The event was hosted by CDV as a promotion for their new upcoming WWII RTS, Codename: Panzers Phase One. Incredible Adventures set up arrangements for the event and it occurred at a corporate management team building company called Tactical Tanks in Sherman Texas.

Once we got there and got going we were immersed in a “military style” environment and separated into tank teams. Out in the field it was basically non-stop until the end of the day. I now have a much greater respect for our military forces - especially the environment that they had to endure during WWII. One thing I noticed was that the tanks were not equipped with air conditioners, and even though it was only in the high 80’s during the event, the tanks got damn hot. I’d hate to have been in one in the Sahara desert.

For those of you interested in the event, here’s my schedule from wake up and go to getting home 2 days later.

Sept 8th
4am PST
Wake up, shower, shave, feed the cats, hurry up and wait for the wife to finish playing on the Internet and away we go.

6:16am PST
Arrive at Santa Barbara Airport for our 6:45 flight.
Get verbally admonished by the ticket agent for not showing up at least an hour before flight time. Get checked in. 10 minutes before wheels up we are notified that the flight will be delayed due to a mechanical issue.
@%^$%$#$%@#$%$#

6:45am PST
We are informed that the flight will be leaving at 7:10am.
Scott shows up for his 7:15am flight to Austin Texas (which happens to be where my wife is flying to).

7:15am PST
Scott leaves on his flight to Austin.
Wife is freaking out about missing her connecting flight in Phoenix (especially since she should have tried to get on Scott’s flight).

7:30am PST
They finally let us board the plane.
Once aboard the plane they inform us that the delay was caused by a bad secondary battery for some minor system.

9:20am PST
Arrive in Phoenix Arizona. 6 minutes after my connecting flight to Dallas left the gate.
Wife is now in full panic mode since she missed her flight by 6 minutes also and had 2 important business meetings in Austin she will now miss.
So we sit down and have an early lunch, spend $20 for a $5 meal.

12:10pm PST
Wheels up and finally on my way to Dallas.

4:20pm CST
Arrive in Dallas.
Since I was supposed to be there at 4pm I was beginning to wonder if they waited for me or if I’d have to take a taxi. It takes forever for my suitcase to show up. After I collect it from the turnstile I head outside and lo-and-behold there is the biggest damn hummer that I have ever seen sitting at the curb waiting for me.

Of course, there’s not enough room for me in the lush interior of the back passenger section. So, I sat up front with the driver. This turns out to be a good move on my part since the driver was the owner of the limo company and I had a great time chatting with him. And, it seems, I was way more comfortable in the front instead of in the sardine can environment of the passenger area.

7:30pm CST
Dinner Time!
Yeah!
Food!
We were taken out to a great texmex restaurant called Tia’s. Here we had the opportunity to meet and greet our fellow soon to be comrades in arms. The subject of the evening ranged from our various gaming experiences to military history to cats. I think we concluded (the 5 of us at the end of the table) that the original board game Squad Leader is still one of the best combat games out there.

We also got to meet Jane, from Incredible Adventures, who had arranged the event for us. And, later David from Tactical Tanks, showed up and chatted with us for a while. Before the evening came to an end, David had us all practice our best “HooYah’s” in preparation for the next day’s festivities. Of course, this attracted a lot of stares from the other patrons of the restaurant.

12:00am CST
Bedtime.
Good night John Boy!

Sept 9th
6:00am CST
Wakey Wakey!
Now, remember, I’m a California dude, and still basically on California time, which makes this wake up call 4am for me…
Breakfast was supposed to be at 6:30am and our jump off time 8am. So, I figured that 6am would be a good time to wake up. After a not long enough shower, I got dressed and headed down to have breakfast with the rest of the crew. I assumed the room would be crowed to overflowing with the wannabe tankers impatiently waiting for 8am to roll around. What I found was 2 other chipper adventurers wondering where everyone else was. So I grabbed a bagel and took a seat with them to await the arrival of our ride.

Over the next hour and a half, the rest of the group slowly filtered in, some groaning about the volume of beer they had consumed the night before.

8:00am CST
Black-6 (David) enters the hotel community room with his escort, truly an impressive site to behold!

