Pretty good for a non-tanker Stranger but some details in your post are off. It’s not in a way that affects the major theme but “fighting ignorance”…
A gunner is the most expendable crew position. When the Abrams operates with a three man crew the positions manned are Driver, Loader, and Tank Commander. It’s better to have both a gunner and TC but the gunner is not required to fight the tank.
The driver doesn’t have controls for any of the weapons systems. Only one of the three machine guns (one of the two M240s) is coaxial. It’s the one mounted next to the main gun with a common axis. That M240 is aimed by manipulating the turret and has a ballistic solution provided by the fire control system. The loader’s M240 and tank commander’s M2 are not coaxial.
Something like concertina wire is a potential problem. It’s barbs can catch on the track to let it get pulled up to the sprocket. If it gets pulled up it can catch and start to spool building up a gap between the sprocket and track. It doesn’t jam; if enough builds up it can increase the chance of throwing the track because of pushing the end connectors out of the sprocket teeth.
I suppose a cable, if it got wrapped around the sprocket, could cause the same effect. I have a harder time seeing it getting caught and spooling up in normal operations. Other parts of typical fences have both an issue with being unlikely to be pulled up to the sprocket and getting spit out mangled instead of jamming. If I go batshit and start driving through heavily fenced suburbia my major fence related worries are what fences hide not them stopping me. (“Shit! POOOOOOLLLLLLL!!!” :eek:) I’ve driven through enough forests, and I don’t mean trails through the forests, that fences seem almost laughable in comparison.
Not all pavement. Heavy duty roads are safe. Light duty roads can often be managed with little or no damage if you can be careful about speed and how tightly you turn.
The numbers are even worse. Those numbers from the manual are about the equivalent of highway miles where you are driving on relatively flat pavement without stop and go driving. A planning factor for more normal operations, that I found to be pretty accurate, was 3.5 gallons per kilometer.
Even with the manual, a boresight device, and experience I don’t know if either of us would be succesful. I’m sure I would absolutely hate trying. Think about all trips in and out of the turret it would require to try and line up the crosshairs on the MBD with the target. :smack:
For those that haven’t been on tanks, unlike Loach and I, it is possible to drive the Abrams open hatched with the turret unlocked and in any position. It’s not safe. Procedure prevents it not the tank itsel. The turret monster likes to be fed. Which is another issue for the untrained crewman even inside the turret. Ignorance is dangerous. The inside of tanks don’t meet OSHA standards for industrial environments. The tank will let you do a lot of stupid and dangerous stuff.
A prime example is the door for the main gun ammunition ready rack. It’s a heavy hydraulically operated door that is designed to protect the crew from explosion if the ammo storage is hit while it’s closed. It does have a safety interlock like you might see on an elevator door. If it hits something it stops moving with one exception By design the safety interlock stops working in the last few inches before it’s fully closed. It’s supposed to power through any debris that may have fallen through the hatch and ensure the door still gets a good seal. It doesn’t care if the thing in the way at that point is the loader’s hand. I’ve seen it snap a broom handle in two during a safety demonstration.
We called it the turret monster for a reason.
(personally I’m more interested in military aircraft but even I don’t kid myself that trying to fly one of those wouldn’t end in fiery disaster even if I could get it up)
YEEEE-HAW!! 
