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When I was with 1st Bn, 32d Armor, 3d Armored Division 75-78, we had ‘grease guns’ as a crew served weapon on our tanks. Since we were only issued M1911s, the Grease Gun was used when we dismounted at night lager for outposts and perimeter guard. The 3-12 Cav’s M-60 tanks still had them in the mid-1980s. The main reason was that there was NO place to safely store a M-16 inside the M-60 series tank. I recall that our FO brought his M-16, even though told by the company commander not to. The tank ate it — that is, it got caught on the turret when it rotated and proceeded to bend it into a piece of junk.

You got lager on guard duty?

Cool!

Sorry, can’t help myself sometimes.

I think lived across the parade field from you, Scouts, CSC, 3/33 Armor.

The class VI store and the Rod & Gun Club were right behind our barracks, I was there a little later though, ‘80-’82.

Parade ground was still off limits after dark though and an SDO doing a walk through got very, very angry one night when “Doc” Savage, one of our mechanics whipped out a tape measure to “measure the LT for his wall locker”.

We didn’t have any Grease guns in Scouts but the guys on the cherry picker in HQ plt did and we got to fire them for familiarization like we did Soviet small arms, in case we ever picked one up.

We did a lot of crawling around on/in Soviet vehicles in Vilseck for familiarization too; ammo, fuel storage positions, kill anybody with more than one antennae, etc.

The main reason was that there was NO place to safely store a M-16 inside the M-60 series tank. I recall that our FO brought his M-16, even though told by the company commander not to. The tank ate it — that is, it got caught on the turret when it rotated and proceeded to bend it into a piece of junk.

That's the same problem the Isaelis had when they took the Uzis away from their tankists and gave them cut-down M16 carbines, suppoisedly for *ammunition standardization* with their mech infantry. They issued 20,000 M16A1 shorties with the push-pull stoch, and within less than a year, had 9000 broken, bent, squashed and otherwise ruined weapons.

Now they've cut down some steel-receivered Glilon MAR carbines with a sidefolder stock for the tank crews, and they seem to be working much better. And as they get turned in, tankers being proud of their ability to break ANYTHING, they're getting new Tavor bullpup shorties, which seem to be both reasonably well liked and reliable as the old Uzi.

But the muzzle blast and flash from a 5.56mm cartridge in a 10-inch barreled weapon is still like a flashbulb going off. And there's a Tavor version with a shorty silencer....