In a most commanding voice he exclaims “HooYah!”, we all jump to our feet (well mostly) and respond with our own “HooYah’s”. Calling the time as 8am it was time to get hopping and get on the road. Exiting the hotel we found ourselves up close and personal with a team of personnel from Tactical Tanks and a convoy consisting of a military Hummer (outfitted with the latest in MG’s and armor), an APC, and a commercial H2. We loaded up our gear and all clamored into the tight quarters of the APC. The door swung closed with a loud Clank and we were on our way! Our next stop, the Armory.

8:30am CST
We arrived at the Armory at Tactical Tanks. After offloading from the APC we were ushered inside and issued our BDU’s and then shown where to change. When we were all changed, we headed upstairs for our initial briefing. Once we were all present in the briefing room, Black-6 took a moment to introduce himself and his staff to us. Jane, from Incredible Adventures, also gave us an official hidey-ho welcome. After the introductions were completed we were given a rundown on the current operations.

First we were separated into our Tank Crew’s. There being 12 of us, we were split into 4 teams of 3 members each. The team designations were: #1 Viper; #2 Red Skull; #3 Devil Dogs; and #4 Jolly Roger. I was placed in team Red Skull with Lori Kroll and Mike Smith. RED SKULLS ROCK!!!!!!!!!

Apparently there was a German 88mm Flak AA gun that was lobbing rounds at an ally tank. We were ordered to proceed to the tracked APC’s just outside the building, mount up and proceed to the field HQ for our OpOrders and to be outfitted with any necessary equipment and vehicles.

9:00am CST
Upon our arrival, we get to see our vehicles for the first time. Not quite an M1A1 Abrams (darn it) but an M109 155mm Mobile artillery unit. And damn is it BIG!

Having finished with our training, we were given our orders for our first mission. “Operation Red Dog”: Platoon 1 (teams 1 and 2) were ordered to proceed to a minefield and search out the remaining mines that have yet to be uncovered. The minefield had been laid by the Russians and partially uncovered by a German patrol.

With our GPS and coordinates in hand, we were off. Mike in the driver’s seat, me navigating, and Lori in command. Viper (track 1) took the lead and we deployed to our first set of coordinates. Being the ever vigilant person that I am (that and having to try to get used to the GPS) we fell behind a bit at first. But after I had a chance to get used to the idea of using the GPS we finally got on track. After having been in the BSA, orienteering is a snap for me. Give me a map and a compass and I’m a happy camper. Navigating with a GPS almost seemed to be cheating since all you had to do was watch the numbers change…

We arrived at the minefield with only a few course corrections and as navigator I got to grab the metal detector and dismount to find those nasty little surprises the Russians had buried.

So, here I am, metal detector in one hand, GPS in the other out in the middle of an open field. And what do you think happens next? That’s right, a German patrol happens along and starts shooting at us. And they didn’t even have the courtesy to offer to give me a gun so I could defend myself. And my team and my tank are sitting nice and safe at the edge of the field. Do they move forward to cover me? Of course not… I considered throwing rocks at them but changed my mind since they were a good 50+ meters from my position.

The navigator from team Viper found 2 mines, I discovered that my metal detector was borked. I threw my watch on the ground and it had issues finding a hunk of metal on the surface of the ground. Good luck finding a buried mine. At least the 2 that he found were enough to let us know that it was the end of the minefield and we could get our tracks through it safely. After moving through the mine field we moved on to our second set of coordinates to get some water and await further orders from Black-6.

Alas! A B52 was shot down and the crew had to abandon the plane and parachute to safety. Team Red Skull was ordered to a set of coordinates estimating the touch down point for one of the pilots. We were to move in, find and retrieve the pilot. We arrived at the coordinates given and found ourselves about 50 feet from the tree line. So I dismounted again to head in and find the downed pilot. Following an animal trail in about 100 feet I found him dangling from a tree by his parachute straps. I unhooked him and carried him back to the tank. In his back pocket I found a pirate flag, which we hung from the antennae.

