Staff Sgt. George Grullon, a tank commander for 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, inspects a brand new turbine motor that will replace the one his tank. Grullon’s four-man crew worked with a crew of M1A2 Abrams tank maintainers and repairers to replace the motor during a busy night at Camp Cuervo in eastern Baghdad. The next morning the tank was ready to go back out on mission. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Andy Miller
Sgt. Thursha Maragh, an Abrams tank mechanic with Aces Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, works to prepare a turbine motor for installation. When an Abrams tank goes down, Maragh’s crew works through the night with the Abrams crew to ensure the tank will be mission-ready the next day. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Andy Miller
When a Tank Goes Down, Repair Crews Ready
By U.S. Army Spc. Andy Miller / 122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP CUERVO, BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 27, 2004 — Widely regarded as the world’s premier battle tank, the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment’s M1A2 Systems Enhancement Package (SEP) Abrams tanks are a vital part of the 1st Cavalry Division’s mission in eastern Baghdad.
Their tanks fought on the front lines during the Muqtada Militia uprising last April, and today they are used to conduct improvised explosive device sweeps on some of the most dangerous routes in Iraq.
When an Abrams tank goes down for repairs or maintenance, the tank crew works together with tank maintenance to get it back on mission as soon as possible.
“Our main focus is to make sure all our tanks are up,” 1st Sgt. Luis Freyre, of Company A, 2-8 Cav., said. “[When one goes down, the] priority is to get the tank up as quick as possible.”
Frequent missions and the extreme temperatures of Baghdad take their toll on the Abrams, said Staff Sgt. Kendall Titus, the maintenance supervisor for the ‘Aces’ combat repair team. The soldiers on Titus’s team are specially trained to work on Abrams tanks. Part of the team works all night long to make sure a tank that needs repairs is ready for the next day’s mission.
The rest of the story
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| Actor Tom Selleck walks the deck of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan on Thursday somewhere off the coast of California. Somewhere off the coast of California is likely to be about a million square miles. Still, I loved you in Magnum P. I.!
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Sailors stand outside the construction site at the World Trade Center in New York City on Thursday. The commission investigating the September 11, 2001, attacks unveiled its report, which cited missed opportunities to thwart the attacks, today.
Sailors are known to be bad tippers, still they always seem to wonder why they have such trouble hailing a taxi in NYC!
Sgt. Marcus Houser hugs his son, Chandler, as the Alabama National Guard’s 217th Military Police Company returns to Prattville, Ala., on Thursday. The unit was deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for a year.
Hey. Poppa, can I go with you on your next hardship tour to the Caribbean?
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| Airmen 1st Class Shawn Brown, left, and Lattrice Goldsby stand together at Tallil Air Base, Iraq. The two are sisters and deployed to Iraq from Kadena Air Base, Japan. Except for attending different technical schools, the sisters have been together throughout their military careers. They are two in a set of quadruplets. Hey, we got two out of four here, and that ain't bad!
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| The aircraft carrier George Washington enters the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday after transiting the Strait of Gibraltar. The Norfolk, Va.-based ship is returning from a scheduled deployment conducting missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Summer Pulse 2004, the simultaneous deployment of seven carrier strike groups. The real George Washington never even saw the Straight of Gibralter, but that is only mentioned because there is nothing really funny about deploying seven carrier groups.
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| A Navy F/A-18F “Super Hornet” assigned to the "Black Aces" of Strike Fighter Squadron Four, home-based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif., is refueled by a KC-135R Stratotanker assigned to the Alaska Air National Guard’s 168th Air Refueling Wing during exercise Cooperative Cope Thunder 2004-01 on Wednesday. Cope Thunder is a multi-service, multi-platform coordinated combat operations exercise. Many of the current flight crews are expressing views that they are sick and tired of the "self-service" refueling stations. |
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| A Humvee drives past Iraqi children sweeping a bomb site on a street in northern Baghdad on Friday. An improvised explosive devise detonated as a bus drove the area, wounding eight Iraqi, including a child. Mayor Giullanni evicted the unwelcome window washers from the tunnel ramps in NYC, but they still find their way to lucrative intersections in other areas. |
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Actor Tom Selleck shakes hands with Petty Officer Shaunik Johnson aboard the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan on Thursday. Hey Tom, we saw you in that movie "in and out." With that grip, we are convinced, you must be gay.
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Michael Reagan, far left, son of former President Ronald Reagan, looks back as an F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the deck of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan on Thursday. Michael is still learning that light travels faster than sound!
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| Staff Sgt. Todd Reid talks with his wife, Christine, on Thursday before leaving for Iowa from Salina, Kan. Reid and other members of the 425th Army Reserve were leaving for Iowa to train before eventually deploying to Iraq. The Reids were married July 16. Hey Sarge, Congratulations!
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Staff Sgt. Garry Bledsoe, of Topeka, Kan., says goodbye to his son, Christian, 3, before departing from Salina, Kan., on Thursday for Iowa. Members of the 425th Army Reserve will train in Iowa before eventually being deployed to Iraq.
Iraq, Iowa, from here, they all seem like the same place. O.K., O. K. I am just kidding Granny!
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The merchant ship Cenk Kapatanoglu, from Istanbul, is detained Thursday in the Delaware Bay, near Milford, Del., by the Coast Guard after it was reported to have a bomb onboard. Actually the ship was contained because of the horrible spelling of it's nomenclature which was indiscernible to military security officials.
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Just another day at the office for our Troops!