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McChord runway repairs...

Apr-15-2004 » Filed Under: General Military

[Link to Full Article] This article pertains to local Fort Lewis area residents but also mentions the two Stryker Brigades that are based there. Needless to say, this is another great article by our favorite writer.
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune

Come August, area residents will have to find some way to cope without the sound of C-17 cargo jets flying overhead every day.

McChord Air Force Base will shut down its flight operations for the month while construction crews finish $10.9 million worth of repairs to the 10,100-foot runway, base commander Col. Bob Allardice said Wednesday.

Excerpt: Soriano said Fort Lewis has moved 17,000 soldiers through the post on their way to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, the Philippines and other destinations in the global war on terrorism.

Some 5,000 Fort Lewis soldiers from the first Stryker brigade, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, are in northern Iraq now, along with a command element from the post's I Corps.

The post also trained and moved out the 4,000 or so soldiers from the Washington National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team.

"The deployment business is not ending at Fort Lewis anytime soon," Soriano said.

He said the post is now preparing the Army's second Stryker brigade, the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, for deployment in the war on terrorism.

"We expect them to be deployed. When is the question," Soriano said. "We have a combat-ready brigade that is available to the Army and the secretary of defense for deployment worldwide."

The brigade completed its 2 1/2-year conversion from a light infantry unit in a final exercise last month at the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana.


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