Photo By Spc. Deborah Ledesma | CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - Sgt. 1st Class Cornelius Parson, an AFS Battalion M1A1 systems...... read more read more
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By Spc. Debrah Robertson
40th Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - Seventy tons of steel plow down a paved road. The M1A1 Abrams tank's treads pull it forward with surprising ease and it takes the next curve like a track star on the final turn to the finish line.
This is not a scene out of Baghdad. This is a typical sight at the Army Field Support Battalion-Kuwait Test Track at Camp Arifjan, supporting Third Army/U.S. Army Central. The battalion uses the test track, built in January, to test drive an assortment of vehicles for the Army Materiel Command.
"Every man and woman that serves our country deserves the best piece of equipment," said Sgt. 1st Class Cornelius Parson, an AFS Battalion M1A1 systems maintainer. "I feel great knowing I make a difference keeping units' combat readiness up to strength so that they can accomplish the mission in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Built by the Corps of Engineers, the track hosts the largest tank built today, the Abrams.
"It is important to test tanks on the track for safety and control measures," said Parson. Capable of smashing through city rubble and destroying the enemy, the maintainers treat the Abrams like a delicate piece of equipment on the track, with every maintenance issue addressed.
If there is a maintenance problem, such as a tread breaking, then it is safer for it to occur on the designated track, said Parson. It also helps to have the vehicle in an isolated area so that the maintainers easily spot leaks along the track.
If the tank test track was not available to the tank maintainers, they would have to lay a course out in the desert, said Parson.
Using the circular track allows for an unlimited distance, whereas a course marked in the desert would require the operator to drive back and forth because it is too difficult to mark a circular course in the desert, he said.
After the contractors at AMC repair a vehicle, the maintainers quality assure it.
"We are strict on our checks," said Sgt. 1st Class Dale Green, an Abrams maintainer with the AFS Battalion.
The maintainers ensure it meets 10 crew level maintenance and 20 mechanic level maintenance standards.
Once the maintainers are out on the track testing tanks, they guarantee the engine has 100 percent horsepower and the suspension works like it should, said Sgt. 1st Class David Moore, also an Abrams maintainer with the AFS Battalion.
The maintainers also quality assure the brake systems. It is important that such vital systems work properly, he said.
Fire controls and the nuclear, biological and chemical systems can save the lives of the tankers who will operate the Abrams in combat, said Moore. These safety controls are vital to both the tank and the tanker.
What may seem like a small problem to a civilian in his privately owned vehicle, can mean the difference in making it home alive to a Soldier or Marine in battle.
Running out of gas in the streets of Baghdad is not a viable option.
"We assure the tank will get the proper fuel mileage [for the war fighter]," said Parson, "and the vehicle will be able to perform the mission."
"After all that, the tanks are ready to move up north," said Moore.
| Date Taken: | 11.22.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 11.28.2006 11:25 |
| Story ID: | 8406 |
| Location: | ARJIFAN, KW |
| Web Views: | 243 |
| Downloads: | 167 |
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