Veterans Day get together as a 11B I wasnt smart enough to be a 11C or a 11H

[Aristus]

22. Actually, there was a very important safety imperative for keeping the gun clean.

The M1A1 120mm smoothbore gun used ammunition with a disintegrating cartridge that burned up in the gun tube after the round was fired. This left only a small metal stub, instead of a large brass casing that cluttered up the turret floor.

If the gun tube was not properly cleaned, the casing would dissolve only incompletely, and flaming casing material could spew back into the turret on recoil when the gun breech dropped. This was called a 'flare-back'. It was so dangerous that, even if none of the crew were hurt, it would bring the entire live-fire exercise to a grinding halt, sometimes even for an entire day while the matter was investigated.