test please delete

[TheFaQQer]

I glanced at my watch - how much time was left?

[Troll]

The three traditional factors determining a tank's effectiveness are its firepower, protection and mobility. Also significant is shock action, the psychological effect of a tank's imposing battlefield presence on enemy soldiers.

[TheFaQQer]

"Pah," I thought. "There's plenty of time before I need to get there."

[Troll]

Firepower is the ability of a tank to identify, engage, and destroy a target. Protection is the tank's ability to resist being detected, engaged, and disabled or destroyed by enemy fire. Mobility includes tactical mobility over diverse terrain on the battlefield, as well as strategic mobility, the ability of the tank to be transported by road, rail, sea, and perhaps by air, to the battlefield.

[TheFaQQer]

But, traffic conspired against me.

[Troll]

Tank design is traditionally held to be a compromise between these three factors--it is not considered possible to maximize all three. For example, increasing protection by adding armour will result in an increase in weight and therefore decrease mobility; increasing firepower by using a larger gun will decrease both mobility and protection (due to decreased armour at the front of the turret).

[TheFaQQer]

At one stage, we had to do a U-turn!

[Troll]

A tank crew must be able to quickly identify, engage, and destroy many types of targets on the battlefield, while maintaining high mobility. To this end, they are equipped with sophisticated detection and fire-control equipment, a large gun capable of firing armour-piercing and high-explosive ammunition, and machine guns for defence against infantry, light vehicles, and aircraft.

[TheFaQQer]

I wasn't too reassured by the driver saying "I've not taken a wrong turn, honest!"

[DS23]

..human deafness (extreme insensitivity to sound) most commonly occurs because of abnormalities of the inner ear, rather than the nerves or tracts of the central auditory system.

or due to excessive headbanging (in front of the main speakers) at consecutive motorhead concerts