The Ruskies Are Coming!

Err...actually the Ruskies are leaving.   

A pair of Soviet T-72 battle tanks long stored at Fort Wainwright Alaska are secured on an Alaska Railroad flat car and ready for shipment south to Seattle. Their destination beyond Seattle was unknown (that's as far as they were waybilled) and I'm not sure where they ultimately ended up.  At the time I was told that these were Cold War-era main battle tanks that the Soviet Union built and exported en masse. The US came into possession of lots of them after Gulf War "Round 1" (Desert Storm). Obviously, they were studied pretty heavily before being retired to "petting zoos" at various bases around the country, where US Military Personnel could get up close and personal with the equipment of potential adversaries.

ARR GP38-2 2008 can be seen in the background toward the south.

Fairbanks, Alaska
Sunday February 21, 2010

Photo courtesy of Dave Blazejewski