Oasis

*Oasis* is the callsign for the Mojave Rose Tankery Team's T-44. It is commanded by the team's captain, Valarie Woodlin. The T-44, like the other medium tanks on the team, is versatile and been used in various flexible ways. Being the tank of the team's captain, it is often the one leading the group.

## Former Affiliation

Vehicles that participate in tankery are either manufactured during wartime that soon found their way into tankery teams modified to have protective carbon linings or accurately reproduced by engineering firms for the purpose of being sold to teams.

For Mojave Rose's T-44, it was manufactured in 1945 and was part of the 100th Special Tank Company of the Soviet Red Army for testing on the Eastern Front. It saw no combat during WWII nor in any of the wars in the Cold War-era. Tensions between the West and the Eastern Bloc made tankery teams from the West have an incredibly difficult time acquiring WWII-era Soviet machines. It was not until the years following the collapse of the USSR did WWII-era Soviet machines become more easily accessible to the wider world. At some point after 1991, the T-44 that would become *Oasis* found its way to the United States, and later, to be purchased by Mojave Rose.

## Under Mojave Rose's Ownership

The T-44 was part of a bulk purchase from a junkyard outside of Barstow, along with the 7 other vehicles that composed the initial roster for Mojave Rose. For the first few months of the team's operations, the machine was equipped with a 85mm ZiS-S-53 cannon. Later, in early January 2013, a T-44-100 Upgrade Kit was purchased from Russia where it later arrived the following month. The T-44 had sideskirts attached and its 85mm gun was upgraded to an 100mm LB-1, greatly improving it's already good anti-tank capability. Also part of the Upgrade Kit was a 12.7mm machine gun that would have been mounted on the turret roof of the T-44, operated by the loader, however, the machine gun was never attached. It lies in storage in the team's garage.

As the T-44 needed to be fitted with a new turret to house the 100mm, the previous turret with the 85mm for a little while laid dormant in the team's garage in Barstow. An idea to use the turret as target practice was viciously rejected by Heather Sloan. Later, vice-principal Martin Redwood, acting on the idea of students from an art club at Mojave Rose, had the old T-44 turret mounted on a stone pedestal at the front entrance of the school, acting as a gate guardian.

The T-44 sports an insignia on the left side of the turret that represents its callsign; a minimalist depiction of an oasis, palm trees surrounding a body of water.

*Oasis* is operated by a crew of 4.

* Valarie Woodlin *( Commander )*
* Emma Gray *( Gunner )*
* Ashley Holiday *( Loader )*
* Heather Sloan *( Driver )*

## Trivia

* Heather lovingly refers to the T-44 'Katanya'. She has formed an intense attachment to the machine, which is shown by her being the most adept mechanic for the machine and feeling strong desire to be 'near her'.
* The T-44 is the team's most modified tank with it receiving sideskirts, a new turret, and larger caliber cannon.
* *Oasis* has been knocked-out only once so far, when it was struck by a shot from a Jagdtiger in the national finals against Molly Pitcher Girls' Academy