I was an active duty tanker from 1977 to 1981. We never did touch up painting. Its a tank it gets dirty, paint chips, some areas rust. They live outside, the turret usually gets tarped to keep water out that's it. If you loosen or tighten a bolt the paint comes off the bolt will rust, Drop a wrench on the back deck paint chips. Replace a fender, parts do not come camouflaged and they stay that way until the entire tank is repainted. Now some COs get bugs up their butts and pretty tanks are important to them so they may get painted more often but I do not believe that's the norm.

Now CARC paint makes crew level painting very difficult if not nearly impossible. On a crew level it can only be brushed or rolled. It has to be thinned with de-ionized water at specific ratios. We had some for Our tank restoration and chose not to use it for health and difficulty issues.

Tom

Yep. Drove, loaded, gunned and TC'd from 06' to 12'. Tanks break ALL the damned time, shit is ALWAYS worn. If a broken or worn part doesn't deadline a vehicle, it most likely will take FOREVER to get fixed. Broken tanks get scavenged for parts all the time. A platoon of 4 tanks can easily turn into one working tank that gets hot seated as necessary. Paint? It's an afterthought. Worn bolts or rust? Fucks given = 0.