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Stryker vehicles start long journey to Middle East

May-31-2008 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

By Chris Freiberg, Daily News Miner

The 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Stryker Brigade Combat Team has begun the long process of shipping its equipment to the Mideast.

This week, the 1,100 vehicles used by the brigade, including the eight-wheeled armored Strykers from which the unit gets its name, were put on trains for the first leg of the journey. The 1-25th is scheduled to deploy to Iraq sometime this fall.

Those trains will travel through Alaska to Anchorage where the vehicles will be loaded on a ship destined for the Mojave Desert in California.

“There’s literally tons and tons of stuff they’ve got to move,” said Maj. Chris Hyde, the public affairs officer for the 1-25th.

Many soldiers have loaded the vehicles with equipment they will need in Iraq since the Stryker vehicles will not return to Alaska until the brigade’s 12-month mission is completed.

For many, this will be a return trip to Iraq. The 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, now reflagged the 1-25th, was sent to Iraq for 16 months in 2005 and 2006 as part of the largest troop deployment from Alaska since Vietnam. [...]


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