Arnold Schwarzenegger and his M47 Patton tank

Arnold Schwarzenegger and his M47 Patton tank (Photo: Matt McDaniel)

Arnold Schwarzenegger owns his own tank. Because of course he would.

If any private citizen was going to possess their own tank, obviously it would be Arnold Schwarzenegger. But it’s not just for joy rides and smashing cars – though he did drive me around on it, and he did roll over and flatten an old clunker with it. It’s a tank that does have personal meaning to him, and he uses it for an altruistic purpose.

The tank in question in an M47 Patton. Produced between 1951 and 1953, the 50-ton behemoths are still in service across the globe 60 years later. And Schwarzenegger told me and an assembled group of around 15 journalists on Friday that this was “exactly the very tank that I drove in the Austrian Army when I was 18 years old.”

Schwarzenegger was required to serve at least a year in the military, and he told us he went in right after finishing trade school. He said, “I learned how to drive the tank, which was always my fascination, I think, because I grew up after the war, and I saw the British troops that occupied our area. So I always wanted to be a tank driver.”

Schwarzenegger recounted how they would go off on maneuvers for weeks at a time. In the evenings, they would dig out a trench that he would roll the tank over, and he and his crew would sleep on the dirt underneath. He also revealed that the side of the tank featured a large tool box, but he used his to house his weightlifting equipment. He kept his barbells and dumbbells on hand so he could train every night while they were away from base. That way he was able to stay in shape so that a few months after leaving the service, he was able to compete in his first Mr. Universe competition in 1966. He came in second that year, and then won the amateur title the next (and the pro title the three following years).