Delta Company 1-303rd Armor Makes History
Story & photos by SPC Charles Ames
To anyone unfamiliar with tanks, the Abrams Main Battle Tank makes three obvious and immediate impressions. The first is that the Abrams is remarkably quiet, especially for its size – its low rumbling is felt more than heard. The second is that they require a lot of backbreaking work to make them do what you want them to do. And the third is that they make for a very dangerous workplace. But the solders of Company D, 1st Battalion, 303rd Armor – "Delta Company… Rolling Thunder" – are extremely motivated and extremely safety conscious. Very soon you realize how seriously every soldier considers safety.
Recently, SFC Timothy S. Lowe, The Training NCO & Master Gunner for Delta Company, 1-303rd Armor, pointed out a few errors we had made in this article. Those errors have been corrected.
Thanks SFC Lowe
And yet another correction...
COL Al Gayhart, the POTO of the Idaho Army National Guard, writes "The 2-116th Cav first fired Table XII in 1993, and has continued to this day. Also, 3-116th from the Oregon Army National Guard has done likewise. I know that the Vermont Army National Guard has fired Table XII in 1996 or 1997 at Fort Knox.
Thanks COL Gayhart!
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No tanker will let you walk between two tanks that have their engines running, or pass in front of a tank while it is boresighting. They will not let you walk under a gun barrel… at all… period! And when you are moving around on top of the vehicle its "three points of contact!" It is this attention to safety and hard work that have given Delta Company its great safety record. These Guardsmen have a unique opportunity before them.
"We’re going to fire a Tank Table XII, which involves a platoon of tanks firing live ammunition at the Multi-Purpose Range Complex (MPRC) at Yakima Training Center", says 1SG Jim Johnson, who inspects Trident missiles in Poulsbo as his civilian job. "The 303rd is the first National Guard unit that has ever done a Tank Table XII, so this is going to be pretty exciting."
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Throughout the training year tank companies progress through a series of "firing tables" – pre-determined engagements at specific ranges under specific conditions. Due to the limited number of days that most National Guard tank companies are able to train, none have yet been afforded the opportunity to fire Tank Table XII. All of these engagements involve a single tank and crew. That is until you get to Table XII.
Though their Armory is located on a hilltop overlooking Bremerton, they keep their tanks at the Yakima Training Center, so this weekend begins with a bus ride to Yakima on Friday night. By the time the sun starts to come up on Saturday morning these tankers are already hard at work performing their "Before Operations" checks, drawing their special equipment and checking the guns of their Abrams tanks.
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Normally an Army National Guard tank battalion wraps up its training year with a limited live fire qualification at the MPRC at the Yakima Training Center, during its summer Annual Training. After that, its back to the beginning and the process starts over for the next year. This allows for new crew members to be trained up with a full cycle of gunnery each year.
Active duty tankers follow a similar schedule. But due to the fact that there is simply more time in which to train, active duty units normally make it through to Tank Table XII - the highest level of tank gunnery - each year.
This year the tankers of Delta Company were awarded the opportunity to be the first Army National Guard unit ever to fire Tank Table XII due to their superior performance at Annual Training during June of 1998, and their overall preparedness in all areas of performance. They have worked very hard for a very long time for this unique opportunity.
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After a tactical movement across the early morning desert landscape the men of Delta Company arrive at their destination – a vast expanse of open desert hills and valleys, and one of the most modern tank gunnery ranges in the world - the MPRC. Table XII involves a platoon of tanks - that’s four Abrams - moving "down range" to engage multiple targets simultaneously.
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Each tank crew is issued 400 rounds of .50 cal. ammunition, 800 rounds 7.62mm, 22 sabot (armor piercing) rounds and 10 HEAT (high-explosive anti-tank) rounds. There are a series of deadly serious safety and operations briefings. The tankers are tense and alert. Dignitaries look from from the Range Control Tower. The tanks pull into their defensive positions. Then the show starts.
