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Stryker thoughts

Nov-14-2004 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

The following is a recent editorial from Alaska's Daily News-Miner.

[Link to Full Article]

Alaskans watching the nightly news out of Iraq last week, particularly from the cities of Fallujah and Mosul, might not think there's much of a connection to this state. There is. And while it's not highly visible yet, it could be unmistakable next year.

The connection comes in watching and reading about the efforts of the new Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Lewis, Wash. Alaskans should prepare to see this state's Stryker Brigade fighting in a similar situation.

The Fort Lewis unit, actually the second Stryker unit deployed from that Army post, encountered heavy fighting in Mosul and had to recall a battalion that had been sent to fight in Fallujah. The Stryker unit's commander, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, told reporters that about 500 insurgents attacked U.S. forces in the city and that the 1st Brigade's Stryker soldiers were performing well. Even so, there have been casualties, the latest coming Thursday when Army Spc. Thomas K. Doerflinger was killed by small arms fire.

The Fort Lewis Stryker units were the first created as part of the Army's transformation to a lighter, speedier force. The units are built around a fleet of eight-wheeled vehicles that come in a variety of configurations.

The Alaska unit, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, is the nation's third Stryker unit and is based primarily at Fort Wainwright but also with elements at Fort Richardson in Anchorage. The 172nd is widely expected to be deployed next year, perhaps in late summer or early fall--and most likely to Iraq or Afghanistan, according to comments earlier this year from the commander of Army forces in Alaska.

And when the 172nd does leave, not many of its 4,000 members are expected to be left behind. It could be the largest deployment of Army forces from Alaska since the Vietnam war.


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