I am aware that tanks often display different coloured flags when on exercise: red during live firing, green when live ammunition is not in use, and yellow to signify breakdown. What is the meaning of a blue flag?
Paul
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Depends on which army youâre speaking of. The US Army doesnât have a blue flag and doesnât follow the examples that you have given.
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Paul is pretty close if not technically correct. I myself never saw a blue flag. My flag case had a green, a red and a yellow flag.
Have a photo?
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Dan & Top Smith
Actually, the photographs I have are of Bundeswehr Leopard 2A5s on exercise (Tankograd publication No.5075 - âLeopard 2A5â). In certain examples, they are displaying a blue flag on the side of the turret. Perhaps the US Army have a different system. I also recall seeing photographs of US vehicles in convoy, and am certain that a blue flag was displayed on the lead vehicle ⌠I could be mistaken.
Paul
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Convoys are a differant matter I guess as Iâve never seen one. Tanks come with red, yellow and green.
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I thought it was NATO standard but maybe not. Blue Flag is the lead vehicle in a road move and a Green Flag indicates the end of the packet.
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It might be, but its not issued to tanks.
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Not only Bundeswehr vehicle use flags . The same goes for Firefighters.
https://www.feuerwehr-ub.de/normen-recht-wissen/fachartikel/kolonne-wenn-einsatzfahrzeuge-im-verband-fahren/
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Actual flag or a placard? Training exercises, like Reforger used color placards for âTeamâ. Blue and orange seem most common.
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Sorry, I should have been more detailed.
The flags were issued to the lead and tail c/s as they departed their marshalling area and, in theory, collected as the packet was released at the last traffic control check point.
The Blue/Green flag system was typically used when carrying out a large advance on civilian roads or simulating that advance in a training area. If a significant number of units were moving through an area on their individual but intersecting routes the flags would help whoever was responsible for traffic control (typically the MPs). The call sign manning the traffic control point would generally be clueless as to the composition of a Comm Sqn, Engineering Platoon, Armour Echelon, Recce Troop, etc and the flags would let them know when a given packet was complete and the next packet could join the order of march or cross an intersecting route without the need for a lot of stopping and yelling or yapping on the radio.
If the units involved were well practised the system could work fairly well but it didnât take much for the whole thing to go pear shaped. Obviously night moves added a whole new level of entertainment.
Cheers,
Colin
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Iâm sure this was as a result of a STANAG - a Standing NATO Agreement - in other words, a military policy pan-NATO. It was certainly the case with Brit units whenever we travelled around. Blue at the front, green at the rear. Breakdowns were indicated by a yellow flag; basically one just went to sleep until the REME turned up(!)
For night moves, one of the front headlamps was covered in grease then sprayed with the respective colour, which is what I tried to portray on my Land Rover kit from some time ago:
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I donât recall any flags, might not have been paying attention to that detail and/or stateside we didnât use. We had convoy signs, convoy ahead/follows, convoy commander.
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Yup. They would have these signs.
Top sign on the rear of the last vehicle; bottom sign on the lead vehicle.
And this one on the commanderâs vehicle.
In Europe (Germany); they would also require amber. Colored lights and these placards, which I donât know exactly what their purpose is.
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Merely STANdardization AGreement.
KL
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If its being displayed on the side of the turret it will probably be for low level training for visual ID, along the lines of enemy tanks have a blue flag on the turret side and friendly tanks have a red square - same principle that we used sometimes of using white or orange mine tape.
If it was to do with a road move ( and we did get issued blue flags) the blue flag would be on the lead wagon displayed prominently on a pole on the front area of the tank or jammed in the turret somewhere between a bin etc.
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The placards are a legal requirement for Hazmat carrying vehicles on the roads for Fire fighters to know whats being carried and how to deal with it for spillage/accident/fire reasons. And they will tell the firefighter, what it is, what the hazards are, and how to deal with it.
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That orange placard defines what is being carried as Johnny says. It translates as follows:
30= Flammable liquid (flash-point between 23°C and 60°C, inclusive) or flammable liquid or solid in the molten state with a flash point above 60°C, heated to a temperature equal to or above its flash point, or self-heating liquid
1863= FUEL, AVIATION, TURBINE ENGINE, packing group III
Therefore Iâd suggest that this tanker is carrying either helicopter fuel or possibly fuel for an Abrams unit.
Itâs a long time since I dd my hazmat training but I found my college notes eventually!
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Stateside or in Europe, I also never saw us use any flags for convoy movements. Just the above posted convoy signs, and in Germany, those signs were in English and German. Also the amber âwhoopie lightâ in Europe, and chalk numbers on vehicle sides.
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