Driving down Route 5A on Saturday, August 30, 2025, I was treated to one of the prettiest scenes in the Northern Vermont. I have seen Lake Willoughby many times. I have fished there, swum there and hiked the surrounding mountains. But it still just about takes my breath away seeing it again, shining in the late afternoon sun with the steep plunging bluffs of Mount Pisgah and Mount Hor on either side.

I took a left up a narrow dirt road away from the lake and then an even narrower road through thick woods to retired Command Sergeant Major Kevin "Tank" White's camp. I went there for the second annual Tankers Reunion. All of us old tankers who served together in Alpha Company at the Bradford, VT armory in the 1980's on through into the 2000's had our first reunion about the same time last year. We had such a great time we decided to make it a yearly event. Even though we rarely see each other anymore, getting back together makes us realize how much of a family we are.

Kevin White grew up in Barnet, Vermont. He joined the Vermont Army National Guard in Bradford, VT fresh out of high school in 1979 when he was only seventeen years old. I joined the US Army in February the same year, but at the age of twenty-two I was considered an old guy.

Kevin went to Basic and Advanced Individual Training in Armor learning everything about tanks and being an armor crewman. I went into the Infantry. I was stationed in Korea my first year and then two years at Fort Lewis in Washington State. I liked the Army, but I really wanted to come back to Vermont and get back into logging.

Within the first year of civilian life, I heard they were starting a Mountain Infantry Battalion beginning with a company in Jericho, VT. I was starting to miss the life of a soldier and this new unit sounded like the kind of adventure I was looking for. And I loved the climbing, skiing, shooting and other exciting training, but I still left after my enlistment ran out.

In the next four years, I got married, we started having kids and I realized how much I missed the extra money and benefits. I decided to join the closest guard unit, which was in Bradford, VT. Alpha Co. 2nd Battalion, 172nd Armor was a Tank unit and I was pretty sure that this old Infantry guy didn't want to be stuck in a tank. But this old Infantry trigger puller found out that being a trigger puller in a fifty-eight-ton computerized machine with a lot bigger guns and thermal sights that see in the dark can be a whole lotta fun. If you Google The Bridge Weekly archives and then click on the September 5, 2024 issue you can read all about how Scott Eastman talked me into becoming a tanker. There is also an awesome photo of our tank crew sitting on our M60A3 tank, all covered in mud and camouflage when we were training in New Brunswick with the Canadian tankers.

When I signed up in late 1989, the whole unit was in Mississippi transitioning from the old M48A5 heavy tank to the new M60A3 heavy tank. Kevin White was a Staff Sergeant Tank Commander going through the transition just like every National Guard and Regular Army tanker. It's the tank commander's responsibility to train his crew and SSG White's crew was in almost perfect synchronization. Sergeant Brian Thompson of East Corinth was the gunner, Shawn Washburn from Orford, NH was the loader and Joe Osgood from Bradford was the driver.

What they did on the gunnery range in Mississippi was nothing short of legendary. They were the top gun crew with a score of 1492 out of a possible 1500. At the time we figured that they were the best tank crew in the United States. Since the U.S. has the best tankers, we assumed that they were the best tank crew in the world. That kind of tanking really launched Kevin "Tank" White's career. That next summer when we were on the tank range at Fort Drum, New York, a general's jeep pulled right up by where I was standing. The general jumped out and hiked it right up the hill to the tank range tower where they had Kevin waiting. I chatted with the driver while he was waiting. He told me the General was the newly appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell. He was there to present Kevin with his commander’s coin for excellence. Colin Powell became very well-known soon after that as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs during Operation Desert Storm and later as the Secretary of State in the George W. Bush administration.

Kevin was promoted to Sergeant First Class not long after and then to First Sergeant a few years later. He later became a Command Sergeant Major in different Vermont state commands, the highest enlisted rank that can be achieved. Command Sergeant Major White served combat tours in Afghanistan in 2005-2006 and again in 2009.

Serving in leadership positions as a non-commissioned officer, Tank White led the way. He was a big reason along with other non-coms, why Alpha Co. in Bradford was so successful. Young officers loved to serve there because we made them look so good it was a boost to their careers and we had lieutenants and captains who went on to be colonels and generals to prove it.

I am so glad that I ended up serving with the Vermont Guard in Bradford. The camaraderie was incredible and I made many lifelong friends that have become like family. I must have liked it pretty good; I kept re-enlisting until I ended up with 29 years when I retired.

Ken Batten grew up on a small sheep farm in West Topsham VT. He was a logging contractor, soldier and rural mail carrier. He now lives in North Hyde Park VT with his wife Tina-Marie. Ken can be contacted at kenbatvt@gmail.com or PO Box 5 N Hyde Park VT 05665

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