December 30, 2004

Armor Geddon

God, I love tankers:

K-K-K-R-R-R-U-U-N-N-C-H. The sound was unreal. Imagine someone taking a huge skyscraper. Lifting it up way high in the sky. And then dropping it on its side. That’s the only thing I could imagine sounding like that. It was not a boom or a clap. It was God slapping a building into the ground in a fit of rage.

[…]

The best part of my day is hearing that turbine engine wind up. The jet engine starts out deep and low. It builds up slowly as it whines higher and higher. If you listen closely, you can hear the rise of new low pitches, winding up at different points in the engine-start. The power pack gets to its peak screaming and then settles back down to a lower pitch. If you’re obsessed like me, you get the sensation that this 68-ton beast just stood up slowly and dramatically. Took a deep breath, mass rising and then settled into her armor, drinking 8 gallons of JP8 in 30 seconds just to wake up. And by obsessed, I mean a big dork.

Red Six is First Lieutenant Neil Prakash, and he is a tank platoon commander in the U.S. Army, currently serving in Iraq. His blog is well worth your time.

Posted by retrophisch at December 30, 2004 12:05 AM | TrackBack