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Stryker gets major test during Gap exercise

Aug-21-2007 » Filed Under: 56th SBCT

By BRAD RHEN, Lebanon Daily News

INDIANTOWN GAP — Pennsylvania’s Stryker brigade has taken another step toward becoming a fully functional military unit.

About 350 soldiers from the National Guard’s 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team took part in a command-post exercise over the weekend at Fort Indiantown Gap. It was the largest exercise undertaken by the brigade since it was converted to a Stryker brigade in October 2005, according to Maj. Eric Zimmerman, the brigade’s operations officer.

The purpose of the exercise, which brought together the brigade’s headquarters and the headquarters of each of its six battalions, was twofold, Zimmerman said.

The first, he said, was to set up each of the headquarters and computer systems and make sure they could all be connected. According to Zimmerman, the Stryker brigades’ digital connection is what makes it different from a typical combat brigade.

“We have instant situational awareness on all of the units,” he said.

Each Stryker vehicle has a radio and a global positioning system unit, or GPS, that emits a signal that is picked up at headquarters. An icon representing each vehicle is overlaid on a digital map that is updated in real time as the vehicles move. Additionally, when a vehicle encounters the enemy, an icon representing the enemy can be put on the map.

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