In the Australian defence force, many of my friends who i graduated from RMC with do not have their civilian licenses and are now commanding or driving up to 26 men in tanks, trucks and apc's. Is it like this in any other countries around the world?
Don,t make me laugh! Seen the T.V shot of a guy driving a tank on the freeway ? He DIDN,T need a licence. But a closely following ambulance might have been very useful!!
You only need a licence to drive a vehicle on a public road so if you don't drive on a public road you don't need a license.
I'm not sure how the rules work, but driving a tank isn't much like driving your family sedan to grandma's house.
Around the parts where I grew up you have to watch out for the Farmer's boys who were driving down the back roads on tractors, combines or anything they considered "farm equipment". Rules and regulations were pretty lenient (for them!). Nothing like playing "chicken" with a 14 foot wide tractor-planter combination driven by a 12 year old kid who can barely reach the brake pedal or see over the steering wheel.
linc, Our (ex) resident grandson graduated from Corps Training at Pucka in 2009 with a military licence to drive an ASLAV and a 'Bushmaster'. He had/has had virtually NIL experience in driving a car on a public road. A few days after he got his military licence he applied for and got an automatic issue of a civilian licence. No 200 hours of logged driving lessons for him. John.
Kripes "Biak", I started driving on the farm when I was eight, Dad would put the truck in gear, let out the clutch to get me rolling, and I would pull out the hand throtle to drive around the field while he threw hay bales into the back of the truck. My tractor driving started the same year, and I layed down that Harley "Hummer" motorcycle (the one in my avatar) when I was nine. I started driving his HD-7 Allis-Chalmers crawler plowing the soil the same summer, I was so "weak" I couldn't pull the steering levers with ease so I would put my feet on the dash and pull the required stick back with both hands. I started driving his CJ2A around on the farm when I was ten or so, loved that little thing, it is still out there on the farm today. Still runs too. Farm kids start driving stuff pretty early.
Hey there Clint, The best I could do at that age was ride a mini-bike and terrorize the neighborhood. One of our friends here in Minnesota who was a "Logger" had his son out in the woods driving a 'skidder' dragging logs by the time he was 8 or 10. He had to sit 'side-saddle' to reach the peddles. Of course, all he had to worry about was hitting a tree or tipping over. Not much traffic in the Forest.
All the tractors I operated in my pre-teen years had hand-clutches, which helped a "kid" operate them. Didn't have to have strong or long adult legs to engage and disengage the tranny. The weird one was an Oliver Super 99, with the same supercharged three cylinder Detroit Diesel engine as the HD-7. Instead of pulling "back" to engage the tranny, you pushed it forward. All the others were "pull back" to engage, the Minneapolis-Molines, the Allis-Chalmers, and the Caterpillar D-5.
I helped out on a friends farm back in the 70's. They gave me an old John Deere (2010?) with a 1 bottom plow. I still managed to tear out a few yards of fence before getting the hang of it. Served them right since all I had was a AM radio (mounted on the fender) and they rode around in air-conditioning, FM stereo and power steering. A couple of days later I was tilling and turned too sharp. Wake up fast when something that big starts climbing the rear tires toward ya'. At my regular workplace, I got to drive one of the first production D-10's. Just on a test section to check transmission and brakes etc. Now I could have done some serious damage with that!
linc, My understanding is that it was a 'no questions asked' recognition and acceptance of the Military licence. During his time with us from 15 to 18+, he never got behind the wheel of my car even though it was offered, he showed no interest. John
