Paraguay keeping M3 Stuart, M4 Sherman tanks in service

To: Robert A. Cook, PE

They hadn’t been invented in 1938.

81 posted on 12/30/2015 12:23:01 PM PST by ozzymandus

82 posted on 12/30/2015 12:32:22 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)

"The M3 Stuart light tank and M4 Sherman main battle tank, both nearly 75 years old, appear to be going back into service with the Paraguayan Army as operational trainers. "

If they keep 'em a little longer, they'll be able to upgrade them with railgun turrets.

(This image is sci-fi, not prototype)

Sci-fi for now, perhaps. Wire-guided or laser-guided fire-and forget 10km missiles first, railguns next. And then, Artificial Intelligence augmentation?

My forty-seven pairs of flint-steel roadwheels are in depot condition. Their tires of spun beryllium monocrystal, woven to deform rather than compress, all have 97 percent or better of their fabric unbroken. The immediate terrain is semi-arid. The briefing files inform me this is typical of the planet. My track links purr among themselves as they grind through scrub vegetation and the friable soil, carrying me to my assigned mission.

There is a cataclysmic fuel-air explosion to the east behind me. The glare is visible for 5.3 seconds, and the ground will shake for many minutes as shock waves echo through the planetary mantle.

Had my human superiors so chosen, I could be replacing Saratoga at the spearhead of the attack.

The rear elements of the infantry are in sight now. They look like dung beetles in their hard suits, crawling backward beneath a rain of shrapnel. I am within range of their low-power communications net. "Hold what you got, troops," orders the unit's acting commander. "Big Brother's come to help!"

I am not Big Brother. I am Maldon, a Mark XXX Bolo of the 3rd Battalion, Dinochrome Brigade. The lineage of our unit goes back to the 2nd South Wessex Dragoons. In 1944, we broke the last German resistance on the path to Falaise, though we traded our flimsy Cromwells against the Tigers at a ration of six to one to do it.

The citizens do not need to know what the cost is. They need only to know that the mission has been accomplished. The battle honors welded to my turret prove that I have always accomplished my mission.

83 posted on 12/30/2015 12:42:38 PM PST by archy (Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Except bears, they'll kill you a little, and eat you.)

To: Calvin Locke

Everybody knows that Serbian Donkey Cheese, aka "Pule", is a hot item right now. Why'd he want to milk a cow instead of a donkey?

Couldn't milk the horse. Janey sold the horse to go dance the Kolo.

84 posted on 12/30/2015 12:47:48 PM PST by archy (Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Except bears, they'll kill you a little, and eat you.)

Didn't some British collector buy a bunch of M3s from some South American country a couple of years ago?

Yep. See post #73 above, or Click this link

85 posted on 12/30/2015 12:49:30 PM PST by archy (Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Except bears, they'll kill you a little, and eat you.)

Any idea what Duck would be for those questions. I’d register/insure it as a Historical Vehicle.

86 posted on 12/30/2015 12:58:49 PM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)

Here is some stuff for sale. I’d love to have any but they’re all a tad over my price range.

http://armyjeeps.net/armor1.htm

87 posted on 12/31/2015 3:29:52 AM PST by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)

That’s a Drool Site. anyone visiting it, Drools on their keyboard. I know I did.

88 posted on 12/31/2015 6:12:57 AM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)

It’s hard not to.

I need to renew to MVPA. Good magazine.

89 posted on 12/31/2015 8:39:15 AM PST by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)

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