Operation Just Cause: The Armor-Infantry Team in the Close Fight

enemy fire subdued, LT Kozar backed his tank out, and the wounded were evacuated without incident. APERS Engagements The next day, LT Jennings, 2d Platoon leader, and his wingman moved slowly through the jungle and over alight bridge guided by an infantry squad from 4th Battalion, 325 Airborne Infantry Regiment. The battalion was preparing to assault the PDF’s Ranger, Airborne, and Air Assault training base. LT Jennings was tasked to support by fire.

When the order was given to assault, the infantry commander used the Sheridan’s rear deck telephone to lift and shift the tank’s fire, helping to prevent fratricide. The wingman overwatched a road that was obscured by dense forest, which the AC-130 (SPECTRE) could not cover. During this assault, enemy personnel were identified moving along this road, and the Sheridan responded by firing a flechette round. No enemy personnel attempted to counterattack down that route. The rules of engagement specified that we identify a PDF soldier with a weapon or a combatant about to commit a hostile act before we could engage; hence, most of our engagements were directed at stationary targets at a range of 50-400 meters. Only once did we engage a moving target which occurred immediately after shooting two rounds into a building and the infantry moved forward to sort out the EPWs. The tanks were in the process of repositioning when, from around the building, came a yellow Toyota Corolla carrying PDF members attempting to escape. SGT Pennington, the tank’s gunner, identified, fired, and hit the car before it could enter the highway...at a range of 100 meters.

Uniquely Suited to Armor-Infantry Close Battles While the M551A1 General Sheridan has served the Army longer than any mount since the horse, it remains a lethal and versatile weapon system. Despite its age, Sheridan OR rates remain in the high 90s. Its unique ability to be delivered by parachute during the crucial airborne assault phase of a forced entry operation provides planners enormous flexibility — and the commander on the ground an enormous advantage. In contingency operations where METT-T often will not require a system capable of defeating massed formations of state-of-the-art main battle tanks, where airframes are always scarce, and where the in-country road net frequently limits the utility of our near 70-ton MBT, the M551A1 Sheridans of the Army’s parachute tank battalion continue to offer the commander the decisive edge.

ARMOR — 35 Major Frank Sherman is the operations officer of 3/73 Armor, Fort Bragg, N. C.

Above, a 152-mm HEAT round from a Sheridan impacts on the Comandancia, military headquarters of the Panamanian defense forces.

Above left, the concrete wall surrounding the Comandancia after being penetrated by a 152-mm HEAT round. At left, the remains of the bus that attempted to block LT Kozar’s move into the Comandancia. “During this assault, enemy personnel were identified moving along this road, and the Sheridan responded by firing a flechette round.

No enemy personnel attempted to counterattack down that route.”