Posted on 03/07/2005 7:31:58 AM PST by franksolich
Another military tank runs amok
Last week, a military tank rolled over a private car driven by a couple leaving a ski center in Nord-Trøndelag. On Monday morning a family was rudely awakened when another armoured tank rammed into the wall of their house in the same area.
The family home at Høylandet in Nord-Trøndelag was damaged when the CV-90 tank, driving through the neighbourhood in connection with a NATO exercise, encountered a patch of ice.
A military spokesman said the tank went into reverse when it began to slip on the ice, but then hit the house at aroung 5:30 a.m.
The NATO exercise called "Battle Griffin" has been underway in the area for the past week, leading to an unusual amount of military vehicles.
Commander Thom Knustad told news bureau NTB that the operation requires military personnel "to operate close to houses in the local area."
He said there were no reports of injuries when the tank hit the house.
Two other local residents also escaped injury but had a bad scare when they encountered a tank head-on, while driving down a narrow mountain road from the Bjørgan Ski Center.
The couple pulled off to the side of the road but there wasn't room for both the car and the tank, which proceeded to roll right over the side of the car.
The driver of the tank has apologized, calling it an accident, but he faces displinary action.
When I started the Norway ping list 38 days ago, it seemed Norway was a pretty laid-back, common-sensical, place to be, what with their being a part of the Coalition of the Willing in both Afghanistan and Iraq, their coming-to-their-senses immigration policies, and the high quality of the Norwegian border guards, always catching people up to no good.
But now, things like this, and two times in a few days.
They ain't seen nothing yet - just wait 'till they get SUV's over there!
Are there nonmilitary tanks?
There are a very few in private hands. Mostly de-milled (i.e. guns rendered inoperative) WWII relics.
It all started when the driver said to the gunner "Hey, watch this!"
And some say NATO should be disbanded???? Just think of the damage they could do in an enemy country.
That's a question one should ask--and I will ask--our excellent translators in Oslo, the incomparable "Nina Berglund" and the unparalleled "Jonathan Tisdall," two of the finest translators on the staff of non-English-written newspapers.
But, sometimes mistakes happen; one should try to decipher the "English" used in Hungarian newspapers, for example.
It would be quite nasty if a septic tank ran amok.
Well, what's confusing about all this is that the Norwegian military--in both Afghanistan and Iraq--is doing such an excellent, professional, top-notch, job.....but then the Norwegian military, on its own soil, seems, uh, rather sloppy.
This by the way is in exercises conducted along with the U.S. Marines, who landed in Norway last week.
clutch. CLUTCH!
HUMMER and that new behemoth that is supposed to be even bigger (and cost twice as much).
Did the civilians get squished? wasn't clear in article.
You know, it just doesn't make sense.
Norway has what has to be the best border guards in the world--nothing gets by those guys--but on the other hand Norway appears to have the sloppiest local police and private security guards (given the recent theft of the Munchies, in broad daylight).
George Bush recently decorated the Norwegian mountain troops, for their efficiency, effectiveness, and professionalism in Afghanistan and Iraq--the first foreign military service to be honored by the United States in more than forty years--and then we have this.....
I think I would classify those as arks.
No, apparently no one was hurt, but I sure hope they were wearing brown pants when the tank came through their walls.
"It all started when the driver said to the gunner "Hey, watch this!"
Could it have been "Hold muh aquavit?"
I wondered if the vehicles were simply enjoying a bit of winding down after a day on the slopes by winding up the engine on an inviting winding mountain road - when around a corner they met Mr. Tank.
Ha! Tanks and SUVs will be waging war in the streets.
Weep for the women and children!
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