European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 14, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse La Ity Quot Vav Sis Vince Crawley a we definitely Stop making the m1. Says sgt. 1st class William h. Fogg a master gunner in Nimberg. At right an m1 on Maneu vers in Hohenfels West Germany. Victims of peace tank makers complain bitterly by James risen los Angeles times soviet president Mikhail s. Gorbachev May be lionized around the world As the Harbinger of peace and Freedom but done to Tell that to Phil Milavec. Quot if they want to take the russians word for it. Ahugh Quot Milavec spits out. Quot i done to Tell skip Turner that the . Army s m1a1 main Battle tank a 63-ton, $2.5 million monster designed to plow up the enemy As it churns through the rolling terrain of Central Germany is now of another age a museum piece from a More threatening Era that ended of maybe six months ago. Quot the russians Quot Turner insists Quot Are still building 1,500 tanks a year. Quot and now we re not going to build Milavec and Turner along with 1,400 others at general dynamics Warren mich., tank factory have cause to talk so bitterly about the massive changes taking place in the world today. They Are caught in the Middle of a most unusual Plant closing one brought on by wonderful news. So they see themselves As the first american victims of a world turned upside Down a world where the Thunder of War seems More Distant than Ever. For them the cold War is Over. And they lost Quot we feel like we Are the victims of peace Quot Turner a Union official at the Plant says. Quot maybe not of peace really but of Hasty decision making after you be been fighting for 20 or 30 years you should t let your guard Down right the Pentagon which Only a few months ago was negotiating with general dynamics Over a contract to build 3,000 new tanks for deployment in Europe suddenly in january pulled the plug on All tank production in the United states. The department of defense announced in its 1991 budget that with peace at hand America s Only two tank plants a Warren and a sister factory in Lima Ohio a were to be mothballed and the army would have to make do with its 8,000 m1 tanks already in Stock. Congressional leaders from Michigan and Ohio Are fighting the decision. In Early april the Pentagon announced that it might consider modernizing older m-1 a a move that would keep the production lines running. But As it stands now Warren will close by september 1991 and Lima by March 1993, after filling out current orders from the army and foreign customers. The m1 tank a mainstay of America s conventional armament would thus become one of the first and certainly one of the most important a weapons systems to be sacrificed by the Pentagon since Gorbachev a reforms and the ongoing upheaval in Eastern Europe started talk of a Quot peace dividend Quot in Washington. Warrens employees Are going Down with their tank the first of what could become a tidal wave of defense workers in the coming years to be forced to find a was to wedge themselves into the civilian Economy. One of them William Vivian a country boy who has never worked anywhere else wonders where he can go How he will feed his five kids. Quot i be never been out of work before i done to even know How to look for a Job anymore Quot Vivian says with a hint of fear in his voice. Quot i May have to get two jobs just to make As much As i make Vivian and others in Warren simply done to understand Why they Are being discarded so quickly so easily after what they see As decades of work helping to preserve the peace. Worse the news of the closing hit warred ust two Days after the army presented the Plant with its highest award for Industrial Quality. You get these awards and then they double talk you Quality inspector Milavec says angrily yet Warren s closing otters the first evidence that the american military Industrial base that grew up during and after world War ii May not survive the collapse of the soviet Empire. Warren has been the nation s prime tank Plant since 1940, when Franklin Roosevelt asked Chrysler to get into the defense business. During world War ii Warren was at the heart of americans Arsenal of democracy the Plant churned out 20,000 of the 80,000 tanks produced throughout the United states Between 1941 and 1945. Ever since the massive factory has been a key economic Anchor in this Detroit suburb the production use my a a a la the future is dim for workers at the general Dyani scheduled to close by september 1991. In Januari Page 14 the stars and stripes 2nd army Tanker High on the my stories by Vince Crawley Nimberg Bureau sgt 1st class William h. Fogg has spent most of his adult life working with tanks if it were up to him the United states would keep building them for a Long time to come. Quot we definitely should t Stop making the m1, and we should continue with the improvements that were forecast Quot said the 38-year-old master gunner who a assigned to the 2nd army Cav regt in Nurnberg West Germany. He s originally from los Angeles. Quot i m certain the soviets Are not stopping production or stopping research and development Quot Fogg said. Quot just because or. Gorbachev says a we re going to be your friends does no to mean he s going to be in Power two years or three years from besides russians Arentt the Only ones on the Block Quot the world could change at any time Quot Fogg said. Quot and someone else could be our adversary Quot he