What Army Tankers Go Through In Boot Camp | Boot Camp

you've probably seen this before but this is what it's like inside a tank when it fires because of security concerns the us army doesn't let outside cameras inside its tanks but it gave us this exclusive footage of what it's like to train on the inside [Applause] [Music] these soldiers are training to be tankers in the u.s army and even though the u.s has used tanks in combat for over a century this generation of soldiers could have a unique advantage these two triggers are to shoot it's like a video game controller sir all you need to do is just hold on to this and press fire video games actually helps because when you're inside you have certain controls for operating the gun called cadillac's and it's basically like holding a controller as soon as they get in that gunner station they hold on to that it's already familiar to them up for video game generation i think they're doing great on the tanks because this is this is what they do at home is play with a controller that's what a tank is it's playing with a giant controller why do you like tanks tanks it just run stuff over blow stuff up all day it's like i mean who wouldn't want to do that all day this is why we're here we're here to fire things and blow stuff up ever since i was little it's just always been a dream of mine to be able to say i work on tanks people who like big guns and loud noises 1500 horsepower engines and fire i mean that's how it draw me in it may seem like fun but these soldiers find out during training there's much more to being a tanker than this and that with the fun comes inherent danger these things can happen you can get crushed your arms legs and whatever it is there's a lot of things that can go wrong in a tank and we try to tell them about the safety hazards that way they can be scared of it and then respect it through fear inside the armor school in fort benning georgia army soldiers trained to fight with this the m1 abrams battle tank nicknamed the beast dracula and whispering death i mean that is a 70 ton hunk of american steel and it is crazy to think that one of us can get behind the wheel of that thing along with tankers the armor school trains cavalry scouts known as the eyes and ears of the battlefield they train with grenade launchers and anti-tank weapons armor is basically the term that the united states military uses for when it comes to any kind of mechanized force our main goal is force on force with armor on armor scouts and tankers were the armored community all enlisted armor soldiers must complete 22 weeks of one station unit training after 10 weeks of basic training trainees go through 12 more weeks of advanced instruction base pay starts at about 22 000 a year insiders spent four days inside the armor school where we saw different groups of soldiers at various stages of training once inside fort benning it's about a 45 minute drive to hastings range [Music] where soldiers train to drive the tank and use its weapon systems including a 120 millimeter cannon and mounted machine guns so what are a few things after watching the video that you guys noticed you did wrong when i needed to save the gun on the last uh shot i missed the handle you got to shoot low see where your bursts are hitting and then walk it up just like growing up i feel like a lot of kids play video games they see the tanks on the games and you know it's everyone's dream to be inside of a tank but being on top of one being a side one is completely different feeling it was way better than i could could have imagined it was amazing but tanks emerged long before the era of video games first used in combat in world war one the u.s army transitioned its horse-mounted cavalry branch to a fully mechanized force in the second world war the lessons of world war ii have taught american army men the need for tanks tanks and more tanks but what we have now is the capability to take a tank on during week one trainees get an up-close look at the evolution of american tanks and those used by the enemy so when that gun fired on a light aluminum vehicle it was a religious experience because it bucked like a bronco after decades of evolution one tank emerged as the army's weapon of choice [Music] the m1 abrams with a unit cost of about nine million dollars it debuted in combat during the gulf war and remains the army's main battle tank it's manned by a four-person crew the tank commander the gunner the loader and the driver the driver sits at the front of the tank's hull the other three occupy the basket attached to the tank's turret which moves with the turret when it rotates how does one drive a tank it's a throttle like a four-wheeler you're holding it you throttle to go faster driving i would say is the easiest part of being on a tank what was it like in there when he actually fires around uh just like a really strong gust of wind hits you there's some dust flying i mean it was insane the smell inside the tank that smell is just you only get it inside the tank you can never get it anywhere else i can't explain it sir it's just you got to experience it yourself do you feel safe when you're inside that tank no sir no why um i don't have an answer for that sir do you think because you know that anti-armor guns could take you out as well is that kind of why or no sir okay when they get inside that and they see everything it's daunting it kind of scares them because there's so much that can happen there's so many moving parts these things can happen you can get crushed your arms legs and whatever it is there's a lot of things that can go wrong in a tank and we try to tell them about the safety hazards that way they can be scared of it and then respect it through fear and it helps them throughout their career and understand that hey i know what this is going to do to me if i'm in the way see these little dudes they just fall right in there huh those big boys gotta like crawl in there before they operate the tank they go over the proper procedures step by step so the parking brake is set correct go ahead and disconnect that and then put it back together all right so we're driving around also it was a fire what's the first thing we do um we turn towards the wind you're gonna alert nobody's gonna start dipping out on them okay so what we do first they learn about the tanks features just like that and its limitations where's the bathroom on the aprons sir there is no bathroom on the a-room there's in the bathroom no no there's no restroom in the tank like everything inside the tank is meant to destroy the enemy and continue the mission and finish the mission intent where's the bathroom on the aid rooms uh in the bottle yeah it's a bottle there's no bathroom in there if you gotta go you gotta go soldiers spend part of training in the motor pool where they learn how to maintain the tank's components and its weapons they learn how to repair the tanks tracks and wheels using tools like sledgehammers we teach them how to do things out here to where they can troubleshoot anything out there because they already know the steps and stuff like that just so they know what they're doing in like a safe environment versus you know if we're out on the range and something were to happen they didn't know what to do they're going through the clear disassemble reassemble load unload and perform a functions check on a 50 cal it's a m2 50 caliber machine gun it's one of the weapon systems on the tank it's mounted on top of the tank they do