The ingenuity of soldiers will never cease to amaze us, especially when it comes to tank names.
Stenciling a name on your crew’s M1 Abrams tank is a tale as old as time, typically meant to inspire or reflect something meaningful to the crew, or at the very least to get a laugh. The names are often matched with the same first letter of the crew’s company or battery.
And a photo of a tank posted to Twitter on Thursday sported a new name we hadn’t seen before: Article XV, or Article 15.
Article 15 is non-judicial punishment that is meant to allow commanders to deal with minor misconduct without raising it to the level of a court martial. A soldier could get an Article 15 for disobeying orders or disrespecting superiors, as well as for things like sleeping on duty or underage drinking.
And really, a good tank name has at least some level of belligerence. Take for instance “Dropped As A Baby,” “Crippling Depression,” and “Democracy Deliverer.” There are also plenty of others, like “Thicc Boi,” “Barbie Dreamhouse,” and “All You Can Eat.”
As sure as we are that the sun will rise each morning, you can be sure that somewhere out there, an Army tank crew is brainstorming the most impressive, or at least the most ridiculous, tank name they can think of.
Best of luck, soldiers. May the naming be ever in your favor.
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