Mission: Unreasonable

Commanders!

Yesterday marked an anniversary of one of the best-known events in the history of armor (at least on the internet). However, unlike most others, this event did not include tanks or any famous battle. In their stead, there was an armored bulldozer.

At the turn of the millennium, Marvin Heemeyer was just like any other guy – by most accounts a good, reasonable man and a car repair shop owner from Granby, Colorado. But a series of injustices (both real and perceived) led him on a dark path that ultimately ended with his demise in the bowels of a beast he had built prior to the events of June 4, 2004.

There are several versions of Marvin Heemeyer’s story but they all include a feud between him and the authorities regarding a concrete factory built next door. The land of which the factory would be built was his and he had originally intended to sell it but the parties did not agree on a sum and the deal fell through. Despite this, the authorities decided to effectively seize his property and approved the construction of the factory. Not only would he receive no money but the factory would block the access to his repair shop.

He’d protest the decision to no avail. With all legal, reasonable options spent, Mr. Heemeyer (who held a deep grudge against the influential citizens in his town) became obsessed with this injustice until he did something nobody expected. In his own words:

"I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."

Being an expert welder, he would use his shop to build an armored superstructure of steel and concrete for his Komatsu D335A bulldozer.

On June 4, 2004, he drove out of the shop with it (by breaking through a wall) and proceeded to systematically demolish the properties of the people who did him wrong by ramming the behemoth into them. He destroyed 13 buildings in total, including the concrete plant, the town house and house of the mayor.

The police tried to stop the vehicle the entire time by firing no fewer than 200 bullets at it without any effect. Calling the National Guard or even an Apache helicopter was considered at one point but this would become unnecessary because the bulldozer got stuck in the last building it would demolish. With no way out (literally, the vehicle had no door), Marvin Heemeyer ended his life. It took the police several hours to cut through the armor with a blowtorch to recover his body.

The story started living its own life soon after and the modified construction vehicle received a name “Killdozer” after an old movie. To this day Marvin Heemeyer remains a divisive figure. Some hail him as a folk hero, pointing at him going out of his way to nor cause any casualties. Some attribute the fact nobody got hurt in the events of that day to simple luck and emphasize the fact that Heemeyer fired several times out of his machine (at objects, not people).

Regardless, the story of Marvin Heemeyer is not only a tragic one, but also serves as a warning as to what some people are capable of when pushed too far, a lesson best remembered by public servants everywhere.

In today’s mission, your task will be to deal as much ramming damage as possible in a single battle as such:

• Participate in a standard mode match in two categories (PvP, PvE)
• Take the screenshot of the result (detailed match results, ramming damage) and post it (along with a replay) to the form linked below along with your in-game nickname

The submission form can be found here.

Your entry must include at least a minimum threshold ramming damage per match (1000 for PvP, 3000 for PvE) to become eligible for prizes, which are as follows:

• All eligible entries will receive the player title “Unreasonable”
• Top 3 entries per category will receive 6.000 Battle Coins

Please note:

• The event takes place between June 5, 16:00 CEST and June 11, 23:59 CEST
• The PvP category only includes Random Battles, the PvE category includes normal PvE missions, Special Operations and weekend Special Operations (War Games)
• Only one submission per player will be accepted (one player therefore cannot submit in two categories and if he or she does, only the earlier entry will count)
• Should two or more players achieve the same result, all players will receive the reward
• All submitted results must take place during the event

Good luck, commanders, and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!