Mojave Rose Tankery Team

The Mojave Rose Tankery Team, also known as the Dust Devils, is a team that is associated with Mojave Rose High School based out of Barstow, California. It is led by Valarie Woodlin and Ray Rosario, captain and vice-captain respectively, and Gabrielle Redwood, the team's instructor.

## Previous Team & 'Dust Devils' Origin

Sometime prior to 1970, Mojave Rose began operating a tankery team and solely focused on regional matches. In that year, the original Mojave Rose team had a match against a school from Corona set in Death Valley, a tense affair where Mojave Rose was victorious. The captain of the opposing team would make a remark after the match which would give rise to the Dust Devils moniker,

> *"Goddamn. They were caked in dust and fought like devils."*
>
>

From then on, the Mojave Rose Tankery began to refer themselves to Dust Devils which would later expand to be the name the student body would call themselves.

## 'Purgatory' Team

Up till 1990, Mojave Rose operated two tankery teams; One was composed of currently attending students, and the other had students that previously graduated. This latter team differed in that it had a goal of becoming a team in the professional league operated by the American Tankery Association. Gabrielle Redwood was associated with this team, as she once had the dream of becoming a professional tankery athlete.

These kinds of teams were officially referred to by the ATA as 'Proving Teams', as to the organization, these teams would have to prove that they are worthy and skilled enough to earn a space in the professional league. As these teams were 'not quite' a school team and 'not quite' a professional team, members of these 'Proving Teams' have often called themselves 'being in purgatory', hoping to get the opportunity to 'reach heaven'.

## Getting Defunct

In July of 1990, the Proving Team of Mojave Rose participated in a friendly tankery match set in the Mojave Desert. It was this match where a then-20-year-old Gabrielle Buchanan, the commander of an Sherman 'Easy Eight', suffered a near death experience. Her tank's carbon had a manufacturing defect where it deteriorated far faster than what was normal. A shot from an enemy Jagdpanther penetrated her tank and set fire to the fuel tanks. Only by a last-minute rescue by a fellow crew member did Gabrielle survive, where the ammunition subsequently cooked off, destroying the tank.

This incident utterly changed the mood toward tankery in the Mojave area where schools shut down their teams not long after it. This included Mojave Rose, who quickly shuttered both their teams and sold off their tank inventory.

## Revival

In autumn of 2012, in anticipation of the U.S National Tankery Tournament, the State of California issued grants to qualifying schools for the purpose of starting-up or reinforcing their tankery teams. Mojave Rose was the recipient of such a grant and used it to revive their tankery team, with the funds being used to purchase the initial eight tanks and associated necessitates. In order for the new Mojave Rose Tankery team to be deemed official, it had to abide by an ATA rule that stated all teams were to have instructors. Gabrielle Redwood was approached to be the team's instructor, and though she initially refused due to her trauma, she reconsidered and accepted the role.

## Operated Vehicles

The Mojave Rose Tankery Team operates, currently, a total of 18 vehicles; 16 being match vehicles, and the remaining 2 being used for other purposes.