Army staff colleges, West Point Military Academy, armor training schools, and military academies around the world.Īs Hedenskog puts it, “there will probably never be another full tank battle like that again. Because of that, it is studied today at U.S. This means 73 Easting might have been the last great tank battle in history. Insurgencies, like those in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, have become the norm. Since Desert Storm, few nations have had the military capability to go head-to-head with the United States in modern conventional combat. The Battle of 73 Easting was a kill-or-be-killed slugfest of armor that historians consider the most intense battle of the first Gulf War. “Basically, wherever my tank was, that was the front line of the troop.” As the troop commander’s tank driver, Hedenskog knew their M1A1 Abrams - codenamed Eagle 66 – would lead the attack. Turrets were thrown into the air so high I lost sight of them.”ĭeep in the armored bow of his tank, several feet in front of the rest of the crew, Hedenskog was literally the tip of General Norman Schwarzkopf’s armored spear stabbing into Iraq. Full bodies were thrown from the turrets. “When we hit them, the ammo in the T-72s would explode. No books, no movies, nothing can prepare you for how tanks kill people,” said Hedenskog, now a Firestone resident. “We were told to prepare ourselves mentally with every conceivable scenario we could imagine, but it was beyond anything you can conceive. As the Americans charged through the enemy position, firing left and right at Iraqi tanks, Hedenskog had a front-row seat to a deadly fireworks show. 26, 1991, Hedenskog’s tank was the first to roll through a blinding sandstorm and straight into the lair of Saddam Hussein’s elite Republican Guard. Hedenskog was the 20-year-old driver of an M1A1 Abrams tank in the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment.
Twenty-five years ago during Operation Desert Storm, Chris Hedenskog counted his life expectancy in minutes. “Hector fitted the armor to his body, while terrible Ares entered into him, and filled his whole body with might and valor.”
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