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500 Utah soldiers are placed on alert

Nov-27-2004 » Filed Under: 56th SBCT

This article mentions the 56th SBCT, the only National Guard unit to convert to a Stryker Brigade. Although the article implies the 56th already has the Stryker vehicle, I have to admit that I don't know if that's the case. Anyone?

Link to Full Article
By Dawn House, The Salt Lake Tribune

About 500 Utah soldiers in the 222nd Field Artillery Battalion have been placed on alert for possible deployment in January with one of the nation's six newly formed combat brigades. The brigades are more mobile than the Army's traditional heavy-tank fighting forces. [...]

The Triple Deuce is likely to be attached to the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, one of the new Brigade Combat Teams unveiled by the Army in October 1999. Five units have been formed from regular Army active-duty troops. The Pennsylvania brigade is the only combat team comprising citizen-soldiers.

"The Army's decision recognizes that the Pennsylvania Army National Guard has achieved the highest levels of strength and readiness of any Army Guard in the nation," said then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge - now secretary of Homeland Security - in 2001.

The combat teams are intended to serve as a bridge between the tank-heavy Army of the Cold War era and light, mobile fighting forces that lack armored firepower.

"These interim brigades will help us move towards a force that is more strategically responsive and dominant across the spectrum of military operations," said then-Army Secretary Thomas White in 2001. "Their improved deployability and lethality will enhance deterrence and meet an operational requirement with a capability that does not currently exist."

The combat teams are to be assigned new Interim Armored Vehicles, or Strykers. The system of 10 vehicles includes an infantry carrier, a mobile gun system, an anti-tank guided missile unit, a nuclear, biological and chemical reconnaissance vehicle, and a remote weapon station with an M2 .50-caliber machine gun or an MK19 40 mm grenade launcher.

The vehicles can sustain speeds of 60 mph, have a commonality of parts, a central tire-inflation system and self-recovery abilities, according to the U.S. Army Public Affairs Office.


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