Tracks
An amtrack is not a boat; however, it is a military vehicle that moves on the ocean as well as on land. It’s an armored vehicle that weighs twenty-six tons. An amtrack’s job is to carry troops from ships off shore onto the beach in an amphibious assault. It’s made out of aluminum, with steel suspension. It has a tracked suspension, much like a bulldozer. Its front end slopes upward toward the headlights in an effort to give it greater ground clearance. It’s propelled on land by its tracked suspension; however, in the water it uses two water jets. It has a turret that holds a fifty caliber machine gun, and a forty millimeter, fully automatic, grenade launcher. It has a ramp on the back that can be raised or lowered for the easy loading and unloading of troops. There is a door built into this ramp so that when the ramp is up, people can still get in and out through the back. It has three hatches behind the turret that can be opened to allow the dropping of supplies into the vehicle, or to allow embarked infantry a means of looking out. The driver looks out of a hatch on the front left side of the vehicle, while the troop commander sits just behind him. The vehicle commander, sits in the turret of the vehicle, and mans the machine guns. The amtrack is fully amphibious.