Defense Technology International - April 2008 - (Page 37) VEHICLES ARMORED TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS Combat brigades are sold on Stryker’s capabilities PAUL MCLEARY•TAJI, IRAQ riving through the countryside northwest of Baghdad means running a gauntlet of checkpoints manned by Iraqi Concerned Local Citizens groups. While some are little more than a few tires and clumps of dirt in the road, others are more professional, consisting of tight snakeruns of dirt-filled Hesco containers and concrete barriers. Made to slow up small cars and trucks, the checkpoints pose problems for the muscular U.S. military transports. Anyone who has bumped and bounced through these checkpoints in a Humvee knows the pain of sharp turns. But weaving through one in a 19-ton General Dynamics-built Stryker armored combat vehicle is barely noticeable. And that’s one reason why the U.S. Army soldiers and company commanders DTI embedded with this past winter—in the 1st Bn., 21st Regt., 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Div.— love the Strykers. Able to hit 62 mph. and cruise over 300 mi. nonstop, Strykers carry 11 soldiers, including a driver and .50caliber gunner who operates the vehicle’s Protector M151 Remote Weapon Station, manufactured by Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace. The driver and gunner remain in the vehicle at all times, while the nine dismounts drop the back ramp and converge rapidly on an objective. This ability to get so many boots on the ground is what impresses commanders so much. Out at Joint Security Station Tarmiya, north of Baghdad, Capt. Christopher Loftis, commanding officer of A Co., 2SBCT, loves that with the Stryker “you show U.S. ARMY PHOTO D up with four vehicles and put 44 sets of boots on the ground.” On his second deployment—and his first in a Stryker unit—Loftis is most impressed with how the vehicle lets him fight. “When I was a light infantryman, walking everywhere and riding in Humvees, if you wanted to take 40 people and dismount them that would probably take about a dozen vehicles, plus you’d need guys to secure them. Now, four Strykers do the same thing.” A little farther south, Capt. Glen Helberg at Combat Outpost Courage says much the same. The vehicles are “really a ride to where we need to go.” Helberg’s first sergeant, Kenny Clayborne, chimes in that “as far as operations go, it’s just a ride. But the soldiers feel safer, and the guys around here know the Strykers mean business.” Even if some o cers and NCOs might see the vehicle as little more than a ride with added features, the story of the 1st Bn., 5th Infantry Regt., 25th Div. and their dash from Fallujah to Mosul in November 2004 shows how versatile Stryker vehicles make an infantry unit. At the time, the 1-5 was involved in Operation Al-Fajr, the bloody second battle for Fallujah, when it received orders to move to Mosul and retake parts of the city that had been overrun by insurgents. According to Maj. Jon Pendell of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regt. at Camp Liberty, Baghdad, the unit “picked everything up, packed, received an op order en route, and got into the fight in Mosul within 15 hr.” Considering that Fallujah and Mosul are about 295 km. (183 mi.) apart, and the trip was bookended by combat operations, one wonders how many other vehicles could have performed the feat. The Stryker’s ability to respond quickly, and in force, is only part of its charm. As Pendell says, the Stryker “is Stryker team patrols in Mosul. The vehicle moves into an area rapidly and provides firepower and protection in a fight. AviationWeek.com/dti APRIL 2008 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 37 http://AviationWeek.com/dti
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