Delta's tank platoons takes about 45 minutes to negotiate the course, and engage 30 stationary and moving targets with 32 rounds from stationary firing positions. Targets are also engaged with the co-axial 7.62mm machine gun, and the Tank Commanders .50 cal machine gun. When the smoke clears the overall score is an impressive 86%, which places the tankers of Delta Company in the Superior category. Well done Rolling Thunder!
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2nd Platoon Leader, 1LT Mark Broderick, a salesman from Seattle says "Table XII is the capstone for the training we’ve been doing for the last two years that I've been in the Guard. We have new equipment we’re training on. The fire control system is a little different. The ammunition is a different animal. The morale of our guys is on a plateau above any others. Military bearing is there, professionalism, and dedication. And when you fire... ‘Fire! On the way! Boom!’ and your tank rocks underneath you, and you’ve got a fireball that goes 20, 30 feet out in front of you and finally 2,000 meters away you see a flash on the hillside, everything comes together. Everybody’s doing their job, and it’s a good feeling."
"Tank Table XII was one of the best and most exciting things I've ever done in the National Guard", says 1st Platoon Leader 2LT Christopher Blanco of Lakewood. I would also have to say that as a leader, it is also the most time consuming, but it puts all of our training into perspective. It is actually the pinnacle of everything we do as an armor platoon. It’s an explosive show of the armor force today."
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SGT Carl Ryan is a Gunner from Poulsbo. "It’s just too bad we didn’t have more ammunition! We conducted some of the best training out of the ten years I've been in the Guard out on Tank Table XII today."
Now the fun part is over and the tedious task of putting their Abrams Main Battle Tanks "to bed" for the next month begins. First there is a tactical road march back to the "wash rack" - a massive car wash for tanks. Here the tanks are hosed off with high-pressure fire hoses, brush and rocks are removed from the tracks and the first stages of the "After Operations" maintenance check are accomplished - a checklist so thorough that it reads like the pre-flight checklist for a Boeing 747.
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Maintenance is critical to all National Guard equipment and the Abrams is certainly no exception. The vehicles are "ground guided" to the motor pool and parked in perfect formation. All of the equipment that was issued to the crews at the start of the weekend must now be cleaned, checked and turned back in. Normally this clean up would not be too difficult. But these tankers are tired and sore.
The exhilaration of the live fire has now subsided and is replaced by the anticipation of returning to their Bremerton armory, where they will be joined by their wives and children, waiting to take them home. When they arrive at the armory they are greeted by chili dogs and soft drinks prepared by their family support group. A few administrative details are attended to, a final formation and the tankers are released until next month.
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SPC David Price, an Abrams Driver, and drafter from Port Orchard says "Being a tanker is probably the best MOS [Military Occupational Specialty] you can have. It’s a neat experience. I’m a Driver, but I’m hope to be moved into a Gunner position at the beginning of the year."
Loader PV2 Chris Dulas, lives in Silverdale and works as a mechanic. But his real passion is the Abrams. His job is to stuff the 120mm shells into the Abrams main gun. "The Guard is definitely a great way to go. It gives you a lot of money for college. You meet a lot of great people. It’s nice to have a little extra money and it’s just plain fun. It’s the greatest thing in the world. I don’t think I would want to do anything else. It’s just... it. Tankin’ is the way to go!"
2nd Platoon Sergeant, SSG Edward Cole, installs heating and air conditioning and lives in Port Orchard. "The results surprised me. I thought we would do well, I think we did better than I expected. I’m looking forward to this showing that the Guard can accomplish this kind of task and I'm looking forward to doing it next year and the years after that and hopefully become a staple of our tank qualifications."
"The outstanding results that Delta Company experienced this weekend were expected. Delta Company has always held a high standard for its gunnery and maneuver and this weekend just reinforced that standard," said the Commander CPT Joseph Keller, a Mortgage Account Executive from Tacoma.
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The men of Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 303rd Armor are an impressive group of Citizen Soldiers, and the Abrams is an equally impressive vehicle. Click here to learn more about the Abrams Main Battle Tank.
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