Hello guys. I'm an aspiring recruit who's actually in MEPS right now and trying to find more info on this MOS that I've gotten a temporary reservation for.

http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-categories/mechanics/m1-abrams-tank-system-maintainer.html

I actually wanted to go 19K and be a tanker but my recruiter said there weren't any spots available and that I'd have to wait several more months if I really wanted it. So I decided to chose the next best thing and work on the tanks instead. But there doesn't seem to be much info on what exactly goes into this job aside from simply repairing tanks. What's it really like, any first hand experiences with this MOS?

Don't have any experience with that but dude if you want to drive the tanks wait a couple months and drive the fucking tanks.



What's a couple months when compared to at least 4 years of wrenching only to watch some other lucky bastard hop in and rip that thing through the woods and shit.

Wait a couple of months to get what you want.

They also may be telling you that, to fill the slots they need to fill.
Happened to me for the first choice I had for the Army.

Wait until you can get 19K.

Tell him to back the fuck off and that you are waiting for what you want.

What everyone else said, wait. Whatever you choose, you're stuck with for several years. Might as well get the thing you initially wanted, rather than regretting it throughout your entire enlistment.

It's way more fun to break stuff than it is to fix it.

Spent my first 4 years as a maintainer. Trust me, it's not that great.

I have been wondering if there has ever been a 19K who has never run over, run into, crushed, destroyed, caught on fire, run off the road, or totally fucked something they were not supposed to in an Abrams?   I am going to venture that there has not been.

It took exactly 12 days upon redeployment and having tanks again for the brand new hanger doors to be fucked up  Trees, German guard shacks, trains, cars, other tanks, curbs, buildings, fences, gates, American guard shacks, jersey walls, T walls, trucks, farm animals, rifles, helmets, any sort of RFI or TA50 you can imagine, ranges set on fire by main gun rounds, ranges set on fire by 50 cal rounds, ranges set on fire by 240 rounds... the only one that made me scratch my head was when the staff duty van backed into a parked and cold tank resulting in a near total loss of the van.

What's every German's two favorite english words? Manuver damage.

I just came off a deployment with a transportation company.  We had an even mix of MRAP's (MAX-PRO), armored M915's, and PLS's.  Not tanks, I know.

The maintenance guys hated their lives for most of the tour.  They spent much of it rolling around underneath trucks and either freezing their asses off, or roasting them off in an un-airconditioned maintenance bay.  Tight deadlines, long days, and for most of them, all the on-base bullshit without the release of at least getting to go outside of the wire.  

FWIW and all that.

This.

I bet if you say you will wait, the slots will open up a lot faster than you think

If you want to be a tanker, be a tanker...
The mechanics don't get to do any of the fun gunnery/shooting/etc stuff (and it *is* fun, for garrison duty, anyhow).... You'll be sitting there with the other mechanics, watching tanks do shit & waiting for one to break...
WAIT. Get what you want... The Army isn't going anywhere...
 

This.
I sat at alot of ranges and gunnery's bored waiting for stuff to break.
Rarely got to fire.
I did love my job though. If you want to be a tanker, just wait it out.

i'm with the first cav man and the tankers do not drive the tanks often. most of them never been in one since with the unit, they just don't really use them anymore. while deployed they do our bitch work pulling ecp guard and details, but if you still want to be a tanker go for it.

That's just sad... Almost sounds like we get more tank time in the Guard than your guys do on AD...



I know the 2ID folks abuse their tankers (rarr... We're an infantry unit... We walk everywhere even though we have Strykers... - or so say the guys who come to my unit from the MGS platoons on Lewis), but 1st Cav doing it too? That's





 

Take the advice posted by many above and wait. There is no reason to rush into a contract you didn't originally want.

Exactly the same shit they pulled on me back in 86 when I joined. Worst mistake of my life! I was slotted into a turret mechanic position, and hated every dman minute of it. You will be wrenching, covered in oil and FRH fluid, and not able to participate in anything cool or exciting. Not unless you consider digging out stuck tanks, and breaking track exciting. Tell him to FO and wait for the job "YOU' want!