Thanks, but no tanks

[Edward Campbell]

Some things never, ever change; do they?   This, from today's Globe and Mail at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050307.wedit0307/BNStory/Front/

Thanks, but no tanks

Monday, March 7, 2005 Updated at 8:24 AM EST
Associated Press

Oslo â ” It has not been good week for Norwegian tank drivers. First a new car was smashed during a training exercise, now this.

Norwegian homeowner Odin Viken woke with a start Monday, fearing his house was being shaken by an earthquake.

But this earthquake was man-made: a 26-tonne tank slammed into Mr. Viken's house in Vassbotna, some 565 kilometres north of Oslo, about 5:30 a.m., the military said.

The tank, a Norwegian CV-90 armoured fighting vehicle, was part of the 15-nation Battle Griffin military exercise in western and northern Norway, a statement said. There were no injuries.

The tank went through a wall and part way into the bathroom, Mr. Viken said on national radio.

â Å“It sounded like an earthquake. The whole house shook, and it was terrible,â ? he said. â Å“I was very afraid and very angry.â ?

The military said the cause of the accident was being investigated, while Mr. Viken said the driver told him that he lost control after the vehicle struck an ice patch.

On Wednesday, a 40-tonne Leopard tank ran over a nearly new Mercedes-Benz on a roadway, flattening half the car but causing no injuries.

The Battle Griffin exercise with 14,000 NATO and other troops lasts through March 11.

During the '60s we got quite used to having Canada (and British, Dutch and German) tanks and APCs share a living room, here and there, with the locals.

There is a famous story â “ I don't care if it is not true â “ about a road move at the beginning of which the CO had said, â Å“And finally, lads, I don't want any APCs breaking down at Gasthofs, it's getting too common and too convenient ... you just roll on by and call in from down the road.â ?   A few hours later a call came in, from a rifle section APC, giving his LOCSTATE as the Gasthof zur Post.   The CO flew into a rage, he grabbed the Maint O's handset and shouted: â ?No Gasthofs, I said, now you get out of that place and get back to your track!â ?   â Å“But, sir,â ? the young corporal said, â ? you don't understand, my track is in here with me.â ?    

 

[Blue Max]

LOL  ;D

What these politically correct times miss, is a sense of humour.

B M.

 

[vangemeren]

Back home in Pet, I see all the different vehicles with a yellow "student driver" sign that drive by my house.

 

[Infanteer]

Hey, Matt Fisher is there - maybe he'll have some good stories to tell us....

 

[TCBF]

Do you mean Mathew Fisher, the journalist who I stopped from walking into a minefield at Kandahar Airfield?

Tom

 

[Infanteer]

No, I mean Matt Fisher, our resident Canuck in the USMC on these boards who is on that EX.

 

[Marderwpg]

I recall a night on Fall Ex 1980 when one of 3 troop B squadron's Leopard tanks met a simaler fate.   End Ex had been called in the early evening and we spent the rest of the evening celebrating.   After we crashed out for the night we were given orders to redo the final attack.  

The cobblestone roads were slick with mud and rain.   The tank in front of us took out the flowerbed .. and we went right into the side of some poor souls house.   In the   drivers defence, he had not even been drinking that night.

I will never forget the look on the persons face as he came outside a few minutes later. shaking his fist at us and yelling at us.   I do recall the driver slamming the hatch closed and refusing to comeup.....  

Times gone by.....

History does repeat itself.

...Marderwpg