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Non-Lethal Stryker Soldiers

Aug-19-2008 » Filed Under: 2nd SCR

Bill Murray at The Long War Journal has written a very interesting article about a group of 3rd Squadron, 2nd SCR soldiers transitioning to a non-lethal role. Excerpt:

The 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Stryker Calvary Regiment, located in the Diyala province north of Baghdad, has created a “non-lethal” platoon whose sole job is to help the local governments and tribal councils register voters, administer micro grants to businesses, and take pictures and biometric data for new members of the neighborhood watch programs.

“At first I thought that it was silly, but it seems to be working,” said US Army Captain Eric Owens, commander of the Squadron’s non-lethal platoon. “I like the flexibility to handle a mission the way I want. The biggest thing for us now is to help these people realize that they are the chief authority and they can ask for things that they need.”

The platoon functions as a hybrid, melding civil affairs and psychological operations troops with crew members of a Stryker armored vehicle that replaces a second gun-mount with a speaker system to make Arabic announcements while traveling down the road. The team is augmented by an Arabic-speaking State Department employee with a background in construction management.


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