TYBEE ISLAND
By By Paul Paul Cales Cales & Becca
Continued from the Dec 2018 Beachcomber.
Catch up @ http://tybeebeachcomber.com/magazine
CHAPTER 18 – DO NOT SLAM ON THE BRAKES
DAY 6.5
With the horde approaching, Joey leaps on top of the turret of the tank
and looks around anxiously. Tony is standing in the tank commander’s
hatch and gets his attention. “Get in here, idiot,” he says. “And close the
loader’s hatch behind you.”
Joey, seeing no good alternative, complies with the rather crass order
and the two are promptly buttoned up, safe and sound, inside the turret of
the tank.
“This is pretty cool,” Joey says, taking in the view from the inside of a
tank for the first time and reaching out toward nothing in particular. “There
is so much going on in here.”
“Don’t touch a thing unless I tell you to,” Tony tells him.
“Okay, okay, don’t get your panties in a wad.”
“Everything in this beast will hurt you, Joey. So be careful and watch
your head. Now, let’s see if this baby has any juice,” he says, as he reaches
over to the tank commander’s control panel and flips the master power
switch and the turret power switches to the ON position.
“Sounds like you just powered up one of the Ghostbuster’s proton
particle accelerator back packs,” Joey says, as the power whirrs on. “What
the hell was that?”
“It was just the tank’s power, Joey. Just wait till we crank the engine
up.”
“Can I drive?”
“Maybe later. I was thinking I should get rid of the horde first. Good thing
it’s not dark out.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because it takes a few minutes for the thermal sights to warm up.”
“That’s dumb. Who designs a night sight that takes a while to turn on?”
“General Dynamics, I think. This is actually late 70’s technology that was
implemented in the 80’s and is still in use today. But that’s not the point…”
Tony says, as he grabs the tank commander turret control and spins the
turret in the direction of the zombie horde. He then reaches down into the
gunner’s station and flips the gun select from Main Gun to Coax. “Why
the hell would they have Main Gun selected?” he asks himself under his
breath just before pulling the charging handle on the M240 machine gun
to make sure the belt is feeding, and he has a round chambered. Once
sure that everything is good on that note, he checks the safety on the gun
and pushes the laser range finder button with his thumb while looking
28 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | JAN 2019
ISLAN
into the tank commander’s sight. He gets a good range of 300 meters and
squeezes the trigger.
The M240 rattles to life, throwing 7.62 mm full metal jacket rounds in
the direction of the zombies at 600 rounds per minute. The entire horde
is dispatched with five or six short bursts of fire. “HOOAH!” Tony exclaims
after a few silent seconds. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
“Jesus, you really were a soldier, weren’t you?”
“What?” Tony says, turning away from the sight and toward Joey again.
“You thought I was just blowing smoke with all the stories I’ve told you over
the years?”
“I could just never picture you saying ‘Hooah’…”
“Well, my friend, I say it when it’s warranted. Do you smell that? That’s
the smell of victory.”
“Holy shit, Tony. You’ve just become a walking cliché.”
“You wanna drive?”
“Hell yes I want to drive!”
“Okay, just do exactly as I tell you. We can’t lose such a valuable asset,”
Tony says to Joey as he spins the turret and positions the main gun over
the back deck of the tank, so Joey can slide from the turret into the driver’s
seat in the hull of the tank. “Alright then. Slide through the hole into the
driver’s seat man.”
“You’re really going to let me drive this beast?”
“Dude, it’s not that hard. Go on now. Get in there.”
Once he has slid into the driver’s seat, Joey settles in. “Wow this is
cool,” he says, as he looks around. “Not hard, huh? There are so many
switches and gauges and things to mess with…”
“DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING UNLESS I TELL YOU,” Tony says firmly.
“Yes, Drill Sergeant. Geeze…”
“Slide on the CVC helmet and make sure it’s plugged in. Push the toggle
switch on the left side of the helmet forward to talk. Release to listen.”
“Got it Sarge,” Joey responds in perfect form through the CVC helmet.
“Good, now… twist back toward you on the T-bar that is in front of you
to make the tank go. Just like a motorcycle. The foot pedal is the brake.”
“This seems pretty easy.”
“The basics always sound easy. Please, for the love of all things holy,
make damn sure your CVC helmet does not become disconnected. If it
does, I can’t communicate with you. It’s going to get pretty loud when the
tank is running.”
“Got it!” Joey says through his helmet.
“Do you see that button to your right on the driver’s control panel labeled
‘Push to Start’?”
“Let me guess… that starts the engine.”
“Very good Joey,” Tony croons. “Press and hold that button for ten
seconds. You should hear the 1500 horsepower turbine engine crank
up.”
Joey pushes the button and the engine slowly comes to life, the whine
of the turbine spinning and the hydraulic systems filling their ears. “You
weren’t kidding about the tank being loud.”
“On the inside it is, but on the outside it’s relatively quiet,” Tony says,
and takes a deep breath before continuing his crash course of tank driving.
“Here’s where your listening skills become important. In the center of the
T-bar is your transmission select. Pull out and move it from ‘P’ to ‘PVT’.
That stands for pivot. If you pull the T-bar with your left hand toward you,
you’ll pivot to the left. If you pull the right side toward you, you’ll pivot to
the right. Got it?”
“Yup.”
“Ready to make the tank move?”
“Yup.”
“Pivot the tank to the right until I say stop.”
/magazine