Don't tell the EPA about this...but...I accidentally pushed over a few trees at Fort Knox when I was a tank instructor for the Armor School. A friend and I decided we would just "see what happens" while we were out in an area we called the "mud pit" and well out of sight/out of mind with our vehicles and crew of trainees.
Neither of us could find the balls to go at it at high speed, but we just crept to the trunk at idle, which stopped the tank. Give it just a little gas and the most wonderful sound of a 2-3 foot tree trunk cracking and toppling over comes next. It was...cool.
After a couple were down, we had satisfied our curiosity and went back to what we were supposed to be doing (driving in circles around the training area).
Neither of us exploded or toppled over. There was a distinct risk of getting high centered on the roots/trunk though, which was something neither of us had considered. That would have been embarrassing to say the least. But anyway, that was the only time I have ever intentionally destroyed anything with a tank, and it was curiosity that made me do it.
Accidentally hit a boulder once on a track called the "basic driver's course". Was going about 15 miles per hour and whammo. Bruised my ribs on the hatch, gunner hit his nose on the sight, tank got a scratch in the paint of the #1 right ballistic skirt, driver said something like "sorry sergeant", boulder rolled a couple of feet down the bank and stopped, senior tank commander yelling over the radio for me to "get control of my vehicle". Embarrassing, but far from fatal.
Anyway, I've gone on long enough about this. The topic just brought back some memories that I thought I'd share with you
