Stryker brigade adapts quickly to fight guerrilla war

TALL ’AFAR, Iraq — As if the stakes in Iraq weren’t high enough, along comes a brigade given the task of breaking in a new armored personnel carrier: a vehicle that in many ways symbolizes the transformation of the Army toward a lighter, quicker force.

Initially developed for peacekeeping duties, the lightly armored Stryker has undergone a series of modifications to help troops operate more effectively in the low-intensity guerrilla war being fought in Iraq.

The Stryker took just three years — instead of the usual near decade-long timeline — to go from concept to combat. It essentially bridges the gap between Humvees and heavy-armored vehicles.

“A year ago, when the war started, we were at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California, certifying the whole Brigade Stryker concept,” said Capt. Brent Clemmer, assistant operations officer for the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment. The battalion is part of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

Today, the brigade is headquartered in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, where it replaced the 101st Airborne Division in January.

The future of the Stryker program largely hinges on how well the 19-ton vehicle performs for the 3rd Brigade, the first of six such brigades the Army plans to field over the next few years.

In a way, Iraq is the ultimate proving ground.

So far, troops seem enamored with the eight-wheeled vehicle, noting its array of high-tech gadgetry, speed and relatively quiet sound.

For an insurgent, “you’ve got somebody kicking down your door before you know it,” said Capt. Thomas Bauchspies, Troop D commander for the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.

The speed is something, too. While approaching the airfield outside the village of Tall ’Afar, a convoy of three Strykers were tooling along at 55 mph.

In combat, Clemmer said, “half the challenge is getting to where you need to be.”

There are 10 variations of Strykers. The base camp at Tall ’Afar — nicknamed Fulda — has several of them.

Army scouts use the different models to patrol the region and monitor the Iraq-Syria border. One version is tailored to reconnaissance operations. Another is equipped to detect evidence of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

All Strykers have an advance communication capability, which allows commanders to monitor the location of each vehicle.

“It’s a pretty robust capability,” Bauchspies said.

To get ready for Iraq, the Stryker underwent some modifications.

In tests last year, ceramic armored tiles designed to augment the vehicle’s base armor didn’t perform as well as the Army expected. Since then, a steel backing has been added to reinforce the protective skin, and more upgrades are planned.

In addition, a grill box that some refer to as a “bird cage” has been added to the outside to lessen the impact of a rocket-propelled grenade.

In Mosul, the troops that climb into the 11-man vehicle every day didn’t seem all that concerned about its integrity. In all, the brigade has about 300 Strykers in theater.

“I feel secure in it, [despite] all the attacks we’ve heard” about against Humvees, Spc. William Wright, 27, said shortly after finishing a morning patrol.

Wright and other soldiers say they’ll sometimes hear a pop but won’t stop, only to find out later the Stryker had been hit by a roadside bomb. One such bomb in Samarra did provide enough of a wallop to knock a Stryker out of action, but troops say no vehicle is indestructible.

The Stryker “took the blast,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Piek, spokesman for Task Force Olympia in Mosul. “It was a very large blast, but everyone inside survived.”