Vtr 52 A: Fill & Download for Free

I don’t know about the Abrams, but an M48A2 (Vietnam) weighed 52 tons. That weight was, however fairly evenly distributed over the treads by the road wheels. That’s why they have treads and why they don’t sink into the ground. I only saw one guy that had been completely run over by a tank. He was sort of pressed into the earth, pretty much intact, but completely dead.Having that weight evenly distributed is vital. A tank that is stuck, hull down on the ground, is a real problem. There’s a larger vehicle called a VTR (vehicle, tank retriever) that’s used to pull one out. With a hull down tank a VTR has to set the blade and use the winch to get the tank back on it’s feet.Here’s a picture of a ’60s era VTR. They weighed 60 tons. Every tank company’s maintenance platoon had a VTR. Tanks, like ships are named. A tank in “C” company might be named “Chosin” after the Chosin reservoir battle in Korea.The VTRs had a two word name. In “D” company, 4/69 Armor, the VTR was named “Daffy Duck”.Do you remember the video of the statue of Saddam Husain being pulled down in Baghdad? The boom you saw pulling it down was the boom you see in the picture, on a VTR.A VTR is crewed by the mechanics in the maintenance platoon. There’s a .50 caliber M2 mounted on top. If there were four tank companies in a battalion, there would be five VTRs, the fifth belonging to the Headquarters company. Competition between companies for the fastest VTR were common, “I’m told”.

First, it is extremely rare that a tank will flip over due to its extremely wide track, unless the driver made a serious error. Or, the TC directed him improperly. A large heavy duty crane or two Vehicle Track Retrevers ( VTR) is required to upright a tank if there is no hinderances. I saw a M60-A1 which had flipped on a hillside. In this case two VTR’s, two tanks, and a number of tank tow cables were used. If I recall it took about 4 hours to upright 52 tons of steel and track. Seeing a truck or car rowed is ho-hum after see this feat..

Tons of info on the internet. There is a list of dividend aristocrats, which are the most consistent dividend payers for the past couple of decades. They don’t necessarily pay the largest dividends, but they have a track record of paying each quarter. If you want slightly larger dividends, I would try your utilities and REITs, and if you want even bigger yields, look at some oil & gas related ventures.For example, Dominion Energy (D) is paying 84 cts a share (or $2.52 year) which puts the yields is 5.16%. Stock price is hanging around 52 week low, which is in the mid 60’s.You have REITs like Ventas (VTR) paying 79 cts a share ($3.16 year) and yielding 6.5% and also trading near 52 week lows. Why am I picking those near the lows? Because yield is a function of risk, and both of these are not viewed as risky, so the lower the price, the higher the yield. If you look at historical yields for both, you can estimate where stock prices might be over the year or so.Lastly, there is Crestwood Equity Partners (CEQP), which is yielding around 9% (60 cent dividend / $2.40 year). Trades around mid to low $27. A bit risker stock, so yield is higher. The above are not stock recommendations and were chosen to illustrate my point.