Tank Commanders

I was in the 14ACAV in Germany, 1963-66.  Most of our M60A1s had names painted in white letters on both sides of the turret.  You had to have a name that began with troop's letter.  For example, if you were in Bravo Troop, your name might be "Bad Boy";  Delta might have a "Dragonslayer".  Our crew came up with a name by consensus and was approved by the TC.  We had a challenge with names because we were the regimental combat engineer company, whose alphanumeric letter was "X", as in "X-ray".  So our names had to begin with the letter X.  We were "Xerxes"!  We also had an "X-ecutioner"  :0 ]

Rob & CB1,

    Thank you for the information.

In our unit we didn't put commander, gunner or driver names. Just a vehicle name on the front of the turret on the commander's side.

our Bradley was names "Landshark", My friends vehicle was "Steel Horse"

You have to remember that the four man crew of a tank has a lot of turnover. Plus many units were habitually undermanned and 3 man tank crews were common. In Germany and in the states we tended to put a lot of stock in maintaining the TC/gunner combination, but the loader and driver could change most often.

New private comes into the unit and he's assigned as a loader, but often he's shuffled off to be a driver on another tank that just had theirs transferred or promoted to be a gunner on another tank.

The majority of tank commanders are already leaders in the unit. Whether it is the battalion commander, S3 or battalion XO, company commander, company XO, platoon leaders and platoon sergeants. They've got some of the best, most prestigious jobs in the Army so it's not like they need a morale boost.

The other TCs are in effect the squad leader of their tank crew and the TC is the one who picks the name of the tank. An E6 tank commander already has a pretty cool job, his own tank and in only responsible for three other guys.

waynec

we didn't in germany in the 70s and 80s. i have a STRYKER kit that has names on a tan background so i don't know about modern stuff. modern stuff? now i feel old again.

Wayne,

     That's interesting, have you done any research to see if those names actually served in that capacity?

Rob Gronovius

Bear in mind that my experience only spans a handful of US Army armor battalions and cavalry squadrons, as well as the US Army Armor School. There are multitudes of other armor units throughout the Regular Army and Army National Guard both stateside and overseas, all of which may do it differently than I described.

Rob,

     This is true, I know as well as you do that no two units are going to do things exactly the same way.  They're going to interpret the regs differently.I guess it's kind of along the same lines that a post commander can make UCMJ regs tougher, but not (for want of a better word) "lighter."

     But I would have to think that it would be a tremendous boost to the morale of a tank commander as well as it's crew to place their names their name(s) on the tank.

     Even though I was assigned to a FA unit when I was stationed at Ft. Riley I never had the chance to actually SEE the guns.  I would have LOVED to have seen them.

That's probably a carry over from the way the unit previously did it when equipped with M113s. Seems to be an infantry thing. I also recall combat engineers did it as well.

we didn't in germany in the 70s and 80s. i have a STRYKER kit that has names on a tan background so i don't know about modern stuff. modern stuff? now i feel old again.

Bear in mind that my experience only spans a handful of US Army armor battalions and cavalry squadrons, as well as the US Army Armor School. There are multitudes of other armor units throughout the Regular Army and Army National Guard both stateside and overseas, all of which may do it differently than I described.

Rob Gronovius

It depends on the crew and the unit SOP. I spent a large portion of my career as a tank commander, but never once did I put my name on the tank or any of the tanks in the battalions I've been in. One battalion I served in didn't even put tank names on. Other battalions, tank names were customary.

I've seen M113s in our unit and others that had the driver & TCs name on a sand color block that painted on the hull side below the driver's hatch.

Rob,

     Thank you for the information.

It depends on the crew and the unit SOP. I spent a large portion of my career as a tank commander, but never once did I put my name on the tank or any of the tanks in the battalions I've been in. One battalion I served in didn't even put tank names on. Other battalions, tank names were customary.

I've seen M113s in our unit and others that had the driver & TCs name on a sand color block that painted on the hull side below the driver's hatch.