[OutSpot]

Dam!

[backhoe]

"Something" felled an M1A1 Abrams tank in Iraq - but what?
... tank is marked by a circle in the above photo, showing the damage behind the skirt.
A close-up of the mysterious round’s point of entry. The round penetrated ...
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1010258/posts - 60k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

Projectile that penetrated M1A1 Abrams Tank still a mystery
... Projectile that penetrated M1A1 Abrams Tank still a mystery Strategypage.com ^
| Oct 31,2003. ... Projectile that penetrated M1A1 Abrams Tank still a mystery. ...
freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1012242/posts?page=72 - 37k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

M1-A1 Abrams: tough to kill, but not invulnerable
... as much attention as the review of the Army's lumbering M1-A1 Abrams tank's performance
in ... I don't know of one instance that the frontal armor was penetrated. ...
freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/921019/posts - 73k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

[armyboy]

WTF! where did they get the weaponry to do this?

[demlosers]

You cannot tell from those pics if the Abrams tank had its armor penetrated. What I see is a fire on the outer part of the tank. It could have been a Molotov cocktail.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Maybe they penetrated it with a thing called love... /sarcasm

[Steel and Fire and Stone]

It's combat. We will take losses. Equipment is no better nor smarter than it's operators, including the Field Commander (re: how he employs it).

Losses and deaths, though regretable and tragic, are acceptable. Losing the mission is not.

Bush and the JCS had better regroup and rethink the order of battle. We need to recognize that the enemy is Islam, and potentially, all Muslims. The U.S. had better understand the role of Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other countries where support flows from (either directly or indirectly sponsored by their governments), and take direct action to end support to the insurgents. If the battlefield needs to be expanded to win the war, it'd better be done now. If we need to be more ruthless, and engage in less "nation building" to guarantee victory and minimize the returning bodybags, then we need to change our tactics. If we need to double the number of troops in the field, and expand the standing military head counts, then Bush had better NOT be late doing so.

I can't think of anything that would cause me to support a lying, dishonorable, traitor like Kerry. But Bush will lose my support if we're not in this fight to win, if the U.S. will not take the bold steps necessary to win the war.

If we're not in this to win, and win with MINIMUM necessary losses, then better to bail out and let the Kerry Democrats have the country. As a military man, I'm losing my confidence in the Bush team. Election year politics cannot dictate military strategy.

SFS

[konijn]

The attack by dozens of masked gunmen on a police station in a north-western Sunni Muslim area of Baghdad - the first of its kind in the capital - developed into a running gun battle with American soldiers. Elsewhere, a US tank was set on fire on a road west of Baghdad after, according to locals, it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by a 10-year-old boy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1189821,00.html

[Broadside Joe]

At one time (not any more they fixed it) they could get at the engine with RPG's.

[Eagle Eye]

Hint: It's not invincible.

[hershey]

The longer we allow this, the weaker we appear. We need to drop a few MOAB's. That's all they understand.

[Iris7]

Since this Iraq business started I have been hearing a lot of talk about the "invincible" Abrams. I decided to investigate this, because the popular view, that the Abrams was "invulnerable", had to be wrong, as the popular view always is.

Anyway, the bottom line is that the Abrams is pretty easy to take out by someone either lucky or skilled. I will not get any more specific.

I have been quiet about this stuff, since the enemy most certainly reads the Free Republic, but the cat is now out of the bag, the horse has run off, and the milk is spilled.

The very unfortunate reality is that US training and doctrine and the resulting combat hardware are not suited for the current war. The Fallujah operation we have been watching over the last few days has had many casualties without much good effect, very unfortunately. Totally unnecessary American deaths are happening, maybe one half to two thirds of the combat casualties. Very not good. Encourages the bad guys besides.

[Finalapproach29er]

A Tom Hanks, W.W.II "sticky-bomb"?

[Batrachian]

Abrams tanks are, and always have been, vulnerable at the rear. That's no secret. There's no real armor there, only relatively thin plate steel. Toss a bomb on the back deck, or hit the exhaust grill with an RPG, and you'll take out the engine, and probably set the fuel on fire as well. The crew will escape, because they're well protected, but the tank will be out of action. Eventually the Army will come back and tow it away and fix it if it can be fixed. I doubt the Iraqis have anything to tow away a 70 ton tank.

A few M1s where lost during the initial combat phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the way I described. It's painful for an old Armor guy like me to see, but that's what happens when you let the enemy get behind you.

[boris]

They can kill Israeli Merkva tank--considered the best tank in the world--or close to it.

The terrorists take an old water heater and fill it with 200 kg of C-4, bury it in the road and set it off underneath the tank by remote control when the tank rolls over it.

--Boris

[F14 Pilot]

The question is who or what country is giving them Anti-Air, Anti-Tank weapons?

[verity]

Nothing that is man-made is invulnerable!

[Diverdogz]

Dam?

[fso301]

Kid with the RPG was propably on the overpass, shot down and hit the engine compartment.

[Happy2BMe]

Jihad warriors got one of our Abrams M1 tanks - ping.

[Colonel Jim]

It is not invincible!

[fightu4it]

As the liberal media in this country increases it's attack on our President there will be a corresponding increase in the attacks on our troops in Iraq.

The time to make those responsible aware of the consequences of their actions is now, before any more troops are attacked.