Army·Weapon system retired·In Memoriam
M48/M60 Armor Crewman
19E
Served: c.1965–1997
Crewed the M48 Patton and M60 Patton main battle tanks — the workhorse US tanks of Vietnam and Cold War Europe.
The Story
A 19E who spent a career on the M60A3 walked into an M1A1 and found *everything* different — turbine engine instead of diesel, smoothbore gun instead of rifled, separate loader station for sabot/HEAT, computerized fire control. Most retrained. Some retired rather than learn.
Epitaph
“Mastered the diesel Patton. Was asked to forget all of it.”
Sources
- Wikipedia — M60 tanken.wikipedia.org