Veteran Salute: Ensuring smooth tank operations worldwide

TOPEKA (KSNT) - An M1 Tank Turret Mechanic, Specialist Don Coffee made an impact worldwide during his 8 years in service with the U.S. Army.

With two brothers already in the Air Force, Coffee saw a unique opportunity to join the Military.

“I wanted to get into computers," Coffee said, "and didn’t realize the recruiter said ‘yeah we can put you in computers, but I didn’t realize it was a computer on a tank.” 

With the Army, Coffee was responsible for service on all the components inside the turret, from the gun to the laser and sight.

Knowing that a country boy from Missouri could problem-solve on a 3 to 4 million dollar tank was an incredible experience for the specialist.

“If you ain’t never been around a tank it’s an awesome machine," he said. "To know that you had a part in fixing that thing, to make it shoot hundreds of yards away and hit a target, just knowing how to fix that stuff was incredible to me.” 

With his skillset and receiving an expert badge for shooting, Coffee was selected for an international competition around the globe, taking on British and German tanks on the target range.

“They picked me to go," Coffee said. "You had to get those tanks up quick. You had to compete against all those top leading tanks against the M1, and we came out on top a lot of times. 

After that competition, the Specialist was sent to fight in Desert Storm.

“We didn’t know what to expect," he said. "We went out to the desert, and what we did was fight other tanks. We didn’t go in like you see in movies, they’re kicking in doors. We didn’t do none of that stuff, we went out specifically for other tanks in the desert. When we got there, the people that were out there were out there for months. They were starving, they didn’t have socks or shoes on their feet. When we rolled through, they surrendered.” 

After serving in Operation Desert Storm, Coffee went back to Germany before making his way stateside. He finished his service at Fort Riley, continuing in the motorpool, training out in the field, and working on those M1 tanks.