All that aside, my tank-driving skills soon got me a T-28.
It was like a giant boat on treads.
I loved the firepower and speed, but I thought the armor was pretty thin for this machine.
By now, the wars had escalated to a new boiling point.
It had gotten to the point where the chain of command had started to break down.
Now, tank crews were shooting at pretty much any tank they spotted.
Often, alliances were forged between groups of tankers.
Americans were working with Germans, Germans were working with Russians – you get the idea.
The most common form of this involved a large group of tankers – more than 10, but I don't recall an exact number – getting together to battle other groups.
However, once they laid waste to whoever was in their crosshairs, these large groups ended up going their separate ways.
It was not uncommon for friends to become enemies, enemies to become friends.
In this new world of tanks, such was the way.
However, within each of these larger groups, you'd find two or three people who decided that they liked each other enough to form little alliances of their own.
These mini-alliances were known as "platoons".
Don't ask me how, but people who joined platoons seemed to have some magic going on between them.
It seemed like they were performing better with each other than without each other.
Despite this magic, platoons too could end up breaking like a poor young lady's heart.
One of the more permanent forms of alliance was the "tank company".
Tank companies were founded by tankers that had a special sort of magic.
Any tanker could join a tank company…as long as they had the right tank, of course.
Oh…and I forgot to mention the right skills.
While some companies would let in the average tanker, other companies only accepted the elite, the "best of the best" if you will.
Furthermore, the tank companies also organized their own duels – company vs. company.
When one company won, they plundered whatever they could from the opposing company.
As good as the tank companies were, even they weren't all permanent.
While the companies generally remained, members came and went as they pleased.
Then – there were the "clans".
The clans were, by far, the largest alliances out of all of these, and the most permanent form.
Nobody knew much about the clans.
In fact, there were those who thought that the clans didn't even exist.
What is generally known about the clans is that they had another goal in mind.
Far from simply trying to destroy whoever got in their way, they wanted to claim as much territory as they could.
Some claimed that this was part of a new world order, while others simply dismissed it as a natural progression of war.
Either way, it was also said that the clans paid quite handsomely, but no one except the clan members knew exactly how much – and they weren't talking.
Now, back to me: I was part of none of these things.
Well…almost.
I did form a platoon with a guy who had a T-26, but he got lost in the commotion.
For the most part, I just had one goal:
Survive.
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.