Sitting in the office today I was a M1 with what looked like the name 'Hannibal' on the barrel. Is this common practice?

Yeah, I think it is really common. The Marine M1 that tragically drove off of the bridge into the Euphrates drowning the crew was named “Hermes.” Another M1 in the same unit is named “Unforgiven.”

If you look at the photos in Concord's M1 Mini Series book you will see that the vast majority of them have names.

Generally speaking, tradition dictates that the name of the tank begins with the same letter of the company, but there are plenty of exceptions. Sometimes the name is painted on the front slopes of the turret, but it is usually on the bore evacuator.

I saw one that had "Baghdad or bust" on the bore evacuator. At least I think it was an Abrams, they just showed the barrel. More of a slogan than a name though.

My tank always had "Kerry's Kar" on the bore evacuator (M-60s and M1s). Named after a game my Daughter devised and played as a child. I didn't allow the obscene (we came close), but generally speaking no one objects.

DJ, good to see you posting again. I was just thinking back to my tank riding days, and most of my rides didn't have a company-letter name. "Wild One", "Taz", "Almighty Taz II" (this one had to have an "A" name), "Challenger". One tank didn't have a name.

Wow, Col DJ and Sabot are recalling some memories...
My armor school ride was adorned with "The Jungle" in Camo stick 9had a beast of a time cleaning that off before turn-in!), referring to the Guns n' Roses song "Welcome to the Jungle". This vehicle was so ordained because our Tac NCO, after observing our crew interaction with a Yemeni LT (we called him "Identi-BOOM"), said "This is a friggin' jungle!".
My personal rides were adorned with "Kelly's Hero", in honor of my betrothed. Also the Company CDR was CPT Kelley...

Also saw one USMC A1 whose tube was fittingly adorned with "United Airlines Flight 93", a tribute to the brave victims of 9/11/01.

Here is a pic of "All the way to Baghgad." Nothing political implied.

DJ,
Echoing Rob's comment. Glad to see you back.

Cheers,
Jim

The one I photographed had been my guides former track and had been adorned with the name "White Trash II" on the lower slope of the front hull, just below the unit numbers. It was a desert storm veteran and it's desert tan had been oversprayed with green when it was given to the guard unit, but under the green on the the rear flanks was the name "Bounty Hunter." I have also seen this name on an M1A2SEP so I am thinking there is some duplication of names. On the barrel of the one I saw, it also had a name stenciled but I could only make out "Hoga" I think it could have been "Hogan's Hero" or "Hero's" or something, but that was all I could make out. Maybe it was "Hulk Hogan".

Full Metal Jacket has M1A2Sep with names like "Death.com", "Thunderhorse", "Diablo", "Anti-Terrorist",and "Blood & Guts"

Rob

I wonder if any of the aftermarket decal guys are reading this thread? You could make the names out of model rr dry transfers but a decal would be way easier. I just love "Death.com"

I'm working on a M1 now I plan on putting a name on it too, I want to call it "Physco Joe" after a song I know and like (Blues Traveler) Even if it dosen't follow tradision,its still sounds cool,and its kinda a tribuite to a friend of mine thats just outside of Bagdage right now.
Vince

That would be cool. I have a Tamyia M1A1 in the box, that I have yet to build. I would be very interested in some of those decals when the time came :-)

I know Archer offers a set of dry transfer that perfectly match this lettering and putting a name on one with them would be easy, they come in various sizes of lettering on each sheet.

Rob

Thanks for the great responses and clearing this up for me.

DJ, nice to see you around again.

Just a suggestion, but the type of stenciling we (only speaking for soldiers, i.e. US Army personnel) are standard block letter stencils that come in a variety of sizes. Bumper numbers are normally done in 4" stencils for larger vehicles and 2" stencils for smaller vehicles. Tank (and other tracked vehicles) tend to use the same stencils for the names as they do the bumper numbers.

It would be easy to replicate this in a couple of ways. First, get rub on (dry transfer letters) from your local arts & crafts store and make your own markings this way. Give your tank any name you wish (Heck, I've even seen "Bodacious Ta Tas" on a tank) or duplicate one from a picture.

If you can't find the right size/font in rub on letters & numbers, get a sheet of clear decal film and find the right font for your computer. This would be easiest but a little more expensive. Run the decal sheet through a laser printer once you've completed the bumper markings/name set. You can use a program like MS Word or PowerPoint. Even do the black star. Most laser printers will print on objects as small as 3x5 cards or 4x9 envelopes so you can cut your decal sheet accordingly or tape the decal sheet to a piece of printer paper.

Fortunately, most markings are just black since that is what the soliders have on hand.

I saw one with Bush something on it.It was a funny one and wasnt bad.I think it was like "Bush's Baghdad Buster" or something like that.

I don't know if 4th Inf Div is in Iraq currently, but there are pictures of four of their tanks ( Death.com, Anti-Terrorist, Blood & Guts, Bounty Hunter) here. The first three are M1A2's, the last is an M1A2SEP

Cheers,
Linz

I just have to chime in here with my memories as a platoon leader in the mid-90's. I was in 1-37 AR, 3rd BDE, 3 ID for 3 years in Germany and at that time, it was division policy that tank names start with the letter of the company to which they were assigned. I was in Bravo Company (hence my Armorama handle) so the tanks in my platoon were Bronco, Behemoth (mine), Black Dog, and Billy The Kid. When I first signed for my M1A1(HA) tanks in '92, they were solid green in color (over desert sand) and the names had been repainted on the gun tubes in black, forward of the bore evacuator, where the same names had been painted during Desert Srorm. Each tank also sported black kill rings painted at the front of the barrell. My Battalion took part in the Battle of 73 Easting and a 3rd of my tankers were vets who vouched for the number of kills. In '93 our tanks were re-painted in the standard 3-color European camo. New policy for names became a rectangle of sand paint on the bore evacuator with the names in black stencils. A number of tank ommanders changed the name of their tank at the re-paint. My ride became Brumbar.

In late '95, the 3rd ID flag was transfered to Ft Stewart, GA and I have no idea if the naming standard remained.