"time to put the decals on....." Topic

Which way is the "V" chevron supposed to face on the US Abrams tanks? I've googled photos that show the "mouth" of the V facing forwards on the tank, backwards on the tank and even facing downwards. Is there a correct way, or is there a meaning behind which way it faces?

I also have some cool looking U.S. flag decals- would they show up somewhere on a tank or IFV from 1980 to present?

At one point they were used for recognition, but IIRC the V marking would vary depending on what platoon the vehicle was in. I tried to look at my references, but coudn't find anything specific about which platoon got which chevron.

Damon.

From what I can remember putting the chevrons on back in 90/91 the orientation of the chevrons were based on division/unit SOP for markings/bumper numbers and represented platoon designations based on facing which meant an upright might be 1st platoon in one unit and 4th in another. But do to surface size limitations you often had different orientations to get the required size to fit or units putting larger chevrons on so they were more easily see. So tanks and pc based vehicles tended to have them facing by SOP in the largest size while trucks often had multiple chevrons facing however they could be made to fit the largest.

The only display of the flag I can remember was in the late 80‘s on some of the Berlin brigades vehicles. That's not to say some general commanding other units didn't order putting flags on vehicles but I never encountered one outside of the Berlin brigade. There is also a chance flags could be applied for a single mission and then removed afterwards.

Re: Flags. Might see Old Glory clipped to an aerial on parade or some such for PR purposes (and not really advised if you want that aerial to keep functioning). In the field, never. Tankers are adverse to drawing attention to themselves (especially when bad guys may be around) and a flag whipping in the breeze above you is a sure fire way to do just that.

Yeah chevrons are passed on platoon/Sqn