Army Tanker Reveals What It's Like Inside America's Deadliest Tank!

U.S. Army tanker Carlos Manjarrez served as an M1 Abrams armor crewman from 2012 to 2018. In this episode of the Urban Valor Podcast, Carlos shares the story of growing up in San Bernardino, joining the United States Army with a baby on the way, choosing a combat MOS, becoming an Army tanker, and experiencing the wild personalities, leadership, training, and brotherhood that came with life in an armor unit.

Carlos didn’t grow up with some perfectly mapped-out plan to become an M1 Abrams tanker.

After graduating high school in 2011, college wasn’t clicking. He had a child on the way, wasn’t sure what came next, and eventually walked into a military recruiting station looking for one thing:

A combat job.

He considered the Marines first, but the available jobs weren’t what he wanted. Then he walked into the Army recruiter’s office and was given several options—including cavalry scout, mortarman, and 19K M1 armor crewman.

Carlos picked tanks.

But this conversation goes WAY beyond the Army...

Chapters:
00:00 Wild Army Tanker Stories
01:17 Growing Up in San Bernardino
03:01 Growing Up Without His Father
07:26 Taking a DNA Test to Find the Truth
10:30 Growing Up Around Gangs & Street Culture
15:35 The Police Encounter That Became a Wake-Up Call
19:35 Why He Wanted to Join the Military
22:45 Walking Into an Army Recruiting Office
24:06 A Baby on the Way Changes Everything
26:25 Choosing 19K Army Tanker
26:56 Basic Training Begins
31:45 Getting Smoked by the Drill Sergeants
36:13 What Army Basic Training Was Really Like
39:44 Questioning Whether He Made the Right Decision
40:17 His Son Is Born During Training
40:40 Getting Orders to Fort Stewart
46:16 Life in His First Army Unit
47:52 National Training Center at Fort Irwin
48:35 How an M1 Abrams Tank Crew Works
49:25 Becoming an M1 Abrams Gunner
49:45 Earning the Legendary Tanker Boots
51:01 Preparing to Fire the M1 Abrams
59:02 Getting “Killed” During an NTC Mission
1:00:14 Seeing a Soldier’s PTSD Triggered in Training
1:02:15 Live Mortar Rounds Land Next to Their Tank
1:06:01 Preparing for an Afghanistan Deployment
1:06:29 Orders Suddenly Change to Germany
1:06:45 Training With U.S. Allies in Germany
1:08:17 The Sketchy M1 Abrams River Crossing
1:15:28 Pranks Played on New Army Tankers
1:16:42 Tank Crew Traditions & Gunnery Pranks
1:20:09 What Firing an M1 Abrams Feels Like
1:21:15 Why Every Tank Crew Member Matters
1:32:06 Leaving the Army & Trying to Become a Cop
1:34:31 Losing a Close Army Friend
1:35:45 Finding a New Career Through Helmets to Hardhats
1:37:28 Becoming a Groundman & Working Toward Lineman
1:54:12 His Advice to Young Soldiers
1:55:07 Final Thoughts

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DISCLAIMER: The views and experiences shared in this interview are those of the individual and are recounted from personal memory.

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