Narrator: You've probably seen this before.
But this is what it's like inside a tank
when it fires.
Because of security concerns,
the US Army doesn't let outside cameras inside its tanks.
But it gave us this exclusive footage
of what it's like to train on the inside.
These soldiers are training to be tankers in the US Army.
And even though the US has used tanks
in combat for over a century,
this generation of soldiers could have a unique advantage.
Soldier: These two triggers are to shoot.
It's like a video-game controller, sir.
All you need to do is just hold on to this
and press fire.
Keith Holladay: Video games actually helps,
because when you're inside, you have certain controls
for operating a gun called Cadillacs,
and it's basically like holding a controller.
Soon as they get into that gunner station,
they hold on to that, it's already familiar to them.
Soldier: Up, up.
Holladay: For a video-game generation,
I think they're doing great on the tanks
because this is what they do at home,
is play with a controller.
That's what a tank is.
It's playing with a giant controller.
Producer: Why do you like tanks?
Tanks, it's just run stuff over, blow stuff up all day.
I mean, who wouldn't want to do that all day?
John Sepulveda: This is why we're here.
We're here to fire things and blow stuff up.
Hannah LeBlanc: Ever since I was little,
it's just always been a dream of mine
to be able to say I work on tanks.
Holladay: People who like big guns and loud noises,
1,500-horsepower engines, and fire,
I mean, that's how it drawed me in.
Narrator: It may seem like fun,
but these soldiers find out during training
there's much more to being a tanker than this.
And that with the fun comes inherent danger.
Holladay: These things can happen to you.
You can get crushed. Your arms, legs, whatever it is.
There's a lot of things that can go wrong in a tank.
And we try to tell them about the safety hazards.
That way they can be scared of it
and then respect it through fear.
Narrator: Inside the Armor School in Fort Benning, Georgia,
Army soldiers train to fight with this,
the M1 Abrams battle tank,
nicknamed "The Beast,"
"Dracula,"
and "Whispering Death."
Evan Meador: I mean, that is a 70-ton
hunk of American steel,
and it is crazy to think that one of us
can get behind the wheel of that thing.
Soldier: Incoming!
Narrator: Along with tankers,
the Armor School trains cavalry scouts,
known as the eyes and ears of the battlefield.
They train with grenade launchers
and anti-tank weapons.
Holladay: Armor is basically the term
that the United States military uses
for when it comes to any kind of mechanized force.
Our main goal is force on force with armor on armor.
Scouts and tankers, we're the armor community.
Instructor: Place your weapons on the platform.
Narrator: All enlisted Armor soldiers
must complete 22 weeks
of One Station Unit Training.
Instructor: Put it on safe, knucklehead.
Narrator: After 10 weeks of basic training,
trainees go through 12 more weeks of advanced instruction.
Base pay starts at about $22,000 a year.
Insider spent four days inside the Armor School,
where we saw different groups of soldiers
at various stages of training.
Once inside Fort Benning,
it's about a 45-minute drive to Hastings Range,
where soldiers train to drive the tank
and use its weapons systems,
including a 120-millimeter cannon ...
Soldier: Underway.
Narrator: And mounted machine guns.
Instructor: So, what are a few things after watching
the video that you guys notice you did wrong?
When I needed to safe the gun on the last shot,
I missed the handle.
You gotta shoot low,
see where your bursts are hitting,
and then walk it up.
Yes, sir.
Growing up, I feel like a lot of kids play video games.
They see the tank from the games and, you know,
it's everyone's dream to be inside of a tank,
but being on top of one, being inside of one
is a completely different feeling.
It was way better than I could've imagined.
It was amazing.
Narrator: But tanks emerged long before
the era of video games,
first used in combat in World War I.
The US Army transitioned its horse-mounted cavalry branch
to a fully mechanized force in the Second World War.
Broadcaster: The lessons of World War II
have taught American Army men
the need for tanks, tanks, and more tanks.
But what we have now is the capability to take a tank on.
Narrator: During week one, trainees get an up-close look
at the evolution of American tanks
and those used by the enemy.
Guide: So, when that gun fired
on a light aluminum vehicle,
it was a religious experience,
because it bucked like a bronco.
Narrator: After decades of evolution,
one tank emerged as the Army's weapon of choice:
the M1 Abrams.
With a unit cost of about $9 million,
it debuted in combat during the Gulf War
and remains the Army's main battle tank.
It's manned by a four-person crew,
the tank commander, the gunner,
the loader, and the driver.
The driver sits at the front of the tank's hull.
The other three occupy the basket
attached to the tank's turret,
which moves with the turret when it rotates.
Producer: How does one drive a tank?
LeBlanc: It's a throttle, like a four-wheeler.
You're holding it, you throttle to go faster.
