Stryker Brigade News

Think of it as a family of 4,000 moving from Fairbanks to Seattle but having all the household goods and vehicles in transit somewhere in between.

The support battalion is responsible for nearly everything that's not infantry-related, including moving equipment and material between bases in Iraq, providing medical staff and treatment for soldiers, and maintaining Strykers and other vehicles, weapons and radios.

Since arriving in Baghdad, the battalion has also provided security for civil affairs projects, helped install barriers around traffic control points and transported items from weapons caches back to base to be destroyed.

Capt. Matthew Arbogast said the toughest part of the move from Baghdad was finding and accounting for all the equipment the brigade needed - and doing it on short notice.

The battalion was told the 172nd had to be ready for patrols and operation within seven days of arriving in Baghdad.

"When we got to Baghdad, we basically started from scratch," he said.

Arbogast had already signed over most of the brigade's vehicles - except for the Strykers - to a Fort Lewis, Wash., brigade that was replacing the 172nd in Mosul, but he was able to reacquire a few of them.

Still, many of the vehicles, like wreckers and transportation trucks, that the 172nd needed remained in Mosul. So the support battalion had to get resourceful.

"We had to scrounge," said Capt. Jason Shropshire, speaking from behind his desk, handmade by a soldier from plywood scraps.

Lt. Col. Bill Keyes, talking over dinner about the challenges of the move, said there's more competition for supplies in Baghdad because of the number of soldiers now in the city.

Baghdad contains six brigades, Keyes said, all needing similar equipment and supplies.

It's different than in Mosul, where there 172nd was the only brigade in the area and had personal contacts with most of the contractors.

"In Mosul, we were the only game in town," Keyes said.

The scrounging for equipment and vehicles included some pleading with other units around Baghdad and doing a little bartering here and there to get some of the needed materiel.

Shropshire said he recovered many items - such as tables, desks and chairs - from the trash and a sort of transfer site for units on base in Baghdad.

The battalion eventually scrounged up more than 300 support vehicles, most of them of the second-hand variety that the other units weren't interested in fixing up themselves.