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Overhauls equip Stryker vehicles for next mission

Jun-14-2007 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

By Margaret Friedenauer, Staff Writer

Nearly 300 Stryker vehicles from Fort Wainwright spent 16 months in Iraq in 2005 and 2006 with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

It only took four months to make those same Strykers ready for combat again, this time for the post’s 1st Stryker Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division.

In an informal ceremony Wednesday, brigade commander Col. Burt Thompson praised the civilian employees and soldiers involved in the expedited reset of the equipment. Four of them received Army commendation medals.

Thompson, against the backdrop of a freshly painted and newly equipped and overhauled Stryker vehicle, thanked the contractors who had created a “Santa’s workshop” in refurbishing the vehicles. The large garage where the work occurred was quiet and nearly empty Wednesday, with only leftover gallons of GoJo orange pumice hand cleaner lining the sinks leaving any sign that the garage had been bustling for the last four months.[...]

“You see a lot of your tax dollars at work,” he said. “You see a lot of what the Army is doing at a time of war.”

Tony Conoscenti already knows what the Army does at war. He was deployed to Iraq with the 172nd. When he got out of the Army in March, he and his wife were headed home to Virginia.

“I was going to go home and install car stereos,” he said Wednesday, wearing a sweatshirt from the battalion he was assigned to in the 172nd.

Instead, he was lured into working as a civilian contractor on the reset. He used to rely on his communications system in a Stryker when he was a platoon leader. Now he can fix them.

“I got in one and actually figured out how things work,” he said.

Now that the vehicles are ready, the 1st Stryker Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division will start ramping up its training schedule. The brigade is set to be deployable for combat again in October. That means that anytime after that, the brigade and its Stryker vehicles will likely be called up to return to Iraq.

“It’s not if, but when,” Thompson said.


Comments For "Overhauls equip Stryker vehicles for next mission":

Good job soldier's & civilians. Keep them in tip-top shape. Hello son, and thank you all for your service. Godspeed!

Posted by: StrykerB'SMOM [TypeKey Profile Page] | June 19, 2007 1:04 PM

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