The Stories Are True: Your Head Will Not Stop Main Gun Recoil

The Stories Are True: Your Head Will Not Stop Main Gun Recoil by First Lieutenant Larry E. Johnson I doubt that any tanker will ever forget the first time he entered a tank: an old, grizzly sergeant standing there, combat patch on his right sleeve, CIB above his left pocket. With a collapsible pointer, or maybe just a branch from the nearest tree, he points to several features of the vehicle, and describes how this feature works, or how that one is meant to work. Then, he looks you squarely in the eye and says, "Whatever you do, boy, don't EVER get caught behind this sucker when it fires, because it will do some nasty things to you. I once knew a guy..." And he proceeds to tell you all the nasty things a breechblock can do to you if you are caught in the path of recoil. Hopefully, this article will provide readers with "lessons learned" about that subject, and provide insights into how not to ever let an event like this happen again. On July 24, 1990, I experienced and survived such an event. My cavalry troop had been familiarizing students with the M1 Abrams tank. After watching a live firepower demonstration, the students received a safety briefing, and went by pairs to tanks on the, firing line, while other students went to weapons familiarization classes. Each tank commander on the line used a set of pre-prepared "cue cards" that described outside features of the tank, progressively moved the TC and his new crew inside the vehicle. Once inside, each student was taken carefully through the different steps required to safely arm and fire two rounds of 105-mm HEAT-", and 50 rounds of both M240 and S O caliber machine gun ammunition. My third p u p of students that morning included an allied student. After introducing myself, I added another safety measure by telling the students that they would not touch anything on the tank until I instructed them to do so, especially any of the gunner's controls or switches. Again, as I had done previously with each group, I cautioned this new crew about safety, and the importance of asking questions about anything they did not understand. As much as possible, I demonstrated the different functions of the turret from the commander's station. As we carefully progressed through the different steps of arming the main gun, I noticed that the allied student, whom I had placed in the gunner's seat, seemed to have slight difficulty understanding terms such as "laser rangefinder," "thermal imaging system," and other terms familiar to tankers. However, once I explained or demonstrated the function of a certain item, both students seemed able to catch on quickly. As expected, there were several times, however, when I had to repeat myself or redemonstrate a function to one or the other student as a means of helping them understand the different systems. By now, we have the main gun prepared to fire, with the GPS laid center of mass on the target. Before firing, I repositioned the loader's body position, and told the gunner to again determine the range to the target, using the thumb buttons on the gunner's power control handles, and repeat that range back to me as we had done several times before. After ensuring the loader was away from the path of recoil, I noticed the gunner still had not repeated the distance to the target yet; he was hesitating because he could not remember if he was to depress the palm switches as he depressed the laser thumb button. Believing that I was not in the path of recoil myself, I leaned slightly forward and a bit to my left to see what the trouble was, when the student depressed both the palm switches and the trigger, firing the main gun. The right side of the gun recoiled into the left side of my face, striking almost in the center along my nose. I was immediately knocked unconscious and thrown to the rear of the turret, my CVC helmet thrown off somewhere in the process. I finally regained consciousness in a semi-upright sitting position in the commander's seat with a long cut over my left eye. Quick reactions by both students and my driver resulted in a cease fire freeze, and my body was extracted from the turret and placed on the back deck. In just a short time, I was flown by MEDEVAC to the post hospital. As you might expect, there were several injuries, such as a skull fracture, broken teeth, and spinal fluid leakage, along with other injuries. I remember nothing about being hit and had no idea what had happened until about two hours later, when I discovered that I was in a civilian hospital. There are many lessons to be learned from this experience, and I offer those I feel are most important. In fact, the first lesson is actually a "lesson confirmed." No crewmember should ever place ANY part of his 24 ARMOR - JUly-AUgUSt 7997 body behind the main gun once it has been armed, nor should he assume that any portion of his body is away from the path of recoil. Although I have been a tanker for eight years, I made the mistake of not having the loader and gunner disarm the gun, and incorrectly assumed my body was not in the path of recoil. Perhaps the next lesson should be that I never should have placed the allied student in the gunner's seat. If I had placed him in the loader's position upon entering the tank, then it is very possible that he would have been more familiar with the terms used for firing, and may have felt more comfortable once it became his turn to fire the main gun. Even a short bit of familiarization is better than no familiarization. Another lesson of value is that I was wearing a Kevlar-shelled CVC helmet when I was hit (see photo). The microphone on my normal helmet had malfunctioned earlier that morning and I traded it for another CVC, which just happened to have a Kevlar shell. When the breech recoiled into my head and face, the blow was spread over my head rather than through one central point. I can say here that in the areas where there was no protection from the CVC (such as my face), there were several injuries. I strongly believe this step alone saved my life. As the photo at left shows, the CVC is still very much usable, having suffered a dent about 1/8" deep and four inches long. Training a crew to react quickly is always important. Although I had been with these crewmen for just about twenty minutes, they were smart enough to realize that this incident was a true emergency. The student loader immediately called the tower, saying that there was a major problem on our tank. In addition, my permanently assigned driver, listening over the intercom, reacted so quickly that he shut the tank down instantly, rushed to the commander's hatch, and assisted in removing me from the tank. Another lesson to be learned here is that ANY student who is about to participate in a live-fire exercise should first go through some form of hands-on training, such as UCOFT or a motor pool "Round Robin," where he can actually place his hands on the controls and see how the turret traverses, how the breech operates, and so on. Doing so would cut down on the number of training accidents. An addition to this lesson is that each student should also be allowed to experience the firing of the main gun before actually firing it himself. One way to accomplish this is to have the students arm the gun as usual, but not let the student gunner place his hands on the gunner's controls. The only items on which the sa-dent g u ~ ~ ~ e r would place his hands would be the magnification lever for the main gun, the ammo select switch, and the main gun select switch. The TC, explaining each step along the way to firing, would then lase and fire the weapon from his position. While this step alone can never ensure complete safety, it will still add a measure of respect for what the main gun can do from inside the tank. Anyone who experien-ARMOR - July-AuguSt 1991 ces the rocking and the recoil of the main gun as it fires certainly keeps a wary eye toward the recoil path after that. I know I will from now on. Still, mistakes will happen. I suppose there are many more lessons to be learned from this experience, and I'm sure I've covered only a small portion here. My hope is that it never happens again to anyone. Tank crews must always be conscious about checking each member of the crew for safety hazards, and continually keep an alert eye for ANYTHING that can cause an accident. Most of all, quick reaction, knowledge of safety procedures, and intercrew communication can prevent not only a breech accident, but many other accidents as well. From the day we become tankers, we are warned that the breech can do many bad things to us if we're caught behind it: I'm living proof that the stories are true. First Lieutenant Larry E. Johnson is a 1988 Distinguished Military Graduate of the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where he majored in psychology and minored in American history. A prior enlisted soldier having served in 2-70 Armor, Ft. Stewart, Ga., 1-64 Armor, FRG, and 4th Battalion, 1st Armor Training Brigade, Ft. Knox, he has served as a tank commander, platoon sergeant, S3 assistant operations, and drill sergeant. A graduate of the Aviation Officer's Basic Course, Armor Officer Basic Course, and the Scout Platoon Leader's Course, he is currently assigned as an M1 platoon leader with C Company, Task Force 1-10 Cavalry, Ft. Knox. 25