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Tank drivers


RedWardancer

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I drove the M2 Bradleys.  The turret was enclosed inside aluminum walls in the middle of the hull, while I had open space directly behind me which was the "hell hole."  There was zero contact of any kind with the turret.  In seeing tanks, the driver is directly in front of the turret with only a backrest between himself and the turret which was what?  Less than 12 inches away?  

 

My question is what prevented anything by the turret from snagging onto the driver?  Back of the head, arms, uniforms, CVC lines, whatever.  It just scares the hell out of me how close a rotating turret with thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch was so close to the driver's back.  

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As long as the driver stays out of the "tube" where the turret basket is there is nothing on the turret to snag the driver.  Otherwise it could be a problem just traversing the turret.  The only time I remember anyone expressing any concern was when the crews were sleeping during the night.  On M60s the drivers would lower their seats all the way down which causes the seat back to fold towards the turret making a flatter, more comfortable resting position.  This had the potential of putting the driver's head inside the "tube," especially if the driver used the turret basket as a head rest, and the possibility of giving the driver a good clonk on his head.

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Same on the Leopard. But for sleep rest turret would either have been fixed in 11:40 position to allow gunners legs to be spread to the drivers hull compartment. More likely to be at 6 o clock with the gunner TC resting on the motor with the gun and a tarp as tent. In both positions turret would have been locked

 

In the end in terms of safety while operating the tank counting the incidents / injuries

encountered In any of the units I served I would rather say the driver is the safest place. 

Edited by oakdesign
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