Driving, I would say, is the easiest part
of being on a tank.
Producer: What was it like in there
when you actually fired the round?
It's just like a really strong gust of wind hits you.
There's some dust flying. I mean, it was insane.
The smell inside the tank, that smell is just,
you only get it inside the tank.
You can never get it anywhere else.
I can't explain it, sir.
It's just, you gotta experience it yourself.
Producer: Do you feel safe when you're inside that tank?
No, sir.
Producer: No? Why?
I don't have an answer for that, sir.
Producer: Do you think because you know that
anti-armor guns could take you out as well?
Is that kind of why, or?
No, sir.
Producer: OK.
Holladay: When they get inside that
and they see everything, it's daunting.
It kind of scares them,
because there's so much that can happen.
There's so many moving parts.
These things can happen. You can get crushed.
Your arms, legs, and whatever it is.
There's a lot of things that can go wrong in a tank.
And we try to tell them about the safety hazards.
That way they can be scared of it
and then respect it through fear.
And it helps them throughout their career to understand
that, "Hey, I know what this is going to do to me
if I'm in the way."
Narrator: Before they operate the tank,
they go over the proper procedures step by step.
So, the parking brake is set, correct?
Soldier: Yes, sir.
Go ahead and disconnect that and then put it back together.
Narrator: They learn about the tank's features.
Instructor: Just like that.
Narrator: And its limitations.
Instructor: This way.
Producer: Where's the bathroom on the Abrams?
Sir, there is no bathroom on the Abrams.
There isn't a bathroom.
Producer: No? Pierson: No.
There's no restroom in the tank.
Like, everything inside the tank
is meant to destroy the enemy,
continue the mission,
and finish the mission's intent.
Producer: Where's the bathroom on the Abrams?
In the bottle.
Producer: Yeah?
It's a bottle. There's no bathroom in there.
If you gotta go, you gotta go.
Narrator: Soldiers spend part of training
in the motor pool,
where they learn how to maintain
the tank's components and its weapons.
They learn how to repair the tank's tracks and wheels
using tools like sledgehammers.
Pierson: We teach them how to do things out here
to where they can troubleshoot anything out there
because they already know the steps and stuff like that.
Just so they know what they're doing
in a safe environment versus, you know,
if we're out on the range and something were to happen,
they didn't know what to do.
They're going through the
clear, disassemble, reassemble, load, unload,
and perform a functions check on a .50 cal.
It's a M2 .50-caliber machine gun.
It's one of the weapons systems on the tank.
It's mounted on top of the tank.
They do have to be trained and proficient with it.
You're proficient in every station on the tank
and every weapons system
in case something happens to someone on the crew.
It's considered a small arms weapon,
mostly because it does have the 120-millimeter main gun.
Narrator: The Abrams tank's 120-millimeter smoothbore gun
fires a variety of rounds that can destroy other tanks
up to 3,000 meters away.
Matt Zimmerman: So, this is a M865 training sabot round.
This is what we use to simulate our service
sabot ammunition for training.
Weighs approximately 35 pounds.
The blue aluminum petals are discarded when it is fired.
The silver spike is the actual sub-projectile
that goes downrange, impacts with the target.
The tank can hold 42 rounds total.
Our service ammunition is designed
to penetrate through enemy armor,
and then it has a devastating effect
on the inside of the vehicle.
Come on. Come on.
This one's a little bit heavier.
This is the M1002 training impact round.
When a service round of this type hits a target,
it will blow up on the outside of it,
and it forms a jet stream of copper.
I'm going to set it back down.
It is a little bit heavy, so.
Producer: How much does that one weigh?
This one's about 62 pounds.
They're expected to be able to load that 62-pound round
in about seven seconds.
LeBlanc: The rounds aren't light.
When loading, you have to be fast and efficient.
Producer: How have you trained physically?
A lot of push-ups.
Producer: It's a movie, not a picture.
Oh.
Oh!
Narrator: Female soldiers became eligible
to train for combat arms positions in 2016.
Today, about 4% of the soldiers training
in the Armor School are women.
LeBlanc: There are mostly male soldiers.
I wasn't expecting a lot of females to be here
when I first showed up.
I expect the same treatment that the males get.
Producer: Do you feel like you've gotten that?
Yes, sir.
Narrator: Among soldiers training to be cavalry scouts,
the percentage of women is even smaller,
only about 2%.
Producer: What is a cav scout?
So, a cav scout's basically
the eyes and ears of the brigade.
The eyes and ears of the commander.
The eyes and ears of the battlefield.
So you're going in, and you're being sneaky
and trying to figure out the enemy and their positions.
Zach Walker: Scouts get sent out before any other
larger elements, such as infantry or heavy armor.
