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[RedKing]

Well...based on this Marine Corps training outline, I'd say it does. 

.4  Discuss and locate the external fire extinguisher handle on the M1A1 tank.

           The external fire extinguisher handle is located on the left side of the tank hull slightly forward of the NBC exhaust port.

[Taricus]

Well...based on this Marine Corps training outline, I'd say it does. 

.4  Discuss and locate the external fire extinguisher handle on the M1A1 tank.

           The external fire extinguisher handle is located on the left side of the tank hull slightly forward of the NBC exhaust port.

And our government WANTS these tanks. Absolute idiots!

Should've bought the leopards.

[Sowelu]

I suspect that you can disable that lever from the inside.  Which is probably part of "discuss".

[Jackrabbit]

Damn. Well, I've heard a lot of good things about the Abrams, so I'm going to assume that there haven't actually been any cases where enemy combatants have been able to pull it.

I mean, it's not like an American tank operates on its lonesome, right? Combined arms or some variation of the buddy system must be in place, right?

[GlyphGryph]

Look, sometimes tanks will burst into flame. This is bad! If someone gets out of the tank and pulls the fire extinguisher lever, this is good! The amount of money saved from a tank not becoming a total wreck is probably worth the chance of a random guy rushing an Abrams in an attempt to inconvenience the crew.

[Taricus]

Look, sometimes tanks will burst into flame. This is bad! If someone gets out of the tank and pulls the fire extinguisher lever, this is good! The amount of money saved from a tank not becoming a total wreck is probably worth the chance of a random guy rushing an Abrams in an attempt to inconvenience the crew.

You know, I'm surprised we haven't heard of such an incident.

[Jackrabbit]

Look, sometimes tanks will burst into flame. This is bad! If someone gets out of the tank and pulls the fire extinguisher lever, this is good! The amount of money saved from a tank not becoming a total wreck is probably worth the chance of a random guy rushing an Abrams in an attempt to inconvenience the crew.

But, uh, surely pulling a lever inside the tank would be better than climbing out of a burning tank in a presumably hostile environment to do it. I sorta get the idea, but you picked a bad senario.

[olemars]

Think I found it:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(Image stolen from WP article)

Edit: There's a handle inside too as well as an automatic trigger.

[Criptfeind]

Right.

That looks nothing like a 'pull here to distract the crew' lever.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Pull The Lever /R

[Nadaka]

Right.

That looks nothing like a 'pull here to distract the crew' lever.

Did you expect an oversize red push button with a flashing light that says "don't push me!"?

[Criptfeind]

The image in my mind was a little red handle on a pull cord.

[Zorgn]

That appears to be a dirty red handle on a pull cord.

[Nikov]

If grenades can be tossed out, can they also be tossed in?

Some designs. The Germans mounted their infamous "bouncing betty" mines outside the turret much as modern tanks now have smoke dischargers, fired electrically. With earlier designs there were a few internally-operated escape hatches or direct viewports one could drop a grenade out of or shoot a pistol through. Some designs, such as the Soviet IS-2, had a rear-facing machine gun on the turret that could "sweep" the engine deck or a tank farther back in a column.

Interestingly I'm finding that the Abrams fire extinguishers use halon in concentrations safe to breathe, just mildly annoying. Where's Strife? But that's definately the lever. I imagine if there were a problem with OPFOR actually getting that close to a tank (A.) we have a serious problem with our tank's  forgetting the wingman system and infantry forgetting to defend the tanks from close assault and (B.) some irritated sergeant would weld a metal sheet over it.

The current parlance to request close-assaulting infantry be removed from your vehicle is "scratch my back". The Germans did this frequently on the Eastern front, where gasoline bottles and crowbars were sometimes all Soviet troops had to kill tanks. The Germans on the other hand had the fan freaking tastic idea to put a couple big magnets on a hollow-charge warhead with a hand grenade fuse. The result?

Die Hafthohlladung 3

Quite possibly the best hand-held tank killer ever devised, in terms of sheer penetrating power. Unscrew the little knob at the top, stick the magnets against the armor plate, and pull the knob which is attached to the fuse assembly. Five seconds later and you've a hole through 140mm RHA. Getting close enough is quite difficult, of course, but it was tremendously effective in ambushes, close fighting, or defending trenchlines.

Also, apologies for using a photograph from apparently a rather distasteful site. It was the best thing google image search could produce.

[Christes]

Die Hafthohlladung 3

Quite possibly the best hand-held tank killer ever devised, in terms of sheer penetrating power. Unscrew the little knob at the top, stick the magnets against the armor plate, and pull the knob which is attached to the fuse assembly. Five seconds later and you've a hole through 140mm RHA. Getting close enough is quite difficult, of course, but it was tremendously effective in ambushes, close fighting, or defending trenchlines.

I found a cross-section of the device on another site.  Cool idea.  The site also mentions how the Germans used anti-magnetic paste on their own tanks to prevent such things.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Back on topic: I hear things are going poorly for the rebels in Misurata.  Anyone heard more on it?