clearing some brush for a shooting range paid off for a National Guard unit, they found a rare WW2 tank

An engineer battalion from the Fort Polk Army base that has been clearing land for a small arms range at the National Guard's Camp Beauregard in Pineville has uncovered a World War II-era tank.

None of the engineers knew what was lurking amongst the trees. A WW2 Stuart tank was found 100 meters from the roadway on the northeast corner of the project site during the project recon phase.

Soldiers moved the tank to the Camp Beauregard Museum Complex for restoration and future display.

A museum curator identified it as a World War II Stuart tank that might have been sold and used as a farm tractor after the war. Once decommissioned, the front armor was cut out to allow the user to operate without limited observation.

The soldiers waste no time getting back to work after removing the tank. They use a scraper, HYEX, Grader, Roller, and Dozer (D7R) along with other military rolling stock to complete the mission.

With this equipment the unit trained engineers and uprooted the World War II Stuart Tank from its resting place.

 Richard Moran, the curator for the Camp Beauregard Louisiana Military Maneuvers Museum, says that the tank is either an M2A4 or an M3 Stuart tank. Moran says it is 1 of the earliest tanks mass produced for World War II. The tank is small by Army tank standards. It holds only three soldiers. It had been converted for non-military use and was likely used as a tractor after the war.

Info and photos from http://www.dvidshub.net/news/111490/guardian-soldiers-save-history-future-generations#.VFZ8dfldUXw