M1 Abrams tanks of the 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division move to firing points before the start of live-fire training at 7th Army Training Command’s Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany Feb. 12, 2018, where it is always guaranteed to get “six more weeks of winter.”
On 21 January 1991, the M198 155mm howitzer “Damn Yankees” was part of Battery F, 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines during the Battle of Khafji on the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and fired the first U.S. shell of the conflict, going on to support coalition efforts until the cease-fire at the end of February.
And it has been found, restored to its Desert Storm/Shield configuration, and has arrived at the National Marine Corps Museum for display.
More in my column at Guns.com
U.S. Army Soldiers from Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion 29th Field Artillery Regiment at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., inspect the 155mm gun tube for calibration on the Paladin Vehicle to prepare for Decisive Action Rotation 14-10, Sept. 11, 2014. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Charles Probst)
The Joe in the picture is one Spc. Matthew Tattersall, who, as a paratrooper of the All Americans of 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (505th PIR), 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, made his final jump earlier this month before leaving active duty.
Yes, if you look closely, he made a selfie of the occasion, complete with a C-17 behind him in a blue North Carolina sky.
And in the water bottle, his pet fish “Wily Makeit.”
Both survived the jump (relax it was a stateside daylight ‘Hollywood’ jump made without the typical 100~ pounds of combat gear and weapons that a paratrooper normally drops with).
Although as reported by Army Times, Tattersall was instructed to write a 1,000-word essay on the importance of airborne safety and professionalism in the Army.