Had modern Anti-tank technology (Sagger/RPG) render the tank obsolete?Īfter an intense interview process and a 'Staff Rides' along the Golan and Egyptian fronts, Gen Starry came away with a few insights.ġ) 'On the modern battlefield, If you can be seen, you can be killed.'Ģ) 'When outnumbered 5-1, if you get the first shot in, and it's a kill, the odds have immediately switched to 2-1 in your favor.'ģ) 'Small Unit Leader Initiative make or break a fight.'Ĥ) 'Long Ranged (2000m +) Gunnery Techniques are force multipliers.'ĥ) 'Highly trained NCO's in all aspects of Gunnery and Fire Control Maintenance are needed.' (Thus the birth of the US Army Master Gunner Program)Ħ) Working within the framework of Combined Arms, Armor still dominated the battlefield. The Army sent Gen Don Starry to Israel to see if the 'Death of the Tank' was in fact true.

Out numbered 5 to 1 in all aspects of combined arms, how do you win? I am a 20 yr (77-97), retired, Army Master Gunner who realized that the armor strategies and techniques of my time were a product of the lessons learned by the Israeli Armor Corps during the Yom Kippur War.įor myself, I always took that war as a small scale version of what the US Army was facing in Europe. I have studied the 1973 War between Israel and Egypt/Syria throughout my military career.

Greatest tank battles valley of tears