I was just watching videos of the various military vehicles being staged for Saturday's parade, drooling over the Abrams tanks, and my first thought was, "I wish I could be in that."  I was a tank crewman on the M60-A1 in Germany in the early 70's and just realized how much I can sometimes miss it.

Those tanks were hard enough to climb on when I was young and fit, but at 75 there's just no way.

Yeah, it would be nice to stand and watch the parade go by, but nothing like riding in the loader's hatch of one of the tanks.  I can't express how much fun they were.

Hook

I would like to think the parade is in honor of the US Army, plus our dog Gemma and our Grand Niece Rosie, both have June 14th birthdays.  Agreed, it would be impressive to see. 

Another X-Plane thread incoming! Quick! Everybody into the tank!

I don't have a horse in this race 🤣

5 hours ago, LHookins said:

I was just watching videos of the various military vehicles being staged for Saturday's parade, drooling over the Abrams tanks, and my first thought was, "I wish I could be in that."  I was a tank crewman on the M60-A1 in Germany in the early 70's and just realized how much I can sometimes miss it.

Those tanks were hard enough to climb on when I was young and fit, but at 75 there's just no way.

Yeah, it would be nice to stand and watch the parade go by, but nothing like riding in the loader's hatch of one of the tanks.  I can't express how much fun they were.

Hook

I was stationed in Paderborn in 68 in a tank regiment, went to a US tank base south of Frankfurt that had M60 tanks. And we carried out military maneuvers with them. 

If this goes political, you all know what circular file this topic will end up in! 

Tanks for the memories!

I once took an M47 tank into a drive in to get Bob's Big Boy hamburgers back when they had car hops.  Caused quite a stir.

Next day Commander issued an order that no military vehicles were allowed in public establishments.  😁

4 hours ago, vgbaron said:

I once took an M47 tank into a drive in to get Bob's Big Boy hamburgers back when they had car hops.  Caused quite a stir.

Next day Commander issued an order that no military vehicles were allowed in public establishments.  😁

What a pity that couldn’t be videod! 🤣 The internet would have broken. 😁 The look on the staff’s faces must have been a picture.

13 hours ago, Matthew Kane said:

I don't have a horse in this race 🤣

And I don't have a cat in this fight. 😁

Bit of trivia, the concept of the battle tank was concocted by one of my all time hero’s ole Winnie Churchill in WW1. It was called a tank to fool the Germans into thinking it was a front line water delivery vehicle rather than an offensive weapon.

6 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

What a pity that couldn’t be videod! 🤣 The internet would have broken. 😁 The look on the staff’s faces must have been a picture.

It was hilarious. I pulled up between two cars and the looks on their faces was priceless. Tanks look bulky but they are surprisingly very maneuverable.  Ah the old days!! 🙂 

Tanks for the mamaries!

We didn't have any mammarian tankers in those days.  They probably would have made superior gunners.  But the loader needed considerable upper body strength to "juggle" the 65 pound main gun rounds.

We had one guy, short and stocky and about one beard away from being one of Tolkien's Dwarves who was so fast that it was claimed he could keep two rounds in the air at the same time.  That would have bent a few procedures but knowing these guys they probably tested it at least once.

The rest of the crew had to "hump ammo", loading the rounds from the supply trucks to the ground to the loader's hatch and stowed in the tank.  Some of the maintenance required a bit of heavy lifting.

Hook

Edited June 13, 2025Jun 13 by LHookins

My last assignment before I retired from the Air Force was military attache duty in the US Embassy in Chile.  Every year on Chile's national day (Sept 18th), they hold a grand parade--the president, minister of defense, and a wide array of senior national, international and local leaders attend.  It's a 3-4 hour long affair, with units representing every one of the four services (Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Police).  Each unit has it's own band, and they all march past the reviewing stand in the same precise maneuver.  It's still done today, and actually quite impressive.  After the parade, all the dignitaries drive in a long procession down the main avenue through Santiago.  Being in that with tens of thousands of people cheering along the road was memorable.

I was a bit gobsmacked my first time attending the parade, as the dress uniforms worn by their army are a style most often associated with the German Wehrmacht in WW II--straight-necked tunics, tall jack boots, and "fritz" helmets.  And they "goose step" past the reviewing stand.

But...it's not a nazi thing at all.  It goes back to the Prussians that long pre-dated the nazis.  Chile's first president, an Irish-Chilean named Bernardo O'Higgins, was a student of the Prussian military academy in the early 1800s and he organized and led the Chileans in their war of independence against Spain.  The uniforms and military drill go back to that history.