So it's basically the cav scout's responsibility
to make sure that an area's either clear
or if that there are enemies in an area
we're relaying exactly what they're doing
up the chain of command.
Narrator: Blank rounds are used
during this training exercise.
During the shooting ...
Narrator: An instructor alerted this soldier
that while he was aiming toward the enemy,
his fellow soldiers were in the path of his rifle.
Luke Smith: That's bad, and that's something
we've got to stop right away.
You get the adrenaline going,
you kind of zone in on one thing.
You get the blinders put on.
In the training environment, that's absolutely
when you want to do something like that,
so it can be corrected and fixed.
I had never fired a weapon before I joined the Army, sir.
No, sir.
No hunting, sir.
It's definitely become more familiar and normal.
It's just basically a part of the uniform at this point.
Narrator: Cav scouts get hands-on experience
with even more powerful weapons,
like the M320 grenade launcher,
which attaches to the M4 carbine
and the AT4 rocket launcher.
Walter Solis: The reason why scouts are learning
how to utilize this weapon system
is because we would need to be able
to destroy enemy armor vehicles.
Tanks, definitely a civilian vehicle
would not stand a chance against this.
Narrator: The AT4 is a single-use weapon.
After it's fired, it can't be reloaded.
And each live round costs about $2,000.
That's why soldiers in training learn to aim
and fire it using 9-millimeter bullets.
Soldier: Loaded.
Narrator: Although the soldiers
don't fire live rounds themselves,
instructors demonstrate what the AT4 can really do.
Instructor: Clear.
Solis: This is something that the soldiers look forward to.
It provides them with the capability of them
actually being able to destroy enemy armor vehicles.
Narrator: As Armor soldiers,
tankers and cav scouts are technically teammates,
but there's a competition between them.
Producer: I've heard that there's a saying
for the cavalry scouts. It's like ...
If you ain't cav, you ain't shit.
Producer: What does that mean?
You're not shit if you're not a cav scout.
Hey, privates!
If you ain't cav ...
All: You ain't shit!
There it is.
Narrator: But tankers tend to disagree.
Holladay: The scouts are just,
to me, they're just jealous because
they have to walk into the woods and hide there
and play hide-and-go-seek on a professional level,
while us tankers get to chill inside this
steel beast that has AC and heat.
Narrator: A cav scout's mission is to gather intelligence
to share with their commander,
who may decide to send in tanks to engage the enemy.
Sidney Cupples: When we need the tankers,
we need the tankers,
and when they need us, they need us.
We give each other a hard time,
but we really need each other.
Instructor: Scouts report a section of enemy armor
in your sector. Defend and report.
Narrator: The partnership is simulated
in live-fire exercises.
Instructor: 108. At this time, battle-carry sabot.
Prepare for defensive engagement,
ensure you're in a defilade, report recon one.
Target.
Narrator: Instructors observe and command the soldiers
from a tower overlooking the range.
Instructor: 108, 103. Updated air and barrel follow.
Narrator: Thermal cameras show the targets
more than 1,000 meters away.
Instructor: Target.
Pedro Zacarias: I'm giving each individual tank
the proper commands of what to expect,
what they're going to shoot, when to move.
It is my job to ensure that the tanks
are identifying and engaging the proper targets.
Holladay: They could be deploying to Korea
or Kuwait or Europe. It could be anything.
And we just tell them, "Hey,
you need to be prepared mentally, financially.
Make sure you talk to your families
and all this, and just be ready for anything.
Soon as you graduate,
you're going to hit the ground running."
LeBlanc: It feels great knowing that I'll be able
to go out and serve this country one way or another.
It's a little scary knowing
that I might be going away from home,
but I know my family will be waiting when I get back.
I never thought that I would make it this far,
and my battle buddies kept pushing me forward,
not letting me quit.
And it pays off in the end a lot.
Muana: They change a lot in terms of their discipline
and their camaraderie with everybody.
You know, on day one, they don't have that.
They've never built a brotherhood with each other,
but at the end of the day,
they know that they have to work together,
because that's what we do in the United States Army.
Like, we have to work together,
because without that, we're nobody.
Producer: Tell me about these boots here.
I've never seen anything like them.
Holladay: During the Battle of the Bulge in 1945 in Germany,
the infantry were out there in the muck
and the tankers were inside the Shermans,
and it was so cold that the bootlaces
of the infantry were breaking.
So the tankers take the bootlaces off
and gave it to the infantry.
We took our belts off,
put it around our boots, leather straps.
But most importantly, though,
is bootlaces are flammable, leather straps are not.
So having the least amount of flammable items on you
while inside the tank is where you want to be at.
Producer: Are they comfortable?
Oh, this is all I wear.
I don't wear any other boots.
I'll ruck in them.
I tank in them.
I do everything in these boots.