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Army to resume Stryker training

Jan-14-2007 » Filed Under: 2/25 SBCT

By Gregg K. Kakesako, Honolulu Star Bulletin

After a nearly two-month delay caused by a federal court lawsuit, the Army this week will restart construction and training related to the Stryker combat vehicle.

The construction projects, however, will be limited to five -- four at Schofield Barracks and one at the Big Island's Pohakuloa Training Area -- allowed under a federal court order issued last month, according to Ron Borne, who manages the Stryker transformation program.

The Army successfully argued in court that completion of the construction projects is needed to prepare the 25th Infantry Division's 3,500-member 2nd Brigade Combat Team to fight in Iraq beginning in the late fall as a Stryker combat unit. A total of 28 Stryker related construction projects, totaling $693 million, are planned.

At the same time, the Army Environmental Command in Maryland is preparing a supplemental environmental impact statement studying the possibility of basing the Stryker combat unit in other possible locations besides Hawaii, such as Alaska, Washington, Colorado and Kentucky. Both Alaska and Washington already house Stryker brigades.

Earthjustice, representing Ilioulaokalani Coalition, Na Imi Pono and Kipuka, went to federal court in 2005 and challenged the results of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team's environmental impact statement. In October, a federal appeals panel said the Army's environmental study was inadequate because bases outside Hawaii had not been studied.

Four years ago, Schofield Barracks was selected by Gen. Eric Shinseki, then the Army's chief of staff, as the home of the Army's fifth, $1.5 billion Stryker brigade. However, Hawaiian and anti-war activists successfully challenged the validity of the Army's environmental impact statement, resulting in another review of Stryker bases.

Borne said one of the requested projects -- a $4.5 million motor vehicle wash facility at East Range -- is already completed. [...]


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