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Thick-skinned Humvees offer peace of mind

Jun- 5-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune

QAYYARAH, Iraq – Even when driving into one of the calmest parts of northern Iraq, it’s reassuring to know you have a reliable cocoon of steel armor between you and potential enemy militants.

Spc. Dale Rageth understands that feeling well because he didn’t always have it. But on Saturday morning, he fired up his engine and took a team of artillerymen outside the wire of the Stryker brigade base, his mind much less careworn than four months ago.

His new rig is faster, smoother, easier to maintain and, above all, more resistant to roadside bombs.

Rageth doesn’t drive one of the brigade’s famous eight-wheeled Stryker carriers. He drives the M1114, one of the Army’s new class of beefed-up Humvees.

It’s a far cry from the thin-skinned, open-rear older model that the soldiers of the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment had when they arrived from Tacoma last fall, just as the fighting was at its hottest.

“With the old Humvees, it was an adrenaline rush just to get into it,” said Rageth, 22. “And when you rolled out, you prayed to God it didn’t break down.”

For those who assume Stryker soldiers always ride into combat on the namesake 21-ton vehicles, it’s time to think again.

The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division – Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade – has a wide range of supply trucks, wreckers, fuel tankers, combat engineer platforms and other vehicles to go along with its 300 Stryker troop carriers. The fleet includes about 150 up-armored Humvees. [...]


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