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Stryker vehicle performance passes muster with Army

Dec-10-2004 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT , 3/2 SBCT

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By BETH IPSEN, Staff Writer

Army officials are pleased with the combat performance in Iraq of the Stryker vehicle Fort Wainwright troops are fielding as they work their way toward a combat deployment.

"It's fast, it's quiet and it tracks incredibly well on the snow," said Col. Michael Shields, commander of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Fort Wainwright. "Soldiers have total confidence in the weapon system. It's incredibly accurate and lethal. It works very well in the Arctic environment."

However, Iraq is considerably warmer and more hostile than Interior Alaska.

The eight-wheeled infantry carrier vehicles are at the heart of the new brigades that are aimed at bridging the gap between a slower Army of the Cold War to a faster, more mobile and lethal force of the future. The eight versions in production weigh from 19 tons to 24 tons, which includes the 4,500-pound slat armor that was added to vehicles in Kuwait before they entered Iraq.

The vehicle, which is assembled by General Dynamics in Alabama, is not only quieter than its heavier predecessors, but has digital technology that feeds soldiers simultaneous information on the locations of both friendly and enemy forces.

"If you want to destroy everything in an urban environment, completely level it, then the M1 tank would be the perfect suited weapon or system," said Lt. Col. Karl Reed, battalion commander with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which returned to Fort Lewis in October after spending a year deployed to Iraq. "This particular war is about balance. This particular war is about insurgents that mix with friendly forces and I think the precision is what's necessary in order to win this type of conflict and the Stryker gives you that."

Reed and other commanders from the first Stryker brigade that served in Iraq talked about instances in which the vehicle and the soldiers inside them survived rocket-propelled grenade attacks, roadside bombs and car bombs while fighting insurgents in Iraq.

Soldiers from the Department of the Army headquarters in Washington, D.C., the 3rd Brigade and Fort Wainwright's 172nd held a video conference Thursday to talk about the Stryker vehicle for media at the different sites.

The conference was televised on a large screen set up in a heated tent that is serving as the 172nd's tactical operational center during a simulated combat exercise this week.

Lt. Colonel Gordy Flowers, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, said more than 50 percent of his Strykers were tagged by roadside or car bombs or hit with rocket-propelled grenades.

No soldiers in his battalion were killed in such attacks, Flowers said.

Lt. Col. William "Buck" James, battalion commander of the 3rd Brigade's 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, talked about a fight Aug. 4 with a large enemy force on the western side of Mosul, the third-largest city in Iraq.

The Strykers not only delivered his soldiers to the edge of the battlefield, but gave them up-to-date information on the location of the enemy, giving his troops the ability to strike decisively.

"I think, personally, in my experience in urban combat, the Stryker and the soldiers it delivered were the best force for that mission," James said.

It's these experiences that the 172nd is learning from before they take their turn in Iraq within the next year.


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