Tanker Grief

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Tankers get a lot of grief from infantrymen, because we're supposedly safe behind our armor. Well here's what happens to tankers who get hit. (This is a Syrian tank being hit by an Israeli anti-tank guided missile).

What you see here after the initial hit is the ammunition inside the tank "cooking off". First the initial explosion of the missile; then the small arms or machine gun ammo starts popping; then the main gun rounds start to go off--first the gunpowder ignites, then the high explosive in the warheads. It looks like that tank might have been carrying white phosphorus rounds, which burn at 5,000 degrees fahrenheit.

This is actually the exact nightmare I used to have. Except that I was inside the tank, in the gunner's seat, watching the warhead penetrate the armor in slow motion.

So, any volunteers for the tank corps? No?

To be honest, I don't really know why I became a tanker. When I was a little boy, my brother showed me a World War II book with a picture of a German tanker burned to a blackened, shriveled husk, dead halfway out of the hatch while trying to escape. That image was in my mind as I signed the papers. Maybe there is a reason why tankers have a reputation for being dumb.