have to be trained and proficient with it you're proficient in every station on the tank and every weapon system in case something happens to someone on the crew it's considered a small arms weapon mostly because it does have the 120 millimeter main gun [Music] the abrams tank's 120 millimeter smoothbore gun fires a variety of rounds that can destroy other tanks up to 3 000 meters away so this is a m865 training sabo rom this is uh what we use to simulate our service sabo ammunition for training weighs approximately 35 pounds the blue aluminum pedals are discarded when it is fired the silver spike is the actual sub projectile that goes downrange impacts with the target the tank can hold 42 rounds total our service ammunition is designed to penetrate through enemy armor and then it has a devastating effect on the inside of the vehicle come on come on this one's a little bit heavier is the m-1002 training impact round when a service round of this type hits a target it will blow up on the outside of it and it forms a jet stream of copper i'm going to set it back down is it heavy it is a little bit heavy so how much does that weigh this one's about 62 pounds they're expected to be able to load that 62 pound round in about seven seconds the rounds aren't light when loading you have to be fast and efficient how have you trained physically a lot of push-ups that's a movie not a picture female soldiers became eligible to train for combat arms positions in 2016. today about four percent of the soldiers training in the armor school are women there are mostly male soldiers i wasn't expecting a lot of females to be here when i first showed up i expect the same treatment that the males get you feel like you've gotten that yes sir among soldiers training to be cavalry scouts the percentage of women is even smaller only about two percent what is a calf scalp so calf scout is basically the eyes and ears of the brigade the eyes and ears of the commander the eyes and ears the battlefield the eyes and ears of the battlefield so you're going in and you're being sneaky and trying to figure out on the enemy and their positions scouts get sent out before any other larger elements such as infantry or heavy armor so it's basically the cap scout's responsibility to make sure that an area is either clear or if that there are enemies in an area we're relaying exactly what they're doing up the chain of command blank rounds are used during this training exercise [Applause] during the shooting an instructor alerted this soldier that while he was aiming toward the enemy his fellow soldiers were in the path of his rifle that's bad and that's something we've got to stop right away you get the adrenaline going you kind of zone in on one thing you get the blinders put on in a training environment that's absolutely when you want to do something like that so it can be corrected and fixed i had never fired a weapon before i joined the army sir really no sir no hunting or anything like that no hunting sir it's definitely become more familiar in normal it's just basically a part of the uniform at this point cav scouts get hands-on experience with even more powerful weapons like the m320 grenade launcher which attaches to the m4 carbine [Applause] and the at4 rocket launcher the reason why scouts are learning how to utilize this weapon system is because we would need to be able to destroy enemy armor vehicles tanks definitely a civilian vehicle would not stand a chance against this the at4 is a single-use weapon after it's fired it can't be reloaded and each live round costs about two thousand dollars that's why soldiers in training learn to aim and fire it using nine millimeter bullets [Music] although the soldiers don't fire live rounds themselves instructors demonstrate what the at4 can really do clear this is something that the soldiers look forward to it provides them with the capability of them actually being able to destroy enemy armored vehicles as armor soldiers tankers and cav scouts are technically teammates but there's a competition between them i've heard that there's like a saying for the cavalry scouts it's like if you ain't calf you ain't what does that mean you're not if you're not a cap scout hey prize if you ain't kev there it is but tankers tend to disagree the scouts are just to me they're just jealous because they have to walk into the woods and hide there and play hide-and-go-seek in a professional level while us tankers get to chill inside this still beast that has ac and a heat a cavs scout's mission is to gather intelligence to share with their commander who may decide to send in tanks to engage the enemy when we need the tankers we need the tankers and when they need us they need us we give each other a hard time but we really need each other scouts report a section of enemy armor in your sector defender report the partnership is simulated in live fire exercises 108 at this time battle carry stable prepare for a defensive engagement ensure you're in the devil report right on target instructors observe and command the soldiers from a tower overlooking the range updated thermal cameras show the targets more than 1 000 meters away i'm giving each individual tank the proper commands of what to expect what they're going to shoot when to move it is my job to ensure that the tanks are identifying and engaging the proper targets they could be deploying to korea or kuwait or europe it could be anything and would just tell them hey you need to be prepared mentally financially make sure you talk to your families and all this and just be ready for anything as soon as you graduate you're going to hit the ground running it feels great knowing that i'll be able to go out and serve this country one way or another it's a little scary knowing that i might be going away from home but i know my family will be waiting when i get back i never thought that i would make it this far and my battle buddies kept pushing me forward not letting me quit and it pays off in the end a lot they change a lot in terms of like their discipline and their camaraderie with everybody and you know in day one they don't have that they've never built the brotherhood with each other but um at the end of the day they know that they have to work together because that's what we do in the united states army like we have to work together because without that like we're nobody tell me about these boots here i've never seen anything like that during the battle of bulge in 1945 in germany and the infantry were out there in the muck and the tankers were inside the shermans and it was so cold that the boot laces of the infantry were breaking so the tankers take the boot laces off and gave it to the infantry we took our belts off put around our boots leather straps but most importantly though is boot laces or flammable leather straps or not so having the least amount of flammable items on you while inside the tank is where you want to be at are they comfortable oh i this this is all i wear i don't wear any other boots i'll reckon them i don't i tank in them i do everything in these boots

Channel: Business Insider

Views: 555,224

Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, Boot Camp, US Army, Army, tanks, tankers, military, training

Id: e3CwoEAmy-Q

Length: 17min 26sec (1046 seconds)

Published: Thu May 12 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/pizza105z]

For any US tanker or US Cavalry I’m interested to hear how this video compared to your personal experience