World War I had been over for less than 3 years when the War Department started to look into the tank as a viable battlefield component. Unfortunately, the wrong people would get a foothold in the program and it would go from a bunker busting tank killer to an infantry support vehicle in matter of minutes.

These first designs bristled with machine guns and usually had one support weapon such as a 37mm cannon. Slowly they would follow men on the battlefield, provide machine gun and close artillery support, then exit the battlefield once the infantry got the foothold. Not a good scenerio if the enemy decided to bring tanks up front.

These designs failed miserably. Overweight and underpowered their transmissions and running gear were prone to failure. Turrets were not meant to turn fast and gun elevation and depression was lousy at best. In most cases, the early tanks were built for two men usually no more than three and for all the weight they threw around the battlefield they only carried a machine gun or at most a 47mm cannon.

In all honesty (Patton was a great general but he prefered his tanks to his men) if it wasn't for Pershing's "Bandito" the modern cavalry would have had major short comings, but men like Patton saw the need for the tank and armored cavalry squadrons and fought for them.