Posted on 06/13/2002 9:14:03 PM PDT by Enemy Of The State
BTW, how may "accidents" have occured with Chinese tanks versus Chinese citizens?
I agree with most of your post but this is not strictly true. A 113 series- probably the most common type of armored vehicle (usually the type you'll see pictures of Israelis with)- is basically an aluminum, 13 ton box on tracks. They aren't high tech at all. The driver sits with his head poking out of the box at the front left corner and the TC (track/tank commander) sits/stands with his head poking out of middle front portion of this box. They have two way communication with each other but aside from the TC telling the Driver to steer left or right- that's it.
A 577 is even worse. It is basically a 113 series that has been extended upwards so the people inside the box can actually stand up. The crew compartment is about the size of decent sized bathroom and it's like a mini house on tracks- you never have to get wet and 4 soldiers can stretch out fully to sleep.The driver's hatch hasn't been moved up though in relation to the additional height, meaning he has little visibility to the the right (where the shoulder of the road would be). Plus, a 577 usually has a gas powered electric generator in a metal box positioned to the driver's right further obscuring his view. I have driven both of these vehicles and while the 113 has a pretty good field of view- the 577 takes a lot of getting used to- you drive more by "knowing your vehicle" on the right side than anything else and driving with a drop off or a steep culvert (or civilians) to your right is very tricky.
In addition, the 88s- mechanics recovery vehicles are even larger than tanks (dimension wise) and they are really hard to steer. They are just big beasts really and not very high tech. A bulldozer with armor more or less. I've had to ground guide them onto flatbed train cars and almost half the tracks hang over each side of the rail car- dicey! Bradleys aren't much better.
I noticed in Bosnia driving along in 106s (113s made for carrying heavy mortars) and HMMWVs that the foot-going civilians there didn't like to get too far onto the shoulders or the road (maybe because of landmines-who knows?) and the driving was often hazardous because of this and oncoming traffic.
Bottom line, this is a terrible thing to have happened and a very ugly way for two children to have died.
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People keep talking about that. I have a vague memory, but what happened again?
The theroy was that Korean pedestrians attempted to come as close as possible to being hit by a vehicle so as to get the evil spirit clobbered.
A couple of Koreans I was well acquainted with confirmed this superstition and pointed out the number of their countrymen who got squashed annually by trains simply because they were not nimble enough on the tracks.
I can think of a couple...
Our shame is that we didn't show a fraction of the courage this man did and stood by while the ChiComs crushed these Chinese FReepers.
"I think this story is bogus. I think we are arguing and discussing a possible "non-event".
I think the poster should provide news from an additional source. Particularly since this is a claim from the communist state- run Red China news agency. But he took off completely after initially posting and chose not to stay around for the subsequent FR discussion apparantly."
UNTIL I FOUND THIS:
(From Joongang Ilbo, South Korea) "U.S. vehicle kills 2 Korean teens by Lee Ho-jeong June 14, 2002 Two Korean teenagers were killed Thursday after being struck by a U.S. Army armored vehicle participating in a training exercise near Yangju in northern Gyeonggi province. According to police, the accident occurred on Highway 56 when the vehicle, which is 3.67 meters wide, was traveling along the 3.40-meter-wide road. The two 14-year-old girls were on their way to a friend's birthday party when they were hit, police said. The bodies were taken to Choo Hospital in Uijeongbu. "We are deeply saddened by this tragic event," said Lieutenant General Daniel R. Zanini, commander of the 8th U.S. Army in a press release. General Zanini added condolences to the families of the children and pledged to conduct a vigorous investigation. The 8th Army public affairs office in Yongsan, Seoul, reported that the accident is under investigation by the Korean national police and the 2d Infantry Division Military Office."
http://english.joins.com/Article.asp?aid=20020614010707&sid=300
I remember one roadmarch in which the tracks were snapping and vehicles running off the road and hitting trees or anything in their way.
If you could find one that had a 327 engine in it, I suppose you could have put it in your car. ANYway
When I was in we always heard about this one incident (probably one of those Army legends that serve a useful purpose...) where a Joe was standing between two 113s that were both running and parked nose to nose. One of the 113s supposedly came unlocked and rolled forward catching the poor guy between and cutting him in two. You might've heard that one as well. At any rate, I don't like to repeat Darwin Award Winner's mistakes so I always took a lot of heed when I was around a track that was running.
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