The "Cause 4 Chaos" tank crew relaxes toward the end of 1st Battalion, 72nd Tank Regiment's gunnery exercise at Rodriguez Range on Monday. Earlier, the Company C crew achieved a rare perfect score during a firing exercise. From left: Pvt. Andrew Mansik, Pvt. Christopher Erame, Sgt. Kim Joon-tae and Staff Sgt. Donald Gilchrist. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
RODRIGUEZ RANGE, South Korea — A preacher, a Korean, a rock ’n’ roller and a country guy.
The 1st Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment’s top tank crew is a diverse bunch, says Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Ortiz — and they’ve achieved something he’s never seen in 26 years in the Army.
The Company C crew scored a perfect 1,000 points during their Table 8 gunnery — a 30- to 45-minute exercise requiring fast movements and dead-on accuracy against a wide array of targets.
“What these guys have done is remarkable,” Ortiz said Monday. “To do it, they have to be like a machine.”
The team also is the first to attain a perfect score in South Korea since the gunnery exercise changed a couple of years ago to include sniper targets and other tasks simulating current global war conditions, Ortiz said.
Staff Sgt. Donald Gilchrist, South Korean Sgt. Kim Joon-tae, Pvt. Andrew Mansik and Pvt. Christopher Erame will each receive Army commendation medals for their score.
It was especially rewarding for Gilchrist, a native of Lawrence, S.C., with a ready- for-the-pulpit voice that got him nicknamed “Rev” by his peers.
As tank commander, Gilchrist fought skepticism from past supervisors to put Kim in the gunner’s seat after seeing Kim work as a loader.
Now, Kim has done something that few U.S. gunners can claim.
“When I first got to my position, everybody doubted my ability,” Kim said. “I think I proved myself now.”
Erame, of Martinsburg, W.Va., had the dual task of loading the tank’s 120 mm rounds and firing the M240 machine gun at troop targets.
Each crewmember said they hoped they could achieve the perfect score, but were still surprised.
“It was in my head,” said Mansik, of Boulder, Colo. “It was in the back. I really didn’t think we were going to do it at first.”
But after a solid day run, Gilchrist began believing.
The night run began in a defensive posture. The crew spotted an enemy tank target quickly and took it out. Then they knocked out moving targets, vehicles, personnel and sniper targets in buildings with equal speed and accuracy.
The crew says they’ve tried to keep their feat low-key among their fellow soldiers, despite the attention.
“They all tell us we’re a pretty modest tank crew,” Mansik said. “I think they talk about it more than we do.”
It’s more common for Bradley Fighting Vehicle crews to get a perfect score on their gunnery exercise, but it still puts them among the top 1 percent of tracked vehicles, said Staff Sgt. Joseph Paul.
Paul, a native of Baltimore, got a perfect score with first-time gunner Sgt. Robert Vetter and drover Pvt. Tragan Monaghan.
It’s Paul’s fourth perfect gunnery. He gives most of the credit to Vetter, of Bayshore, N.Y.
Vetter had been a dismounting soldier inside the infantry-carrying vehicle up until this recent test.
“I expect this from now on,” Vetter said with a smile.
