Archive for the ‘Stryker’ Category

Army Announces Plans to Reactivate 7th Infantry Division

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash., April 26, 2012 – The secretary of the Army announced plans today to reactivate the 7th Infantry Division and stand up its headquarters here.

The two-star headquarters, which will oversee the training and readiness of five of the installation’s 10 brigades, will fill an administrative layer between those units and I Corps. The division headquarters will not be deployable, John McHugh said during a press conference on the installation…

The soon-to-be reactivated division will encompass 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division; 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division; 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division; 17th Fires Brigade and 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, for a total of some 17,000 Soldiers. But as a nondeployable headquarters, the new division headquarters and its estimated 250 personnel will primarily focus on making sure soldiers are properly trained and equipped, and that order and discipline is maintained in its subordinate brigades.

The brigade combat teams are Stryker brigades based at Lewis with their HQ on the other side of the Pacific. This leaves the 2nd ID with its 1st Brigade and a combat aviation brigade and fires brigade in Korea. I’m not sure if there will be other brigades added to 2nd Division or not.

Fleet of ‘double-V hull’ Strykers growing in Afghanistan

Two hundred of the double-V hulls are now in Afghanistan, with more slated to arrive in coming months, according to Lori Grein, a public affairs officer with the Project Executive Office-Ground Combat Systems. There are almost no flat-bottom Strykers left in Afghanistan, Grein said; most have been replaced by the double-V hulls…

Soldiers who swap the older Strykers for double-V hulls notice few differences.

“Ergonomically speaking they have kept everything the same,” said Wood, 25, of Oakfield, N.Y., who patrols regularly in a double-V hull out of Combat Outpost Talukan in Kandahar province. “All the changes they have made are behind the scenes.”

A Stryker armored fighting vehicle gets upgraded and modified by the General Dynamics team at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Nov. 23. The rocket-propelled grenade grill, which causes RPGs to detonate away from the Stryker, is installed among other upgrades that increase survivability and lethality. Photo by Spc. Ryan Hallock

Story: Strykers get upgrades, modifications at JBLM by patriotic crew

Brigade leaving Strykers behind

3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, is readying for a deployment to Afghanistan in December, and it will leave its fleet of roughly 300 eight-wheeled Strykers at home.

Instead, about 3,000 soldiers from the brigade will drive a mix of armored vehicles that are already in Afghanistan, such as the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) and its all-terrain variety, the M-ATV.

I didn’t realize they were not taking their Strykers. While some might wonder what the point of Stryker Brigade without Strykers is, it’s important to remember that the key force in a Stryker brigade are the soldiers. They Strykers are their transport and support vehicles.

And, given the issues that those vehicles (and the similar LAVs used by Canadian forces) have faced in Afghanistan, it’s probably not the end of the world. Depending on where they’re going to be operating and what they’re going to be doing, using MRAPs and M-ATVs could be much better anyway.

However,

They prepared for their deployment in August at California’s National Training Center, where they used Strykers.

This fall, drivers throughout the brigade are getting a condensed course on how to drive MRAPs and M-ATVs. Few of the vehicles are available for training because the Defense Department sent most of them directly to Iraq and Afghanistan.

This could be a bit worrisome if they aren’t completely up to speed on using the alternative vehicles and operating without the support of the Strykers.

General Dynamics Awarded $243 Million to Produce 115 More Double-V Hull Stryker Vehicles

This is on top of a previous contract for 350 (about one brigade’s worth) of the upgraded Strykers.

There are currently no plans for DVH models of the Mobile Gun System for NBC Recon variants. I wouldn’t be surprised if the MGS simply cannot support the additional weight of uparmoed hull.

Col. Todd Wood, commander of the 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th ID:

“The enemy left southern Afghanistan because we kicked his ass out,” he told the town hall meeting. “All over southern Afghanistan, you will find Dragoons with their foot on the throat of the enemy.”

The brigade is going to Afghanistan a bit early to be in place when the fighting picks up in the spring. That means the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment can come home a little early.

Had bookmarked these to post a while back but never got around to it. So here they are now:

A Stryker vehicle awaits transportation to war-fighters in Afghanistan, in an airfield staging area in southwest Asia. Third Army assists units mobilized in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in moving the war-fighter's equipment and materiel, including Stryker vehicles. This mission critical equipment is being rapidly deployed into Afghanistan by the leader of logistical operations throughout the Central Command area of responsibility in contingency operations. Photo by Sgt. David Nunn.

More below!
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M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS):

Pvt. Tyler Duke, from Kingsburg, Calif., guides a Stryker vehicle onto the back of a flatbed truck at the Kuwaiti Naval Base, Aug. 26. Duke is one of the soldiers with the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the brigade that convoyed their own armored vehicles out of Iraq and into Kuwait last week as part of the push to get troop levels to 50,000 by Aug. 31. The Stryker soldiers are nearing the end of their efforts to get their vehicles ready for shipment to the United States. Unit Movement Officer 2nd Lt. Larry Pugh, from Athens, Ga., said soldiers are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. “It might be hard work, it’s a lot of sweat, but this is the end.” Photo by Natalie Cole.

4/2 SBCT is the brigade that was accelerated for deployment after 5/2 SBCT’s deployment was shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan, and the same unit which the media fretted about being sent to Iraq without enough training. Seems to me that the guys are pros and managed just fine despite the less-than-ideal scheduling.

When they get home, I wonder if they’ll have to worry about a crowd of protestors in Olympia or Tacoma?

Another below
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Soldiers with Company F, 'Fierce Company,' 52nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th SBCT, 2nd Infantry Division, United States Division-Center, cross the border into Kuwait, Aug. 16, symbolizing the end of their yearlong deployment and the departure of the last of the combat troops in Iraq. Photo by Sgt. Kimberly Johnson.

I believe that’s an M1127 Reconnaissance Vehicle model.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever noticed the transparent shield for the open driver’s hatch before. Is that a recent development?

The microphones visible sticking up on the rear right of the vehicle (left side of the picture) are the Boomerang gunshot detection system. I’ve not heard much about how widely-used that is or how well it’s performed in the field so far.

Between the slat armor, the camo netting, and all the crap piled on, Strykers look more top-heavy than ever.

Here’s a shot of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division column headed out of Iraq:

Stryker armored vehicles with 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, line up at a fueling site here Aug. 17 to receive fuel before heading out on a two-day mission to exit Iraq through Kuwait, the same way American troops entered the country nearly seven years ago. Photo by Pfc. Kimberly Hackbarth

It’s actually OVER seven years ago. But who’s counting?

Yes, with 50,000 US troops still in Iraq acting as advisers and trainers, there’s still a ways to go. And it will be years before we can really start to determine if its been worth it all, though I think indications are pretty good at this point. Pulling the last combat brigade out is an important milestone.

I wonder what the plan is for pre-positioned equipment? I’d leave all the vehicles and equipment for at least a couple of heavy brigades, a Stryker brigade, and a bunch of MRAPs in a a high state of readiness, to be honest. If things really degenerate and light infantry is needed, they can just be flown in or use the MRAPS from Kuwait. But getting heavy combat formations over there takes time. Remember that the 3rd Infantry Division brigade that spearheaded the 2003 invasion was not using their own equipment but pre-positioned tanks, vehicles, and equipment that had been left staged in Kuwait.

I had been predicting that we’d see at least one of the big bases our forces have built up within Iraq left occupied by US troops and a division’s worth of heavy stuff. I still think that makes sense. But I guess it’s not to be.