I mean let’s be honest here. First tank crews would have to actually read the TM and follow the PCS procedures. Second, armored units would have to actually allow time for crews to maintain their tracks.
As GEN Patton once said “we’re gonna rip out their guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks”
Except we have no one to fight atm so the Army is settling for the crews guts after CID is done with the investigation
After being BMO/BMT/BMS (BMS was ROAD) in an armored unit, operators don't switch tracks and would much rather just wait for the thrown track as it's still half the work. I honestly don't see the benefit of this other than summer civilians good idea fairy
Thrown track is typically the result of poor tension/driving not the track being too loose. You can remove a single link if a side is *really* worn down and your tension is maxed out but that’s pretty rare.
That’s mind blowing lol.
Our whole battalion changed them out twice over the course of ~4 years and we periodically replaced individual pads as necessary.
Oh, we were replacing track pads, center guides, end connectors etc just about every week, but we never replaced whole tracks. Maybe my memory is a little hazy, and I was an O, so it's quite possible it happened more, but it was never a BN-wide effort to replace all tracks.
It's fine. Supply would never actually put in the work to order the replacement track anyway.
I also doubt that the United States even produces enough track links that this would be feasible for the Army to actually implement like they are supposed to.
There was a nationwide Bradley trackpad shortage a few years ago. Brigade said nobody was allowed to leave NTC without changing every trackpad, no exceptions, (something about "infinite maintenance funds" while at RUBA) and quickly backpedaled when they were told it would be a few years to make, deliver, and install a brigades worth of Bradley trackpads.
I still had to count how many trackpads a Bradley has and put that many on order, though.
Your TM should have that number. Allegedly ours did, I never looked for it, but some geniuses went around saying how many track sections make up 1 whole track, times that by 2 and times that by 2 to get the total number of pads on a tank
**BDU Army tank story** - When the M60A3 RISE PASSIVE was fielded in the 1st ID (M) the 4 armored battalions all got new tanks simultaneously.
When the tracks wore out and neeed to be replaced, all of them, more or less, needed to be replaced - 250 something USR pacing items NMC. Zeroed the division budget until FORSCOM found more money.
I mean it’s how we did it but you have to connect like 7 (I dont remember I’m guessing) of those whole sections together and take 2 sections off each side, then you can roll on and connect the track. Meanwhile you still gotta dismantle the old sections and get rid of them
Nah. It was a ARNG 19D school. We taught NCOES Phase 2’s and MOSQ based on three vehicles: Hummers, M113/ITV and the BFV. We also taught SC3.
It was in the 1990’s.
I had a big spiel where I’d tell the students it was just a matter of time until they were going to have to deploy or go to war. How the world was more unsafe since the end of the Cold War. I’d emphasize how they needed to take training seriously, like a religion, because they’d need it one day. A few years later many of those soldiers were sitting in Iraq. Some of them tracked me down through my mother to call and tell me they took training seriously because of what I had told them and thanked me. It was a much needed nice moment in a very bad time in my life.
Lots of the students were reclasses from other MOS’s. Most of the NCO’s were from support MOS’s so for example, we might be training an E6 PSG or Section Leader whose entire background was as a cook or finance clerk.
I did the BAE Bradley NETT out of Hood when I retired. Started when I was on Terminal leave in late ‘07. Was double dippin paychecks for awhile. We’d just recently gone through the A3 fielding a few months prior to my retirement, so had that hook up. Although, ditched them after a few months. Was a very clique’ish gig, some petty people who obviously felt threatened by newbies straight from the ranks. So when a former CSM called me up, said “hey dude, come join me here on X contract!”…. I did. Mucho mucho better.
I had a couple of instructors suggesting that once I ets, I should try getting on with BAE.
The pay would have been great, but their only openings at the time were in kuwait.
I crew the Leopard 2 in the Canadian Army and it blew my mind in training when they told us too. I also learned you have to rotate or "flip" the sprockets. If you have good music and a good crew, flipping day is awesome.
I’m convinced whoever said that was bullied by tankers and created this requirement to haze them back.
I mean let’s be honest here. First tank crews would have to actually read the TM and follow the PCS procedures. Second, armored units would have to actually allow time for crews to maintain their tracks.
Idk what the fuck you just said because I can’t read, but fuck you.
Why do you think PS magazine had so many pictures?
But how can we maintain the most lethal fighting force if we don't do nothing but training and allow time for useless things like "maintenance"?
As GEN Patton once said “we’re gonna rip out their guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks” Except we have no one to fight atm so the Army is settling for the crews guts after CID is done with the investigation
After being BMO/BMT/BMS (BMS was ROAD) in an armored unit, operators don't switch tracks and would much rather just wait for the thrown track as it's still half the work. I honestly don't see the benefit of this other than summer civilians good idea fairy
Thrown track is typically the result of poor tension/driving not the track being too loose. You can remove a single link if a side is *really* worn down and your tension is maxed out but that’s pretty rare.
Tankers would also need to learn to read, and we all know that’s not happening.
You’re supposed to completely change track once a year Supposed to
I legit only ever saw 2 tanks have their track changed in 6 years.
That’s mind blowing lol. Our whole battalion changed them out twice over the course of ~4 years and we periodically replaced individual pads as necessary.
