Arnold Schwarzenegger has come a long way since participating in his first global contest in 1966. After winning seven Mr. Olympia and five Mr. Universe titles, he became a legend in the bodybuilding universe. However, the former bodybuilder retired from the sport in 1980. He did it to try his hand at acting and excelled on that front too.

However, the bodybuilder-turned-actor lived a very different life in his home country. In 1965, the action star joined the Austrian army to serve the mandatory one-year military service.

Arnold Schwarzenegger shares his experience of driving a tank

When Schwarzenegger joined the army, they put him into tank-driving school to learn the working of the armored vehicle. And the star maintains that he is an excellent tank driver to this day. The most famous instance came during an interview with Lou Schuler in 2018.

They conducted the interview in the video conferencing format as the Terminator actor was unavailable at the time. The Austrian Oak was shooting the sixth installation of the Terminator franchise, ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ during the time of the interview.

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The interview included questions about the actor’s various stages of his career. At one point, the interviewer asked if Arnie was a good tank driver, referring to the time he was serving the Austrian army. To this, Schwarzenegger replied, “I was a fantastic tank driver. Tank driving is all about if you have the guts.”

Reflecting on his army days, the former Governor of California said, “The commander says to drive straight, and you see in front of you a lake, and on the lake is ice, and you say to yourself, ‘This couldn’t be true.’ But without any question I drove straight. And so, of course, the tank crashed into the ice. They do it to test you. What kind of ba*** do you have?”

Describing the incident in detail, he continued, “Ice-cold water rushed over my head. Then he said, ‘Stop, okay, go back,’ and I backed out. He jumped down and said, ‘That was good.’ ”

The actor spent a night in jail while serving in the army

Schwarzenegger competed in the Jr. Mr. Europe contest while he served in the army. And the exciting thing about it is he did not inform his commanding officers or anybody in the service about his intentions. He was aware they would not let him participate in the event.

He won the contest and returned a winner. However, they punished him for his disobedience, and the actor had to spend a night in jail. But he maintains that it was just a formality as he made his seniors proud by winning the contest.

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After completing his service in the army a year later, he competed in his first major bodybuilding contest the same year, the NABBA Mr. Universe. And the rest is history!