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Army looking for room to let Strykers roam

May- 6-2006 » Filed Under: 2nd SCR

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By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — The imminent arrival of “land-hungry” Stryker armored personnel carriers has the range staff at Grafenwöhr Training Area looking for some wide-open spaces.

Providing enough training room for the ultra-mobile, eight-wheeled vehicles was one of several topics discussed at a workshop in Amberg this week, according to Nate Whelan, the U.S. Army Europe Integrated Training Areas Management program manager.

An undisclosed number of 2nd Cavalry Regiment Strykers are due to leave Fort Lewis, Wash., in June to join the Stryker brigade’s 3,100 soldiers, who are arriving at Vilseck this month.

“The thing about the Stryker vehicle is it is very land hungry and very maneuverable,” Whelan said. “We are researching where the vehicle can go. We are looking to open up more maneuver space.”

The Stryker is supposed to have a 40-kilometer by 20-kilometer “box” — roughly 308 square miles — for maneuver training, he said.

“There is not space for that (at U.S. training areas in Europe), but we have found a lot of creative solutions (including) using other host-nation training areas,” Whelan said.

USAREUR also is looking to create more maneuver space within U.S. training areas such as Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels, said Whelan, who could not provide data on the exact amount of maneuver space available within the training areas.


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