Someone is forgetting the Challenger 2:

"As of January 2008, two Challenger 2s have been damaged in combat, and one destroyed by another Challenger 2 in a friendly fire incident. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq the Challenger 2 was the only tank operating in the Gulf that did not suffer a loss to enemy fire.

In one encounter within the urban area a Challenger 2 came under attack from irregular forces with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. The driver's sight was damaged and while attempting to back away under the commander's directions, the other sights were damaged and the tank threw its tracks entering a ditch. It was hit directly by eight rocket propelled grenades from close range and a MILAN anti-tank missile, and was under heavy small arms fire for hours. The crew survived remaining safe within the tank until the tank was recovered for repairs, the worst damage being to the sighting system. It was back in operation six hours later after the repairs. One Challenger 2 operating near Basra survived being hit by 70 RPGs in another incident."

If that isn't awesome I don't know what is.

Ye know, The Challenger 2 has a boiler unit to make tea or boil-in frozen food. what do you expect from the British? Im not forgetting all those other tanks who are equal or supassing the M1 Abrams, its just that its available in Australia and its more lieky that i'll be driving it around then Challengers, Leopards and Merkavas.

Dunno if Israel is selling the Invincible Jew Wagon, but its more likely for the Australians to be using an M1 or a C2 than anything else, because they use both British and American goods to equip their forces. That or domestic versions of British or American weapons. I don't know of any Australian-based weapons companies though.

And no one say that the AUG is from Australia. That's from Austria (I'm saying it because yes, people have made that mistake)

Well that’s a pretty easy mistake they look similar, and they did adopt it as "their gun" so people will mistake it. Glad you cleared that up though this is about TANKS!

It's cool you want to be a tank commander a old friend of mine was always talking about tanks, and so now he’s driving one.

On the topic of the M1 Abrams it’s not the shit for one reason. “about 3 gallons per mile” No not miles per gallon but gallons per mile. Also with the fact that the Challenger 2 has only met its demise once and by another Challenger 2


We all know tank crews are more important than the tank itself

So protection of the crew should be a tanks top priority. Some times that doesn’t mean armor it means being able to get out of a situation fast and last till it can get to “safety”. The M1 has a problem it can’t go too far without that caravan of gas tankers behind it huge problem for a tank.

Ah yes... the Tanks.... Hey exterminatus, use depleted uranium shells... I think it may punch a big one...