Help from some Tankers (1 Viewer)

[Captain]

In the spring of 1976 I went to Ft. Irwin on a ride-a-long with a reserve outfit and rode around in a tank for the weekend. It was to help me decide if I wanted to join the army, armor inparticular or, what I wanted to do as I was about to graduate high school. I can't remember what the tanks were that we were in. I'm leaning toward the M48 Patton but it could have been an M60. Any old Tankers out there that might know? Oh, even though I really enjoyed the tanks I decided on moving back home to Virginia and spent the next decade or so practicing debochery and self defilation. Probably the reason I cant remember what the tank was. Thanks for any help.

 

[1879fanatic]

I wasnt in Armor just in front of them, but if it was a reserve unit, you probably rode in 48's. The 60's were probably shredding farmland in Germany.
Mike

 

[Captain]

Thank you. I was thinking the turret looked more like the m48 but didnt know if they were still using them then.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi There,

I have been out of the net for 15 days and missed this question. I would have to see a photo to be sure but the M-48 was being used by the Reserves back then. Some really special units may have had M-60's but for the most part they would probably have had M-48's. I went thru Irwin as a player in the 1980s and then was posted there as an OC in the Mid 1990's it was a tough place to work but it gave us the edge in the long run.

Any way post a photo if you can

All the best

Dave

 

[binder001]

In the mid-1970s I remember seeing some M60s in certain reserve component units. The Army was in transition; the US had sent a bunch of M60 and M60A1 types to Israel to replace their losses in the 1973 "Yom Kippur War". The US realized that theior war reserves were inadequate in the face of the serious threat from antitank guided missles (ATGMs). The US accelerated production of the M60A1 but was limited by foundry capacity. The other way to get decent tanks to the troops was to upgrade the old M48-series, thus the M48A5 was born. The M48A1s and A3s were stripped down and rebuild with new components, including the 105mm M68 gun as found in the M60 and M60A1, along with the diesel engine of the M60s (if not already fitted). M60A1s were about ready to be replaced/upgraded to M60A3, and were still the primary equipment of the active Army and Marines. The M1 Abrams would come into service about 1982-ish.

I used to ask the Nebr. National Guard (E/167CAV) to let me take pictures of their tanks. During the mid-to-late 1970s they went from M48A3s to M60s to M48A5s.

So your ride in CA was likely an M60 or an M48A5 - by that time there were fewer and fewer unrebuilt M48A1s. Again, just a wild guess based on the tanks of that time.

Gary B.