Stryker Brigade News

NW Guardian Articles

Jul- 1-2008 » Filed Under: 5/2 SBCT

The Northwest Guardian has two new articles regarding the 5/2 SBCT and the Stryker concept.

Soldiers train on new Strykers

New Stryker vehicles arrived at 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment in May, fueling morale and firing thrusters on an already rocketing training schedule.

Soldiers and leaders of the Buffalo Battalion spent the first weeks of June at Yakima Training Center, getting to know their new vehicles, pivoting instantly to employ them in day and night combat operations. In the course of one busy YTC deployment, the battalion conducted operator-and-new-equipment training on its Strykers, then transitioned immediately into platoon-level evaluated exercises.

The compressed time lines served to do more than acquaint 1-17 Inf. Soldiers with their combat vehicles, according to A Company Commander, Capt. Eric Schwartz. As it turns out, “familiarization” applies to Soldiers and their leaders also. Small unit leaders got the opportunity to demonstrate their infantry skills with the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jonathan Neumann, supervising and acting as lead observer/controller during the blank- and live-fire exercises.

Feedback to aid in future Stryker

In its continuing mission to keep today’s Stryker brigade combat teams equipped with the latest and greatest upgrades, the Training and Doctrine Command capabilities manager, SBCT, and program manager, Stryker showcased its new innovations, June 18 at the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment motor pool.

Not only did the TCM SBCT want to give Soldiers a glimpse into future Stryker add-ons, They were looking for input, too. TCM SBCT Senior Program Analyst for Futures and Current Operations, Sean Hunter, said they were there to get feedback from Soldiers familiar with the vehicle.

“What we did today was we took the user feedback from the Soldier and I’m going back as a user rep working with the program manager to continue to work and develop or move forward with what we showed up with here today,” Hunter said. “We go back and take their comments and feedback and we try to put out what the Soldier wants. Some things we can affect now and some things we can affect later.”