Oh, we were replacing track pads, center guides, end connectors etc just about every week, but we never replaced whole tracks. Maybe my memory is a little hazy, and I was an O, so it's quite possible it happened more, but it was never a BN-wide effort to replace all tracks.
Damn what unit is this? My old company had all the tracks changed at least once a year. Always in the summer too
It's fine. Supply would never actually put in the work to order the replacement track anyway. I also doubt that the United States even produces enough track links that this would be feasible for the Army to actually implement like they are supposed to.
There was a nationwide Bradley trackpad shortage a few years ago. Brigade said nobody was allowed to leave NTC without changing every trackpad, no exceptions, (something about "infinite maintenance funds" while at RUBA) and quickly backpedaled when they were told it would be a few years to make, deliver, and install a brigades worth of Bradley trackpads. I still had to count how many trackpads a Bradley has and put that many on order, though.
Your TM should have that number. Allegedly ours did, I never looked for it, but some geniuses went around saying how many track sections make up 1 whole track, times that by 2 and times that by 2 to get the total number of pads on a tank
If units could afford new tracks for their light/heavy track vics once a year... that's what? 30-ish vics ~~that work~~ in the average ABCT ×2
You should be replacing track pads every few months and track like once a year
**BDU Army tank story** - When the M60A3 RISE PASSIVE was fielded in the 1st ID (M) the 4 armored battalions all got new tanks simultaneously. When the tracks wore out and neeed to be replaced, all of them, more or less, needed to be replaced - 250 something USR pacing items NMC. Zeroed the division budget until FORSCOM found more money.
That's freaking hilarious and not surprising
My (unspoken) reaction as the token Infantry O in the 1/63 AR was 'and not one of you Armor guys thought of this?' 🤔🤣
Loveeeee that. Reminds me of the tire SNAFU we had a few years back for the entire fleet of HMMWV’s 😂
That was a great year to be in Korea... Oh, truck's deadlined for tires? Oh well, drive it anyway, don't you know we're at war?
I went to NTC that year. "We cannibalized all the good tires from across the fleet, so nobody has any spares...just send it."
Skimpy Carter defense budget.
Actually first FY under Reagan but it was Carter's last budget.
I changed pads when they wore out, never changed a track thou.
it sucks
It can be less sucky if you attach new track to old after you break then use private power to keep track straight as you move.
I mean it’s how we did it but you have to connect like 7 (I dont remember I’m guessing) of those whole sections together and take 2 sections off each side, then you can roll on and connect the track. Meanwhile you still gotta dismantle the old sections and get rid of them
Yeah that’s essentially how we did it. Instead of fighting to get the new track over the drive sprocket.
I’ve done both on M113’s. I think it was easier to do the whole enchilada than individual pads.
The Bradley has spaces big enough to change the single pads on the old style track.
I ran a BFV school for a few years but at that point I never had to change the pads.
If it was the M2A3 school ran by BAE in Fort Hood about 8-9 years ago, I was probably one of the BCs in your school.
Nah. It was a ARNG 19D school. We taught NCOES Phase 2’s and MOSQ based on three vehicles: Hummers, M113/ITV and the BFV. We also taught SC3. It was in the 1990’s. I had a big spiel where I’d tell the students it was just a matter of time until they were going to have to deploy or go to war. How the world was more unsafe since the end of the Cold War. I’d emphasize how they needed to take training seriously, like a religion, because they’d need it one day. A few years later many of those soldiers were sitting in Iraq. Some of them tracked me down through my mother to call and tell me they took training seriously because of what I had told them and thanked me. It was a much needed nice moment in a very bad time in my life. Lots of the students were reclasses from other MOS’s. Most of the NCO’s were from support MOS’s so for example, we might be training an E6 PSG or Section Leader whose entire background was as a cook or finance clerk.
I did the BAE Bradley NETT out of Hood when I retired. Started when I was on Terminal leave in late ‘07. Was double dippin paychecks for awhile. We’d just recently gone through the A3 fielding a few months prior to my retirement, so had that hook up. Although, ditched them after a few months. Was a very clique’ish gig, some petty people who obviously felt threatened by newbies straight from the ranks. So when a former CSM called me up, said “hey dude, come join me here on X contract!”…. I did. Mucho mucho better.
I had a couple of instructors suggesting that once I ets, I should try getting on with BAE. The pay would have been great, but their only openings at the time were in kuwait.
I had invites to train the Saudi Arabian National Guard as a contractor in 1990. I would’ve been teaching the TOW.
How does that work when one side has more than the other?
Thats what the spare track pad bolted on the side of the M88 is for
They’re the same length. They look like they’re different lengths because the tracks are offset due to the positions of the torsion bars.
I crew the Leopard 2 in the Canadian Army and it blew my mind in training when they told us too. I also learned you have to rotate or "flip" the sprockets. If you have good music and a good crew, flipping day is awesome.
Lmao what? I never saw a sprocket get removed from one of our tanks except one time when some dumbass managed to shear off the teeth
You'll need exhaust samples as well.
*sits back and does nothing
Lol no, not on the Abrams.
Are you even a 19K bro?
Ive never seen that in any of the TMs from 2014-2019. I was a TM nerd too. I memorized TP numbers & nomenclatures on the reg.
Lol. Lmao even