Now it was a mad rush to return to the Field HQ and be the first to raise our team flag up the HQ flagpole. Yes, that’s right sports fans, Team Red Skull was the first back and to get their flag up the flag pole! RED SKULLS RULE!!!!

12:00pm CST (high noon)
Viper returned next and we were sent off to eat lunch. Which consisted of tri-tip, chicken, baked beans, salad, cobbler, etc…
Basically a meal fit for a Tank Commander. Though I was tempted to go back for thirds I was so stuffed I couldn’t move to get back to the serving table.

After lunch we had a short briefing for our second mission. Team 1 & 2 would now do team 3 & 4’s first mission and vice-versa. “Operation Goliath”: We were informed that there was heavy enemy movement in the area including enemy armor and Panzerjager teams. We were to proceed to the first set of coordinates to retrieve an ammo can left by US infantry, the ammo can should contain information on the whereabouts of a new German prototype weapon called “Goliath”.

We mounted up and the tank wouldn’t start… Where is the AAA when you need them?

Since our mission was longer than that of team 3 & 4, we traded tanks and they went to play Codename Panzers and wait for jumper cables.

This trip I was doing the driving. Now if you have ever seen the inside of a tank, you will know there is about enough room to make a Hobbit comfortable. Me, at 6’5” just barely got my legs into the driver’s compartment before I ran out of space for the rest of me. Refusing to let an opportunity like this to slip away, I crammed myself into the seat and with my knees in my chest I groaned into the mic and we were off.

Our first set of coords sent us to the far SE corner of the AO; once we arrived we dismounted and searched the area (of course, by the time I worked my way out of the tank the rest of the team had already found the ammo can). After a few minutes we located the ammo can and it had additional information in it. Our next set of coords sent us to the far north end of the AO, our navigator got us to the area and we found ourselves parked on a road in the middle of the woods. Again we had to dismount (and again by the time I got there the searching fun was over), and we found a small shack with a “strange device” in it. So we retrieved the device and back in the track.

We were then sent off to the far NW corner of the AO to refuel (basically to go find a fuel can). There was no direct route there as far as we could see, so we took this circuitous route through a heavily wooded area. It was actually quite fun maneuvering through the woods to get to our objective. After some confusion on where we were vs. where we were supposed to be (amazing isn’t it how lost you can get using a GPS), we finally found the gas can hidden in some tall weeds. After loading it in the back of the tank we returned to the field HQ.

2:00pm CST
Time for our third and final mission. So, we collected all of our personal stuff from the field HQ and headed for the tracks. Since we were heading to the Armory after we were finished. Our final mission “Operation Mad Dog” was to depart field command in column formation and advance on a Gun Battery. Team Viper lead the Company and we deployed to our new coordinates. Once there, Charlie Company deployed smoke rounds to cover our advance. We then spread out into a line and advanced on our objective. When in position we then advanced on the German 88 that was our ultimate goal. <[> We are Victorious! The German gun crew surrendered and we saved the day!

2:45pm CST
Time to stand down. We returned to the armory and parked the tracks. Then headed in to receive a final debriefing and say a gig Thank you to Tactical Tanks, Incredible Adventures and CDV.

3:00pm CST
Changed back into “civilian” clothes, collected a goody bag and back into the limo to return to the airport and ultimately backs home.

4:30pm CST
Arrive at the airport and check in.

8:45pm CST
Go figure, my return flight was cancelled due to a storm in Las Vegas. The next flight out is at 6:00am the next morning. Time to get comfortable…

Sept 10th
4:30am CST
I’d say that I was just waking up, but I never really went to sleep…
Wandered down to McDonalds for some breakfast then back to wait for my flight.

6:00am CST
WooHoo!! I’m actually on a plane to Phoenix!

7:00am PST (gotta love those time zone changes don’t you)
I’m informed that my flight back to Santa Barbara will be delayed due to the fact that the plane has no crew.
I must be cursed or something…

9:00am PST
Wheels up and I’m on my way home.

CDV USA
http://www.cdv-online.com

Incredible Adventures
http://incredible-adventures.com

Tactical Tanks
http://www.tacticaltanks.com

Limousine Services
Sherman, Texas
(903) 816-2925