For those who don't want to choose between a sand-painted or a NATO 3-color painted Abrams.... (from Flikr.com) :

FOB Iskandariyah ( Babil province)

The original size picture is HERE

Frenchy

That Abrams is from 11ACR when they were deployed to Iraq in '05-'06. The scheme is used on OpFor (OPossing FORces = enemy players) at the NTC where 11ACR plays the enemy. When they were notified of deployment, they started repainting their tanks in sand for Iraq, but didn't get to all of them. A few were sent over in the sand/brown scheme.

I knew about NTC sand/brown Abrams. But I didn't know some had been sent to Iraq in this scheme...Thanks for the info Gino.

Frenchy

Interesting scheme.
Looks like it might have been effective in breaking up the shape of the tank?

I like the guy second from the right, He's sort of wondering why the tank has brown bits on it...

If I were an insurgent (which I'm not), of all the people I would really like to avoid having to possibly fight, the order would be:
any SF
the 11ACR (they spend their entire time being the badguys, I mean, c'mon, they rip everyone to shreds!)

I don't get it.
I see MARPAT and Tri Colour uniforms.
Where the MARPAT uniforms not issued to everyone?
(I have no idea on uniforms mind you)

Whoops.


Told you i had no clue about uniforms.

The ACU's are no holding up well and will be revamped. The best bet sems to be the modified DCU's, or modifeid Nomex suits.

The 11th ACR enjoyed standing out from the rest of the Army. When the Cold War was still going on, they used solid green tanks, HMMWV/Jeeps, APCs while the rest of USAREUR was using a combination of MERDC and NATO schemes in the 80s. It was their thing.

If having 2-color desert camouflage tanks in the desert increases their esprit d'corps, more power to them.

The same held true for the Berlin Brigade, but for differing reasons.

I like it. It gives modellers an alternative to paint schemes and retains historical accuracy. Good find!

Gary

Imagine that. I was working at the Pentagon when the Army G4 folks got that one (ACUs) by the Chief of Staff. They presented no cost estimates, little staff coordination, and yet, here we are in ACUs. Maybe they are the smart ones, after all...

If anyone is interested, I did one about a year ago for the Commander of 1/11 ACR when he returned as a farewell gift.

Here it is:



More here.


On the ACUs, the time 11ACR was in Iraq was when ACUs were just being issued to units that were deploying. Not all units got them and you only got two sets per soldier. So if it was laundry day and your ACUs were dirty, you wore the DCUs, which we all have a few sets of.

Rob during my tenure in the 11th 1977 to 1979 in Fulda, our tanks were painted in MERDC winter forest green field drab and black, no sand. I chalked the pattern and sprayed the cammo myself. My TC said you do it since your the model builder. We used to have black berets and US belt buckles to set us apart. I was there when we traded in our M551s for M60A1 RISE passives.

Tom

Very nice alternative scheme to the overall sand. If the Abrams campaign will get going next campaign season I will probably make one in this pattern.

Thanks for sharing, Frenchy