What Lert did this saturday (RL Tanks related)

Lert: Last friday I flew to the US for my holiday with my american GF here and have basically the time of my life. The 'time of my life' thing started this saturday with two very close friends, Treeweasel and Averis, driving / riding in actual tanks and shooting some of the most awesome guns ever made by man.   Some pictures:     The motor pool. Chieftain Mk XI, Centurion Mk 5/2, Chieftain Mk X, there's a Sherman M4A3E8 in the back, and up ahead are a T-55 and a Hummvee.   Another shot of the motor pool. My apologies for the fuzziness of the pictures and lack of focus. Cheap digital camera and bad lighting. Also, enough adrenaline going through my veins to power a small city.   The M4A3E8 'Easy Eight', a genuine WWII vintage Sherman worth about half a million dollars. She's bigger than I thought she would be. More imposing. I've seen and touched Shermans before, but none of them have been the legendary 'Easy Eight'.   A 'Five Ton' WWII vintage US truck. The owner of driveatank has like a dozen of these in various states of repair.   From left to right, Averis, Lert and Treeweasel, in front of the gorgeous and legendary Centurion 5/2.   FV432 APC. Basically a british M113 'inspired' vehicle made with armor steel instead of aluminium, and fitted with a relatively bigger engine in order to give it similar mobility. Just your basic no-frills battletaxi. Averis got to drive it, Tree and me got to ride in the back.   FV433 'Abbot' artillery. A 1960's era 105mm british artillery piece. Once again, Averis got to drive, Tree and me got to ride in the loader's hatch and TC's hatch respectively.   Treeweasel and me in the TC's and loader's hatch respectively of the Chieftain Mk X, with Averis in the driver's hatch getting instruction on how to squish a car. Sitting in that TC's hatch with all that turret and that massive gun right before me and the other half of the turret and the rear half of the tank behind me - I felt like I was THE MAN. The difinitive article, one might say. Though probably not as much as Averis in the driver's seat.   Squish.   Just having a bit of fun after riding around in the Easy 8. Averis got to drive, Tree and me got to ride around in the turret. Afterwards we got to climb in around and over the entire thing. This easy 8 is in amazing condition. Almost everything that needs to be somewhere in, on or around it is right where it needs to be. The radioes, the grenade boxes, the M3 grease guns, the spring for the bow MG - it's all there and working. Amazing. You could tell that this Sherman was Tony's pride and joy, you really could. Tony is the owner of the website and organizer of the whole day, he's the guy on the far right in the above picture, putting his boot on my shoulder.   Me on the MG-42. Bratatatatatatatat. I can check that off my bucket list.   Averis on the .50 cal Barrett. The muzzle blast was so strong it blew down the paper targets that were hanging by sticky tape in the next booth over. It felt like a kick in the gut. I guess that's what you get when you're crazy enough to fire a 50 cal indoors.   Tree on the M1919 Browning. Bratatatatatat. He got to check that off his bucket list.   Me with a 500 Smith and Wesson. Up until that day the biggest handgun I had ever fired was a M1911. I saw that 500 S&W and actually felt intimidated. I just had to put a round through it. It's actually more controllable and manageable than I thought it would be, though I guess the long fluted barrel helps a lot. Treeweasel and averis also put a round through it.   Two videos:   Crushing the car with the Chieftain Mk X:     Riding the Sherman Easy Eight. I'm in the TC's hatch. You can see me muck about with the TC's headset before diving back inside as Averis drives off and Treeweasel just leans his arm on the 50 cal ma-deuce like he owns the place.     BEST. DAY. EVER.