This is something I meant to post on several weeks back when I first heard of it, but I didn’t get to it. Now Stars & Stripes has a story:

Army to phase in tan-colored Stryker vehicles

More than six years after sending the first Stryker armored vehicles into desert combat, the Army has decided that it’s probably a good idea to start painting them tan so they will blend in with the environments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Safeguarding soldiers is the primary purpose for this color change,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Peter Butts, commander of the 1st Battalion, 401st Army Field Support Brigade, who announced the change in a news release from Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, earlier this month. “Strykers will blend into surroundings better. They’re less likely to stand out like silhouettes.”

Since 2003, Stryker units deploying to Iraq have done so with their vehicles painted in deep green, while most other units deployed with tan vehicles.

I’ve often wondered about this, but even now no meaningful reason for the delay is to be found. Given the red tape this probably had to go through, I guess we should consider it lucky that the vehicle itself wasn’t cleared to be painted tan but the slat armor had to stay green.

Something that just seems to make this worse is that now, even though the official decision to go desert tan has been made, it can only be done when the Strykers are in “authorized facilities” in Qatar. No immediate changes for deployed units unless their vehicles are sent back for repair.

Here are some photos of the new colors from earlier this month:

Dar Barker, a General Dynamics Land Systems retrofit chief from Puyallup, Wa., directs an armored combat vehicle outside the Stryker battle damage repair facility at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, Oct. 5. The Stryker infantry carrier vehicle had been restored after deterioration during enemy engagement in Iraq. It's the first vehicle to adopt a new desert tan color in Southwest Asia, in preparation for a planned phase out of the Stryker's current deep green color. Photo by Dustin Senger

(more…)

U.S. Army Pfc. Kevin B. Mettler (front), 22, and Pvt. Jason R. Pompa (rear), 26, mortar gunners for Mortar Platoon, L Troop of the 4th Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment based in Vilseck, Germany, cover their ears as a long-range training round is fired out of a 120 mm mortar which has a maximum range of 6,800 meters. The training rounds have cartridges similar to 12-gauge shotgun shells at the top of each round that detonates a white flash upon impact instead of sending out shrapnel as a live mortar would. Photo by Sgt. Marla Keown

2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment Participates in Joint Task Force-East Training

Soldiers from the 2nd SCR have been rotating every three weeks to Romania and Bulgaria since the second week of August and will continue through the end of October. The combined training facilitated by exercise JTF-East is an integral part of the overall goal which is to increase regional security cooperation, build interoperability capabilities and develop personal and professional relationships.

Noticed this bit in an article noting lower levels of violence in Iraq for 3/2 Stryker:

Roadside bombs, the common killer of American service members in Iraq, appear to be weaker and less sophisticated than before.

MRAPs, new tactics, and reduced levels of violence could all help explain fewer IEDs or fewer casualties from IEDs, but don’t “weaker and less sophisticated” IEDs probably point to either disrupted bomb making or dead expert bomb makers?

In an article from the Seattle Times:

Bravo Company arrived in Afghanistan with 24 Strykers, the first of the eight-wheeled combat vehicles outfitted with high-tech communications and surveillance gear to arrive in Afghanistan. One-third of the vehicles are now out of service due to bomb attacks or maintenance.

The bomb threats are so pervasive that Stryker drivers have abandoned some stretches of road in favor of driving through the deserts on different routes.

The story sure seems to spend a lot of time focusing on negative quotes and experiences of the troops.

An eight-wheel Stryker vehicle from the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment is used in a Joint Task Force-East training exercise Sept. 3, 2009, at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo/Released)

Army to switch 2 heavy brigades to Strykers

Two heavy brigade combat teams will vanish by 2013 to make way for two new Stryker brigades, bringing the Army’s number of active SBCTs to eight and taking another bite out of its armor formations.

Planning documents obtained by Army Times say 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood, Texas, will be converted to SBCTs beginning in fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2012, respectively, and will take 24 months to become fully operational.

While adding a couple more Stryker brigades probably makes sense, I’m not sure I’d do it at the expense of two heavy brigades.

Got five minutes? Watch this.

B-roll of Helicopter gun camera video footage released today shows the deliberate steps International Security Assistance Force personnel took when countering the threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) placed by two insurgents Aug. 5 along a road in southern Zabul province, Afghanistan. Scenes include an Attack Weapons Team of helicopters assigned to the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade of Task Force Pegasus observing and engaging two insurgents emplacing an IED, destroying them and eliminating the threat.
Courtesy Video
Date Taken: 08.05.2009
Posted: 08.09.2009 01:47
Video Location: Kabul, AF

Note that they talk about Strykers having just rolled through.

A civilian contractor watches as a Stryker armored personnel carrier is lifted onto a flatbed truck at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, July 16. The Stryker was part of a convoy which transported military equipment to Forward Operating Base Warhorse as part of the coalition's reorientation. Photo by Spc. Kyoshi Freeman

Stykers headed back to Baqubah.

The Army’s LandWarrior system will be making its first brigade-wide deployment when the 5thBrigade, 2nd Infantry Division hits the ground in Afghanistan. It was used by a battalion, with pretty good success, in Iraq.

The soldiers of 5th Brigade begin deploying to southern Afghanistan this month and should see less urban combat than previous Stryker deployments to Iraq. But each unit in the brigade will receive Land Warrior. Team leaders, squad leaders, platoon leaders, platoon sergeants and higher will all be equipped with the system.

The two Fort Lewis Stryker brigades deploying later this year to Iraq have requested the system but are unlikely to receive it before they leave, said John Geddes, the Land Warrior trail boss at Fort Lewis.

No doubt the use of the system in a different type of environment and on a larger scale will turn up both more problems and more new uses.

5th Brigade is the one that had been training for Iraq but was shifted to Afghanistan in February.