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Ready to Roll

Jan-22-2006 » Filed Under: 2/25 SBCT

Link to Full Article with Photo
By Gregg K. Kakesako, Star Bulletin

THE FIRST of Schofield Barracks' 300 eight-wheel, 19-ton Stryker combat vehicles will arrive in the islands early next month, with the rest expected in groups of 30 beginning in late summer.

Ron Borne, head of the Schofield Barracks transformation process, said the 25th Infantry Division's nearly billion-dollar conversion of its 2nd Brigade Combat Team to the Army's sixth Stryker brigade is "ongoing and on schedule."

During a recent interview, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, 25th Division commander, said his 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which spent a year in Iraq, received 810 additional soldiers last fall. "We're just about 100 percent strength as far as soldiers are concerned. They are now undergoing systems training, and they will begin their detailed training with their vehicles this summer."

Borne added that by the time the Stryker combat brigade is operational in May 2007, it will be have nearly 3,900 soldiers. It will include three infantry battalions, a cavalry squadron, an artillery battalion, a support battalion, a military intelligence company, an engineer company, a signal company and an anti-tank company.

Borne said a medical ambulance version of the Stryker -- one of 11 different ways the Stryker will be configured -- will be sent to Hawaii from the Army Materiel Command at Fort Belvoir, Va. Borne said it will probably be retained as part of the 2nd Brigade's fleet.
The armored vehicle can be outfitted with anything from 105 mm cannons to medical supplies, and used as a battlefield ambulance to command and intelligence centers. The Stryker is supposed to be operational even when four of its wheels have been shot out. [...]


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