Stryker Brigade News

Six Stryker soldiers have been killed. Officials say about 20 with serious injuries have been flown out of the country for treatment.

As the top-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, prepares to give Congress a progress report this week, Lt. Col. David S. Davidson, the deputy commander of the Stryker brigade, offered his own assessment of the Hawai'i unit's first few months just north of Baghdad.

Hawai'i soldiers say they have been successful in helping rebuild essential services — in part because the Sons of Iraq have improved security — and Davidson says that gives him reason to be optimistic.

"I will tell you that this place gets better every day," Davidson said. "Something changes for the good every day — some of that through our actions, some of that through the actions of the Iraqi government, some of that through the actions of the police or the Iraqi army or some other entity."

The brigade and its 325 Stryker vehicles are based in and around a 200-square-mile area that includes the "qadas," or counties, of mostly rural Taji and Tarmiya, Davidson said.

Camp Taji is one of the United States' sprawling megabases in Iraq, and is home to about 20,000 troops, a big post exchange, multiple dining facilities and a swimming pool and cinema.

But Davidson estimates that at least 2,500 of the Stryker brigade's 4,000 soldiers have been deployed to about 15 much smaller combat outposts — fortress-like compounds and "joint security stations" with Iraqi forces.

"That makes an incredible difference," Davidson said by phone. "It provides them the opportunity to live with and understand and see the people every day." He added that "those personal relationships go a long way toward making sure that things stay calm and stable."

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