Stryker Brigade News

"This is the vehicle that guys want to go to combat in," said Mario Guadron, a former Army sergeant who believes a Stryker saved his life in Iraq and who is now training crewmen here.

Only 2,700 Strykers are being built by General Dynamics Land Systems at a total cost of more than $4 billion. But 330 of them will be handed over to Pennsylvania's 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the only Guard unit among seven Stryker brigades to be set up in the whole Army.

About 20 green, eight-wheeled Strykers have been delivered for training purposes to Fort Indiantown Gap, the Guard's main training facility located at the foot of Second Mountain amid the rolling Pennsylvania Dutch countryside. Soldiers will see them as they report for their two weeks of annual duty this summer.

The Stryker can go 70 m.p.h. and travel 330 miles on a tank of gas. It can carry two crew members and nine infantry soldiers. It is loaded with satellite and radio gear that can pinpoint the location of every vehicle - friend or foe - on a battlefield.

In Iraq, the Stryker has been used like a Bradley to deliver troops into urban combat zones and used like a humvee to conduct road patrols.

But one thing any soldier may want to know is: Will it protect me in a bomb attack?

The answer, as in the case of any armored vehicle, depends on the size and nearness of the bomb.

But the Army, which has placed Stryker brigades in Iraq since 2003, says early findings are encouraging.

"It turned out to be more survivable than anyone anticipated for a combat wheeled vehicle," Col. Peter Fuller, Stryker program manager at the Pentagon, said in an interview.

The former deputy commander of a Stryker brigade from Fort Lewis, Wash., agreed.

"My experience was, it was a vehicle that saved soldiers' lives," said Lt. Col. Gordie Flowers. "It was extremely fast and quiet, which made it difficult for [Iraq insurgents] to trigger their devices. It was also extremely survivable when hit."

Despite generally glowing reviews from commanders, an Army report in December 2004 identified numerous Stryker flaws, including excessive weight, which it said caused vehicles to get stuck in mud, and computer display panels that often did not work. It also said shields were needed around hatches to protect soldiers when they stuck their heads out.

Fuller said that most of the problems have been corrected. The single Stryker brigade in Iraq, headquartered at Mosul, now has the shields on its vehicles.

Early on, the Army figured out how to reduce the threat posed by rocket-propelled grenades by putting armor cages on the outside of vehicles. These often catch a grenade and set it off a few inches before it hits the surface of the vehicle, thus reducing the force of the blast.

Guadron, 27, was commander of a Stryker in Iraq.

He said that a bomb made from two big artillery shells exploded under the right front wheel - almost under his feet.

At the blast instant, he had his head out and his hands on a .50-caliber machine gun. The barrel of the gun swung around and knocked him out. He awoke two days later at a hospital in Germany.

He was surprised to learn, he said, that of the six men in the Stryker he was the only one hurt. He said all might have been killed but for the blast-resistance of the vehicle armor.

"The vehicle survived," he said.

Three of the seven Stryker brigades planned by the Army already are up and running.

One brigade, out of Fort Wainwright in Alaska, is in Iraq and will be coming home at the end of the month. It will be replaced by one of three brigades eventually to be located at Fort Lewis.

The two remaining brigades will be based in Hawaii and in Germany.

The 56th Brigade will be the last to be fielded in 2008. Since soldiers train only one weekend a month and two weekends a year, it will take longer for them to get ready.

The 3,950-member brigade, which until now has been equipped with tanks, is headquartered in Northeast Philadelphia. Sub-units are scattered at armories around the state.

The Stryker vehicle will come in 10 variants, including one with a tank gun. The brigade will also get 422 upgraded humvees equipped with the same computer displays - including downloadable satellite photos and topographical maps - that are in the new vehicle.

The Pennsylvania Guard, with about 15,000 soldiers, has two other brigades that won't get Strykers. These are equipped with tanks and Bradleys.

Capt. Cory Angell, a Guard spokesman, said Guard leaders here are excited that one brigade will have the most up-to-date equipment the military can offer.

Guard troops complained for ages that they often got hand-me-down equipment.