So i will tell you how i almost ran myself over with a Bradley fighting vehicle www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1787&bih=838&q=bradley+fighting+vehicle+m2a3&gbv=2&oq=bradley+fight&aq=5&aqi=g7g-m3&aql=&gs_sm=1&gs_upl=439l2936l0l5036l13l13l0l3l3l0l95
Now, with the road wheels: the wheels that support the track on the bradley; mud and everything gets stuck in the "rims" of these wheels. Thus, when you wash the bradley you cant just spray the wheels clean with a power washer because the mud tends to harden on the inside of the "rim" of the wheel. When that happens out comes the hammer,old rusty screw driver and chisel to pound the rock hard dried mud out. it may seem easy but know that the wheels are "rimmed" on both sides. therefore not only do you have to work out the mud on the outside part of the wheels but you also have to crawl underneath the bradley to chisel out the mud. Witch in my mind is a very unpleasant task because generally others are spraying the bradely with water from hue high powered hoses and being in the army people aren't all that careful to not spray you in the face (let alone laying on the ground underneath the thing that is being cleaned doesn't help either)
now that you hopefully have a basic idea of a Bradley(and washing it) I'll get on with my wonderful story
so we just get in to the wash rack from training (i am the one driving and we pull up inline to go though the birdbath.The bird bath is a pool of water about 2-3 feet deep with rivies you drive though to try and looses up all the hardened dirt and mud. Leading to the bird bath its a slight incline to keep the water in the pool like area. On that incline is right where the line a vehicles lined up and i ended up right in the middle of that incline when we lined up before the wash rack opened. Since we had some time my gunner wanted me to start makeing some head way on cleaning the wheels. So me still being fairly new to the unit and it being my 1st unit was wanting to move as fast as i could; you know so i look like a hard worker and such. So i grab my tools from behind me and hop out to crawl underneath the Bradley. i figured hit up underneath with the harder parts first, just makes sense right? so i get down with the first wheel feeling quite proud how i did that one. i was motivated to move on to the next one and did a good job on that too. i move to the 3rd and start going to town on that one. part way through i see a large rock sort of lodged in the track. i know it will have to come out sooner or later so i started hitting it with the hammer . The rock starts to chip away, as I'm doing this i hear the track creak, i didn't think much of it at the time. i eventually hit the rock out and continue on with that 3rd road wheel. i chip away at the wheel afew more times then i realize that 1 of 3 things are happening 1) the world is moving ........2) i am moving... or .. 3 ) the Bradley is moving ...... Now entice yourself with the small detail that i am still under this 30-some TON vehicle . i quickly realize that its the bradly moving and think to m self "OH CRAP I'M A DEAD MAN" To make matters worse my platoon Sargent at the time was standing right there to see this whole thing happen. he told me afterword " i never seen someone move that fast from under a bradley and in to the drivers seat i swear you just jumped from the ground up 5 feet straight into the drivers hole." Now as much as he was impressed by what just happened i knew i was doomed for the next few hours because i knew i didn't do something that was terribly important. I did not set the parking brake properly. By not ensuring the brake was properly set i could have killed/ injured myself and or someone eles and damaged more military then what i did . In the end the out come was a damage headlight on a M113(screw the 11C(mortar-men) I'm a scout ) that the bradley backed in to and a very fun and entertaining amount of corrective training at the wash rack for myself.
Even though i laugh at it now it scared me half to death at the time
till next time
AeonScout
Now, with the road wheels: the wheels that support the track on the bradley; mud and everything gets stuck in the "rims" of these wheels. Thus, when you wash the bradley you cant just spray the wheels clean with a power washer because the mud tends to harden on the inside of the "rim" of the wheel. When that happens out comes the hammer,old rusty screw driver and chisel to pound the rock hard dried mud out. it may seem easy but know that the wheels are "rimmed" on both sides. therefore not only do you have to work out the mud on the outside part of the wheels but you also have to crawl underneath the bradley to chisel out the mud. Witch in my mind is a very unpleasant task because generally others are spraying the bradely with water from hue high powered hoses and being in the army people aren't all that careful to not spray you in the face (let alone laying on the ground underneath the thing that is being cleaned doesn't help either)
now that you hopefully have a basic idea of a Bradley(and washing it) I'll get on with my wonderful story
so we just get in to the wash rack from training (i am the one driving and we pull up inline to go though the birdbath.The bird bath is a pool of water about 2-3 feet deep with rivies you drive though to try and looses up all the hardened dirt and mud. Leading to the bird bath its a slight incline to keep the water in the pool like area. On that incline is right where the line a vehicles lined up and i ended up right in the middle of that incline when we lined up before the wash rack opened. Since we had some time my gunner wanted me to start makeing some head way on cleaning the wheels. So me still being fairly new to the unit and it being my 1st unit was wanting to move as fast as i could; you know so i look like a hard worker and such. So i grab my tools from behind me and hop out to crawl underneath the Bradley. i figured hit up underneath with the harder parts first, just makes sense right? so i get down with the first wheel feeling quite proud how i did that one. i was motivated to move on to the next one and did a good job on that too. i move to the 3rd and start going to town on that one. part way through i see a large rock sort of lodged in the track. i know it will have to come out sooner or later so i started hitting it with the hammer . The rock starts to chip away, as I'm doing this i hear the track creak, i didn't think much of it at the time. i eventually hit the rock out and continue on with that 3rd road wheel. i chip away at the wheel afew more times then i realize that 1 of 3 things are happening 1) the world is moving ........2) i am moving... or .. 3 ) the Bradley is moving ...... Now entice yourself with the small detail that i am still under this 30-some TON vehicle . i quickly realize that its the bradly moving and think to m self "OH CRAP I'M A DEAD MAN" To make matters worse my platoon Sargent at the time was standing right there to see this whole thing happen. he told me afterword " i never seen someone move that fast from under a bradley and in to the drivers seat i swear you just jumped from the ground up 5 feet straight into the drivers hole." Now as much as he was impressed by what just happened i knew i was doomed for the next few hours because i knew i didn't do something that was terribly important. I did not set the parking brake properly. By not ensuring the brake was properly set i could have killed/ injured myself and or someone eles and damaged more military then what i did . In the end the out come was a damage headlight on a M113(screw the 11C(mortar-men) I'm a scout ) that the bradley backed in to and a very fun and entertaining amount of corrective training at the wash rack for myself.
Even though i laugh at it now it scared me half to death at the time
till next time
AeonScout
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