stressed that his opinions Are his own not the army s. But they re backed by 17 years working with tanks his regiment just traded in its m60s a designed More than a Quarter of a Century ago a for the newest Model in the m1a1 Abrams lineup. For the most part he says it s a pretty Good tank maybe the Best. He wishes it had diesel engines rather than Jet turbines but gives Marks of excellence to the Abrams fire control suspension system and nuclear age Armor. A decade after the m1 is premiere the Jet engines Are still its most controversial feature. As late As 1982, when 55 Mph was still the posted Speed limit on american highways general dynamics boasted that tank Drivers could get speeding tickets in their m1s. Safety conscious army officials slapped a 45 Mph governor on the engine and Fogg says that tankers want to drive that fast Over a rough Battle Field anyway. He a More concerned about the engine s fuel consumption and Turbine lag. It takes a moment sometimes As much As second Between the time the Driver Quot Steps on the Gas Quot and the time the tank actually begins to accelerate. Drivers of Turbo charged sports cars should be familiar with the effect. But Fogg says that tankers in a modern fluid Battlefield might need go Power now not a second from now. Those who favor the turbines Point out that once the Power kicks in it really starts stomping. Its acceleration is the fastest of any full sized tank in nato and Warsaw pact tanks Aren t Likely to be much Aster Armor pessimists say the newest russian Model the t-80, is equal to or better than the Detroit built Abrams. Fogg says that although they might be close the russians three Man Crew is at a definite disadvantage to the four americans inside an m1. The t-80 cuts personnel costs by using an automatic loader instead of a 19-year-old from somewhere in Iowa. The Guy who humps 45-Pound tank rounds into the gun Breech is the Low Man on a tank Crew s totem pole this says Fogg is me As Long As the automatic loader keeps working but he Points out that an automatic loader can t hop off the tank with a Rifle and look around. It can t help with heavy work like the reasonably common a and crippling a mishap of a thrown track. And Fogg says Quot with the amount of stress and Strain on a Crew in combat the fewer people you have the More stress you place on the ones you do have Quot the m1 is also fairly quiet. It s hard to silence a vehicle that weighs As much As 100 Volkswagen beetles but while creeping through the Woods on the other Side of the Ridge line the m-1 makes a sound reminiscent of Distant aircraft. The tank he says is one of the easiest in the world to operate Quot if the Lank is functioning the Way it should Quot Fogg said Quot if nothing is broken on it All the gunner has to do is acquire sight the target the loader put a round m it and get orders to fire. If the tank commander agrees that a the Correct target he the gunner squeezes the As far As breakdowns Fogg said that three out of nine tanks might break Down during a three week gunnery exercise but repairs typically take Only a few hours. He said that the breakdown Rale for the venerable old m60 tank was about the same but repair took longer. Fogg agrees that tanks Aren t much Good in Jungle fighting but they hold their own in the desert. And the m1 even comes with a rudimentary form of air conditioning. Quot i d much rather be a Tanker than an infantryman or artillerymen Quot says Fogg who enlisted in tanks in 1972 when he found out his draft number was coming up a even though there Are More people out there trying to kill you it s harder to kill you than somebody who does t have a whole lot of Armor around them Quot a weapons of Choice a the numbers Are classified but at last count there were something like 1,500 m1 main Battle tanks on Active duty in Europe. Most if not All Are in West Germany. Leonardo a Vinci daydreamed about tanks 500 years ago but it was t until world War i that the British introduced them into the frontline where it was hoped they could breach the stalemate of Trench warfare. Ever since the opening hours of world War ii they have been the weapons of Choice for invasion and counterattack strategies on the european continent. Those geography books that americans supposedly never read show a Broad comparatively gentle Patchwork of Plains and forests stretching from the English Channel to the ural mountains. For 2,000 years of recorded history a archaeologists say even longer a this ground has been hotly contested and constantly trampled Over by tribal lords neighbourhood bullies megalomaniac dictators and Allied liberators it is for this ground that mechanized Armor was created soldiers Call it Quot tank a tank is really nothing More than a 20th Century warhorse. Tankers even say Quot dismount Quot when they to climbing off of their vehicles. Like a horse a tank can outrun and overpower a foot Soldier. Its psychological Impact galloping at full throttle straight toward you. Cannot be overestimated but also like a horse it makes for an inviting and costly target. It requires almost constant Upkeep and is dangerously Clumsy on rough ground and like horses tanks Are More expendable than people the retreating German army ate most of its horses in world War ii now with the cold War supposedly Over and the american army in financial Retreat weary taxpayers Are turning a hungry Eye toward their tanks a 14, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 15
